Magic Fire

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who supervised and arranged the music of Wagner for this, his final film assignment, also appears on screen as famous conductor Hans Richter. Korngold had to take the small role when the actor originally cast failed to show up. With over 1000 extras in full costume on set, director William Dieterle pleaded with Korngold to take the non-speaking part, to save the shoot.

The original version ran 150 minutes. This was trimmed to 120 minutes for the Royal Film Performance in July 1955, and was cut still more to about 90 minutes for its general release in 1956. Extant TV prints vary, with the US TV print running about 85 minutes. The surviving German print is just under 100 minutes.