As the smallest of MacKendrick's Ealing films, "Magi" tells an unusual story about cultural conflicts between the old and new worlds. Its title is the name of a rundown Scottish ship, whose cunning captain blackmailed an American tycoon into using his shaky ship to move valuable furniture to a mansion on the island. The predecessor of MacKendrick's "Country Heroes" utilized an almost anthropological interest in post-war world rural cultural relics, establishing an unresolved dichotomy between the pragmatism and materialism of the Yankees and the poverty, charm, and superstition of the islanders