The Magician (1926) on Netflix
NR19261h 19mDramaFantasyHorror
Sculptor Margaret Dauncey is saved from paralysis by surgeon Arthur Burdon's operation. Oliver Haddo, a hypnotist seeking a maiden's heart blood for his experiments, turns his power on her.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.7/10956 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
A large statue of a faun collapses on the sculptor Margaret Dauncey in Paris, and her friend, the painter Susie Boyd, finds people to raise the weight. Dr. Arthur Burdon operates on Margaret's spine and saves her from paralysis, and the two fall in love. Oliver Haddo, a hypnotist and student of medicine, watches the surgery. At the Arsenal library he comes upon a formula for making human life that calls for the heart blood of a maiden, and he tears out the page. Margaret later travels with Burdon and her uncle and guardian, Dr. Porhoët, to a fair in Leon de Belfort, where Haddo lets a deadly horned viper bite him and makes the wound vanish. Margaret dislikes him at once.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Magician (1926)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Oliver Haddo, the hypnotist villain played by Paul Wegener, was a character in W. Somerset Maugham's original novel who was based on the real-life occultist Aleister Crowley.
- Paul Wegener, who played the magician Oliver Haddo, was found difficult to work with by his co-workers; he had his own make-up artist, whom he screamed at on the slightest provocation.
- Some film historians believe Rex Ingram lost interest while making the film and handed off sequences he found dull, which may be why his credit reads "Supervised by Rex Ingram"; Henry Lachman claimed to have directed the Sabbat sequence, and Michael Powell backed that account in his memoirs.
