Black Magic is a 1949 American adventure drama romance film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel Joseph Balsamo. It was directed by Gregory Ratoff. Set in the 18th century, the film stars Orson Welles in the lead role as Joseph Balsamo, a hypnotist, magician, and charlatan who also goes by the alias of Count Cagliostro, and Nancy Guild as Lorenza/Marie Antoinette. Akim Tamiroff has a featured role as Gitano. The film received mixed reviews.
Theatrical release poster
Giuseppe Balsamo, known by the alias Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, was an Italian occultist.
Bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, c. 1786
Lorenza Seraphina Feliciani, his wife
19th-century illustration of a Cagliostro performance in Dresden
Satire on Cagliostro at a Masonic meeting in London in 1786, by James Gillray