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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, February 6, 2016

The Magician (1926)

Starring Alice Terry, Paul Wegener, Firmin Gemier, Ivan Petrovich, Gladys Hamer
Directed by Rex Ingram
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a terrible accident that injures her spine, a beautiful sculptress falls in love with her doctor after he saves her from being crippled, but a sinister magician also has designs on her.

Ingram's silent horror film hasn't had the reputation of classics like The Phantom Of The Opera or Nosferatu, but is still worth checking out for its dark imagery and hero-heroine-villain triangle which continues to be echoed in horror films up to the current day.  Wegener is well-cast as the villainous magician, as with his close-set eyes and giant face, he has a formidable screen visage, which served him well when playing the titular creature in The Golem.  The film is based on a story by English author W. Somerset Maugham, who per Wikipedia is probably best known for Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge.

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