The Magician (1926 film)

The Magician
Original movie poster
Directed by Rex Ingram
Produced by Rex Ingram
Written by Rex Ingram
W. Somerset Maugham (novel)
Starring Alice Terry
Paul Wegener
Iván Petrovich
Cinematography John F. Seitz
Edited by Grant Whytock
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 24, 1926 (1926-10-24)
Running time
 83 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent film
English intertitles

The Magician is a 1926 horror film directed by Rex Ingram about a magician's efforts to acquire the blood of a maiden for his experiments to create life. It was adapted by Ingram from the novel The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham.[1] It stars Alice Terry (the director's wife), Paul Wegener and Iván Petrovich. Critic Carlos Clarens wrote that it was "perhaps the most elusive of lost films."[2] However, since the time Clarens wrote this, various prints of the film have surfaced. Some have screened at independent movie festivals from 1993 onwards, and the film has also been shown on Turner Classic Movies. It remained commercially unavailable until being released on DVD in the Warner Brothers Archive Collection in 2011 (with a running time of 88 minutes).

Plot

In the Latin Quarter of Paris, sculptor Margaret Dauncey is injured when the top of the huge statue of a faun she is working on breaks off and falls on her. After successful surgery by brilliant Dr. Arthur Burdon saves her from paralysis, she and Burdon fall in love.

The surgery is watched by various doctors and others, including Oliver Haddo, a hypnotist, magician and student of medicine (a character in Maugham's original novel based on real-life occultist Aleister Crowley). Later, in the Library of the Arsenal, Haddo finds what he has been searching for: a magic formula for the creation of human life. One of the ingredients is the "heart blood of a Maiden". He rips out the page and presents the old book to Dr. Porhoet, Margaret's uncle and guardian, who has also been looking for it.

When Margaret, Burdon and Dr. Porhoet go to the Fair at Leon de Belfort, they encounter Haddo, whom Margaret dislikes immediately. When Dr. Porhoet claims that the snake charmers use harmless snakes, Haddo refutes him and demonstrates his powers by letting a deadly horned viper bite him. He then magically makes the wound disappear. Porhoet remains unconvinced until the discarded viper strikes a young woman performer. Burdon has to rush her to a hospital.

Later, Haddo visits Margaret uninvited. He hypnotizes her and tells her to concentrate on her statue. It seems to come to life to preside over an orgy. Critic Carlos Clarens calls this the high point of the film: "a nightmarish sequence in which the hypnotised heroine (Alice Terry) see herself in the midst of an orgiastic rite presided over by Pan himself, a prancing naked satyr played by Stowitts, the American dancer at the Folies Bergere."[3]

Two days before her wedding to Burdon, Margaret receives a note from Haddo, asking her to see him the next morning. She tries to resist the summons, but fails. On the day of the wedding, Burdon learns that Margaret has married Haddo instead. Porhoet is convinced it was against his niece's will, and Burdon tries to track them down.

Burdon eventually encounters the couple at a casino in Monte Carlo. He and Porhoet free Margaret while Haddo is away. Porhoet places her in a sanatorium to recover.

Haddo, however, finds her and takes her to his laboratory in a tower. Burdon and Porhoet employ a guide to take them there. Just as Haddo is about to stab a bound Margaret, Burdon bursts in. After a violent struggle, Haddo falls into a huge fire and is killed. Margaret emerges from her trance and is reunited with her true love. Porhoet finds the page with the formula. He burns it and sets the laboratory afire as well.

Reception

The movie was produced by MGM and ran 77 minutes, but was filmed at Ingram's studios in Nice. Ostensibly in black-and-white, the film is in fact in various sepia tones. It is a silent film with various soundtracks having accompanied it.

According to Carlos Clarens, "made for Metro in France, away from all interference, The Magician was saluted upon release by a barrage of negative criticism, mostly on grounds of tastelessness, that sealed the picture's doom. The still photographs, all that are available to the present day, show Ingram at the height of his pictorial talent."[3]

However, it has been pointed out that "along with the Tod Browning-Lon Chaney collaborations, The Magician was one of the few serious American horror movies in a time of spoofs."[4]

Cast

  • Alice Terry as Margaret Dauncey
  • Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo
  • Iván Petrovich as Dr. Arthur Burdon
  • Firmin Gémier as Dr. Porhoet
  • Gladys Hamer as Susie Boyd, Margaret's painter friend
  • Henry Wilson as Haddo's Servant
  • Hubert I. Stowitts as Dancing Faun (as Stowitts)

A young Michael Powell made a brief appearance in a comedic role and also acted as assistant director.

Soundtracks

Silent film composer Robert Israel created a score for the Turner Classic Movies reissue of the movie.[5] The Ragged Ragtime Band created and performed a score for The Magician at the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2012.[6] The Nenagh Silent Film Festival commissioned Eoin Mac Ionmhain to compose and premiere a live score for The Magician in 2013.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Carl Bennett (ed.). "The Magician". Progressive Silent Film List. Retrieved 2015-10-03 – via Silent Era.
  2. ↑ Carlos Clarens. Horror Movies: An Illustrated Survey. London: Secker and Warburg, 1968 (revised enlarged from the 1967 Putnam's edition published under the title An Illustrated History of the Horror Film), p. 72.
  3. 1 2 Carlos Clarens. Horror Movies: An Illustrated Survey. London: Secker and Warburg, 1968 (revised enlarged from the 1967 Putnam's edition published under the title An Illustrated History of the Horror Film), p. 73.
  4. ↑ Phil Hardy (ed). The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror. London: Aurum Press, 1985; revised ed 1993, p. 36
  5. ↑ Bret Wood. "The Magician (1926)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  6. ↑ Amy Holtz (May 23, 2012). "The Last Tuesday Society: The Magician". Broadway Baby. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  7. ↑ "Fair City Stars Come Out For Nenagh Festival". Tipperary Star. February 20, 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
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