American Showcase
Women in Boxes is the first film to uncover the story of the unsung hero behind the magician - the devoted, if not masochistic Magic Assistant who distorts her body into impossible positions while the magician cuts her in pieces, stabs her incessantly, sets her on fire, crushes her, dismembers her, restores her to life with a dramatic "Taa Daa," and takes a bow to wild applause. Who is the woman who would subject herself to such torture, not to mention, the Magician's Ego? Heretofore sworn to secrecy, this tough yet feminine group opened their homes, hearts and lives for the filmmakers and revealed the intensity of their involvement, their indispensability to the man in the spotlight; their back-breaking workload, and the reasons behind their devotion to this painful art and to the men they serve. Interviews with these women as well as many of the most well known magicians (including a shadowy figure who may or may not be Teller of Penn & Teller fame) gives you a peek behind the magician's curtain and inside the magician's box.