I'm still occassionally wracking my memory for any film or TV show prior to THE RAVEN that showed a full-blown magical battle between mages. I still cannot think of any.
So THE RAVEN should be acknowledged as a landmark in this regard.
I cant think of anyone either.
I know that it left a lasting impression on me as a child... and i always was enamoured by the duel between the magicians
don't point that beard at me, it might go off... Groucho marx
Disney's The Sword In The Stone was released almost a year later, but that came to mind (since they probably began working on it in 1961). The Adventures of Achmed (a silent German animated film from 1926) has a battle very similar to The Sword in The Stone, but not exactly what I'd call a mainstream film (although it was released in the US in 1931). Hard to find good wizard battles earlier than 1963 because there were just too few movies with wizards in them before then.
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