Although cartoonist Lee Falk is best-known for creating The Phantom, his Mandrake the Magician arrived first. Even before the more popular Phantom leapt from the comic strips page to the big screen to slam evil in his own serial, the latter beat him to it … and then resurfaced one undistinguished Wednesday night on NBC in the pilot pic Mandrake. Like The Phantom, Mandrake comes with an orphaned origin, being raised by a Tibetan monk with the unmistakable voice of James Hong.

In the present day, Mandrake (Anthony Herrera, 1976’s Helter Skelter) enjoys the high life as a Vegas stage illusionist, looking not unlike David Copperfield if he neglected combs. One night, Mandrake’s chintzy act is interrupted by the death of an elderly scientist in the audience. Before croaking, the old man manages to gasp the name “Arkadian,” a tycoon played by Brady Bunch patriarch Robert Reed.

Among other business ventures, Arkadian owns an amusement park, eventually allowing Mandrake to have a showdown atop the world’s fastest, tallest, bestest roller coaster, once he starts investigating the scientist’s “heart attack.” With the help of his sorcerer sidekick (Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Mandingo) and sexy stage assistant (Simone Griffeth, Death Race 2000), Mandrake uncovers a whole Manchurian Candidate conspiracy involving Arkadian employees as sleeper agents.

Mandrake boasts the power of hypnosis by touching people’s heads, thereby projecting their memories on the wall. More often, he touches the gaudy medallion hanging from his neck and — presto! — an object appears to confuse his adversaries. Among the illusions used are a tiger, a bird of prey and a brick wall. This being made for TV, the effect is hardly cinematic. And this being 1979, Mandrake plants an unexpected kiss on the scientist’s daughter (Gretchen Corbett, The Savage Bees), then explains, “That was the only thing I could think of to shut you up.”

Helmed by another Falk, the no-relation Harry (High Desert Kill), the telefilm doesn’t have much production quality — example: cheap kitchen timers sub for bombs — which Herrara nearly matches by having even less to offer as a leading man. Watching Mandrake won’t hurt (much), even as it fails to do the trick. —Rod Lott

An anthology of speculative fiction, Portals posits that man has created a black hole. Global blackouts follow, as do odd behavior from citizens, citywide evacuations and mysterious monoliths — portals, if you will — that pop up everywhere with no apparent rhyme or reason. This setup, courtesy V/H/S: Viral producer Christopher White, is full of possibilities.

The four selected to explore, however, greatly underwhelm. A family flees its California home, encountering a portal on a desert road. Amid the chaos, a 911 call center’s operations are paused by a portal suddenly appearing between cubicle rows. Sisters in Indonesia stumble upon a portal in a parking garage. Finally, after the credits, scientists in Liverpool play guinea pigs with the portals, taking one giant leap for mankind.

Portals is nothing if not consistent, but that consistency arrives as aggravating ambiguity. Nothing is explained; rules appear to be as bendable as wire hangers; characters are barely introduced; they spout mumbo jumbo that hardly moves things forward. If you intend your sci-fi film to be that vague, may I suggest your name be Stanley Kubrick or Andrei Tarkovsky? Being deceased, neither numbers among the helmers involved: The Blair Witch Project’s Eduardo Sanchez, Beyond Skyline’s Liam O’Donnell and V/H/S/2 contributors Timo Tjahjanto and Gregg Hale.

Portals’ problem is its script, not the effects. Undaunted, White tried again two years later, reviving his vertical-rectangular-object concept with a fresh coat of paint (and lesser-known directors) as the omnibus Doors. I won’t knock it ’til I try it. —Rod Lott

Get it at Amazon.