Magic Flute: A strange, dusty trip back in time

Is it worth your time?

If you're a fan of early cinema and don't mind a film that feels like it’s held together with duct tape and good intentions, absolutely watch it. If you need a plot that moves in a straight line or characters who act like real humans? Yeah, probably skip this. It’s a mess, but a weirdly charming one.

Watching Magic Flute feels less like a movie night and more like you’ve accidentally stumbled into someone’s fever dream from ninety years ago. The sets have this painted, flat quality that makes you want to reach out and touch them, just to see if they’ll collapse.

Odd bits and pieces

• The lighting in the scene with Gohar Jan is... aggressive. It’s like they found a spotlight and decided they weren't going to turn it off for anything.
• Dinshaw Billimoria has this way of standing perfectly still while everyone else is running around like headless chickens. It’s distracting. I couldn't stop staring at his boots.
• There’s a moment near the middle where the music just stops. Not for effect. It just cuts out. Did the projectionist go for a smoke break? Who knows.

There’s a certain weight to old films like this that you just don't get anymore. It reminds me a bit of the frantic, kinetic energy in Fight in a Thieves' Kitchen, though with significantly more singing and less actual fighting. Everyone seems to be shouting their lines to the back row of the theater, which is fair enough since there probably wasn't a microphone for miles.

I found myself wondering if Rustom Irani knew he was in a classic or if he was just trying to get through the day. There’s a scene where he’s just… pacing. For like, a full minute. Why? Nobody says. It’s just him and a velvet curtain.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a particularly good movie by technical standards. But it’s got that specific, scratchy soul that only comes from movies made when people were still figuring out what a camera could actually do. 📽️

Sometimes you just want to sit with something that doesn't try to be clever. This is that movie. It’s just people standing in front of painted backgrounds, singing about things that probably mattered a lot more back then. I didn't hate it, but I’m not entirely sure I understood it either.