Hitchcoc Those engaging the movie camera so early in the century must have figured out some of its potential very early on. This is a good story of a playboy type who needs money and inadvertently sells his soul to Satan for a lot of money. Unfortunately, the soul is his double and he must confront him frequently, tearing his life apart. There are some wonderful scenes with people fading out and, of course, the scenes when the two are on the stage at the same time. The middle part is a bit dull, but the Faustian story is always in the minds of the viewer. One thing I have to mention is the general unattractiveness of the people in the movie. Also, they pretty much shied away from much action which would have at least given some life to the thing. I first was made aware of this movie about 25 years ago and have finally been able to see it. I was not disappointed.

MartinHafer A stupid young man becomes obsessed with a woman--so obsessed that he loses perspective and common sense. An evil magician approaches him and informs him he can give him great wealth that he can use to win the lady's heart IF he agrees to give him anything he wants that's within their room. The dumb guy agrees and the magician steals the man's reflection out of the mirror--and bad things naturally occur as a result.If this film had been made just a decade later, I am sure I wouldn't have been so charitable in reviewing and scoring this film. After all, the film's plot is a bit vague in spots and the acting is, at times, a bit stilted. However, when you consider that in 1913 "full-length" films were rare--and often only 20 to 30 minutes long! Plus, the whole idea of a complex story like you get in this film is very unusual--as stories were very short and broadly acted. So, given the limitations of the time, this film is pretty good and is one of the earlier horror films known.

MARIO GAUCI This film marks the beginning of the Golden Age of Silent Horror movies emanating from Germany, though its style is not yet what would come to be defined "Expressionist". I had watched it many years ago on Italian TV and remember liking it quite a bit though, in retrospect, it suffers in comparison with the superior 1926 remake (not least because that one is more than twice its length!); it's still well worth watching and remains full of interest today, also because it led directly to Paul Wegener's trademark role of The Golem in a famous trilogy, which unfortunately is almost impossible to re-evaluate today since only the third entry in the series seems to have survived! The accompanying synthesizer score on the Alpha DVD was quite unnerving in its relentless repetitiveness which, in hindsight, perfectly suited the doppelganger theme of the movie.

Rich Drezen (Drezzilla) I bought this yesterday on DVD and watched it immediately upon getting home. I liked the concept of the picture, but I got lost a few times in between certain title cards. It's a movie that you would have to see more than once to understand because if you don't pay close attention to it throughout the whole picture, you'll be completely lost. This is true about many German expressionist films, and as primitive as this is in expressionist cinema, it counts. The print on the DVD from Alpha video a little dark, but decent. This is a 1913 motion picture we're talking' here! And a feature film at that. If you like an organ music setting for silent films, then you will be pleased with how this film was assembled for DVD. As far as the story goes, it's got an interesting concept; you have a normal guy at a prep school, some magician comes along and puts a spell on him, and then all of a sudden the guy's being chased by his own reflection! I don't know whether or not it was done with a split screen format or not because, again, this film was made in an age where very little is known about such early feature films. But it's only 41 minutes long, and if I can sit through it, anyone can.