This is a rather little-known film from the horror classics with the participation of Paul Wegener (which laid the foundation of German expressionism), but nevertheless worth attention among fans of the classics of the genre.
Wegener plays the mad magician and hypnotist Oliver Haddo. Haddo has an obsession with creating a human being in an artificial way. To do this, he needs to find an innocent girl.
As follows from the description, the plot in many aspects is similar to the plot of Frankenstein. And not only the plot – the most famous film adaptation of 1931 from Universal Studios is visually similar to “The Magician”. Director James Whale was clearly inspired by this film when creating Frankenstein's lab - the scenery is almost identical: the same shaped staircase as the lab looks outside, the explosion of the lab at the end that looks identical to the similar scene in Frankenstein's Bride. In addition, Haddo had an evil dwarf assistant, and in Frankenstein, Whale had a corresponding hunchback assistant. Paul Wegener himself with his hypnotic look reminds Bela Lugosi in Dracula. So this film laid a large number of clichés, which were later used in the classics of Universal.
Definitely worth watching.
8 out of 10