An accident with a junk shop purchase frees a benevolent but incompetent genie into a modern home, where he fails to conjure up a banquet and becomes addicted to the TV. This comedy short was produced by the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). Includes footage of a fashionable 1960s living room interior. Title: East is West Credit: Jack Young Elsie Holland Norah Cummin Credit: Martha Young Florence Richardson Geoffrey Richardson George Cummin The...

An accident with a junk shop purchase frees a benevolent but incompetent genie into a modern home, where he fails to conjure up a banquet and becomes addicted to the TV. This comedy short was produced by the Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA). Includes footage of a fashionable 1960s living room interior. Title: East is West Credit: Jack Young Elsie Holland Norah Cummin Credit: Martha Young Florence Richardson Geoffrey Richardson George Cummin The film opens with an exterior shot of an antique shop. Two women, Norah and Elsie, leave the shop with their purchases. Back home, they carry their antiques inside. Norah places them on the sideboard. Norah takes her friend’s coat. Alone in the living room, Elsie examines the antiques but when she picks up the Chinese ceramic, she knocks the other curiosity, a stoppered bottle, onto the floor. A genie suddenly appears in a cloud of smoke. The genie, wearing big brassy ring earrings, introduces himself and bows. Elsie looks a little nonplussed. He picks up the bottle and offers it to Elsie. She thanks him. He conjures up an empty brass tray and presents it to her. She glances at the back then places it on the sideboard. He conjures up a playing card, king of hearts, on the tray. He makes it vanish. He tries again. A cigarette card of a butterfly appears. He makes it vanish. Finally, he manages to conjure up his business card: “Mustapha Ali Genii. All Khalifs Done For”. He smiles and bows. Norah comes back with cups of tea and biscuits. When she sees the genie, she drops the tray in surprise. She and Elsie look down at the spilt tea, broken cups and biscuits on the carpet. On the wall behind them, there’s a reproduction of a Margaret Keane big-eyed child portrait. The genie holds up his hand and pulls out a manual entitled “Do It Yourself Magic”. He peruses it, then waves his hand and magically makes the mess disappear. He then points to the spell he would next like to perform: “How to Conjure up a Banquet”. He puts the manual away and attempts the magic. A can of Libby’s corned beef appears on the carpet at their feet. He thinks hard again. And tries to conjure up “Fruits of Paradise in Heavenly Dew”. A can of Gold Label Pineapple Rings appears. Close-up of the next item on the banquet list: “Nectar of Olympian Gods”. A can of Coca Cola and a can opener appear next to the other objects. He looks down at the banquet he has conjured stoically, and makes them vanish. Elsie smirks a little and makes a comment to Norah. The genie looks a little peeved. He consults his manual again. They wait, then sneak out of the room and gossip a little in the hall. The genie finds himself alone. He discovers the TV. He looks at the candelabras. Suddenly the TV comes on. A Western film is showing, the cowboy pointing a gun directly out of the screen towards the viewer. He sits cross-legged on the floor to watch, mesmerised by the screen. Elsie and Norah come back into the living room with the genie’s bottle, finding him engrossed in watching TV. Norah rushes over to get the stopper and Elsie insists he get back in the bottle. He refuses and pushes them away. Close-up of the TV. The friends retreat from the room. The genie thinks, fingers to lips. He gets out his magic manual and consults it. He is reading the spell for “How to get Genies into Bottles”. Elsie and Norah return with a much larger glass flagon. But the genie has disappeared. There’s a tapping noise from the TV. They move closer. The genie smiles out from the screen, now inside the TV. He waves his hands. The do it yourself magic manual appears in Elsie’s hand. Close-up of the TV where the genie is now wearing a cowboy hat and twirling a gun, shooting from the screen. Elsie nudges Norah. She switches off the TV. Title: The End