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The Magician (USA) 1926
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wlah...@gmail.com
Mar 17, 2013, 1:25:26 PM3/17/13
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Hey,
Written and directed by Rex Ingram – adapted from a story by W. Somerset Maugham – this is an interesting merging of the Wiemar era and Hollywood. Ingram was a giant in his time – considered among the greats along with DW Griffith – and he cast Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo, the magician of the title. Wegener had directed the original “The Student of Prague” as well as three films based on the Golem myth: “The Golem” (1915), “The Golem and the Dancing Girl” (1917), “The Golem: How He Came into the World” (1920). The first in the series still exists and the others have been lost.
The story is of a magician who longs for eternal life and finds a recipe that calls for the blood of a maiden – or more accurately, a virgin – and sets out via hypnosis – ala Dr Caligari – to abscond with Margaret Dauncey (Alice Terry) who is about to be married. He takes her off to – for reasons I can’t fathom – a Monte Carlo casino and there she is freed by her betrothed and then she is recaptured by Haddo and taken to his secret laboratory in a castle high on a hill. That laboratory in the castle on the hill will reappear in a far more famous film some five years later.
A straight ahead early Hollywood horror film and don’t miss the scene of the orgy in Hell. Good stuff and there’s a small part played by some guy named Michael Powell who also acted as assistant director and some excellent work by cinematographer John F. Seitz.
Also starring Iván Petrovich, Firmin Gémier, Gladys Hamer, and Henry Wilson, among others.
Written and directed by Rex Ingram – adapted from a story by W. Somerset Maugham – this is an interesting merging of the Wiemar era and Hollywood. Ingram was a giant in his time – considered among the greats along with DW Griffith – and he cast Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo, the magician of the title. Wegener had directed the original “The Student of Prague” as well as three films based on the Golem myth: “The Golem” (1915), “The Golem and the Dancing Girl” (1917), “The Golem: How He Came into the World” (1920). The first in the series still exists and the others have been lost.
The story is of a magician who longs for eternal life and finds a recipe that calls for the blood of a maiden – or more accurately, a virgin – and sets out via hypnosis – ala Dr Caligari – to abscond with Margaret Dauncey (Alice Terry) who is about to be married. He takes her off to – for reasons I can’t fathom – a Monte Carlo casino and there she is freed by her betrothed and then she is recaptured by Haddo and taken to his secret laboratory in a castle high on a hill. That laboratory in the castle on the hill will reappear in a far more famous film some five years later.
A straight ahead early Hollywood horror film and don’t miss the scene of the orgy in Hell. Good stuff and there’s a small part played by some guy named Michael Powell who also acted as assistant director and some excellent work by cinematographer John F. Seitz.
Also starring Iván Petrovich, Firmin Gémier, Gladys Hamer, and Henry Wilson, among others.
dm16...@gmail.com
Mar 17, 2013, 1:43:27 PM3/17/13
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Dave M
wlah...@gmail.com
Mar 17, 2013, 2:02:55 PM3/17/13
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On Sunday, March 17, 2013 1:43:27 PM UTC-4, dm16...@gmail.com wrote:
> Haven't seen the movie but I've read Somerset Maugham's novel. Very unusual subject for Maugham. The character is based on Aleistair Crowley whom Maugham new -and loathed - in Paris.
>
Find it and see it. Really. And horror fans will see a lot of stuff I don't think they are expecting.
> Haven't seen the movie but I've read Somerset Maugham's novel. Very unusual subject for Maugham. The character is based on Aleistair Crowley whom Maugham new -and loathed - in Paris.
>
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