It remained commercially unavailable until being released on DVD in the Warner Brothers Archive Collection in 2011 (with a running time of 88 minutes).

The surgery is watched by various doctors and others including Oliver Haddo, a hypnotist, magician and student of medicine (a character in Maugham's original novel based on real-life occultist Aleister Crowley).

Porhoët finds the page with the formula and burns it and sets the laboratory on fire, with the little person left hanging on a tree branch on the cliff.

According to Carlos Clarens, "made for Metro in France, away from all interference, The Magician was saluted upon release by a barrage of negative criticism, mostly on grounds of tastelessness, that sealed the picture's doom.

"[4] Although the film is fundamentally a mad-scientist melodrama, it has been pointed out that "along with the Tod Browning-Lon Chaney collaborations, The Magician was one of the few serious American horror movies in a time of spoofs.

He had his own make-up artist "whom he screamed at on the slightest provocation.” Michael Powell was not impressed with Wegener's acting, saying his "one expression to indicate magical powers was to open his huge eyes even wider, until he looked about as frightened as a bullfrog.

[7] According to critic Carlos Clarens, the orgy scene recalls artistic depictions of the Greek god Pan, whom he listed as being portrayed by Stowitts, the American dancer at the Folies Bergere.

"[4] For theatre historians, The Magician provides a rare film record of the actor Firmin Gémier (1869-1933) in the supporting role of Dr. Porhoët.

Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times was impressed with the cast, writing that Alice Terry was "beautiful and phlegmatic," Ivan Petrovich "emphatically sympathetic and capable," and Paul Wegener "with good make-up" giving a "restrained performance.

"[8] Conversely, Variety's Fred was impressed with Wegener's performance yet more critical of the film, calling it "a very slow moving, draggy picture that has but a single thrill."

Similarly, the Cleveland Plain Dealer described the film as "A wild, improbable tale, not without its suspense and interest," adding that "Ingram can never be stupid, but he is of late sometime careless.

[11] The Nenagh Silent Film Festival commissioned Eoin Mac Ionmhain to compose and premiere a live score for The Magician in 2013.