In Paris, beautiful sculptress Alice Terry (as Margaret Dauncey) is critically wounded when a giant faun she is working on cracks, topples, and crushes her body. Ms. Terry's wealthy uncle summons American surgeon Ivan Petrovich (as Arthur Burdon) to operate on Terry's paralyzed body. The doctor and patient celebrate Terry's full recovery by falling in love. During their courtship, they encounter magician hypnotist Paul Wegener (as Oliver Haddo), an alchemist who witnessed Terry's miraculous surgery. A frightening, rotund man, Mr. Wegener happens to encounter Dr. Petrovich and Terry again and again. Wegener wants to create life, and has decided Terry will supply the "Blood of a Maiden" required in an ancient sorcerer's recipe!
While still a young woman, Terry seems more like a matron than a maiden - guess you just have to assume "The Magician" knows a virgin when he sees one. In W. Somerset Maugham's original novel, the Terry character is a teenaged art student, and the intriguing Gladys Hamer (as Susie Boyd) an older rival; it's an excellent read, and fairly easy to find on line (for free). Most unclear, in the film, is exactly how Wegener's experiment is supposed to work. Playing "Dr. Frankenstein" (and inspiring the 1931 classic's design), Wegener sets up a lab to extract blood, apparently. Highlighted by a hellish hallucination, it's very nicely envisioned by Terry's skillful director husband Rex Ingram; but, it lacks the richness of plot abundantly available in the book.
****** The Magician (10/24/26) Rex Ingram ~ Alice Terry, Paul Wegener, Ivan Petrovich, Firmin Gemier
While still a young woman, Terry seems more like a matron than a maiden - guess you just have to assume "The Magician" knows a virgin when he sees one. In W. Somerset Maugham's original novel, the Terry character is a teenaged art student, and the intriguing Gladys Hamer (as Susie Boyd) an older rival; it's an excellent read, and fairly easy to find on line (for free). Most unclear, in the film, is exactly how Wegener's experiment is supposed to work. Playing "Dr. Frankenstein" (and inspiring the 1931 classic's design), Wegener sets up a lab to extract blood, apparently. Highlighted by a hellish hallucination, it's very nicely envisioned by Terry's skillful director husband Rex Ingram; but, it lacks the richness of plot abundantly available in the book.
****** The Magician (10/24/26) Rex Ingram ~ Alice Terry, Paul Wegener, Ivan Petrovich, Firmin Gemier