"The Magician" silent film preview by Bill Blankenship

A mad scientist trying to create life in a laboratory in a high tower atop a craggy mountain as thunder and lightning terrorize superstitious villagers below might seem a horror movie cliche, but Rex Ingram was setting a paradigm in 1926 when he directed "The Magician," the feature film Friday at the 14th annual Silents in the Cathedral program.

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