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Unabashedly old-fashioned and fantastically pulpy, writer-director Neil Burger’s sophomore movie, The Illusionist, shows that an intriguing and exotic period fantasy can be made on a shoestring budget. Set in 19th-century Vienna, it stars Edward Norton as Eisenheim, the titular sorcerer, who performs the sort of illusions--making orange trees spontaneously grow from a pot of dirt--that could never be performed on an actual stage in front of a live audience without actual supernatural abilities, but that’s part of the tale. The movie plays coy as to whether or not Eisenheim is the real deal, and it’s that unsettling possibility that disturbs the treacherous Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), who feels threatened by Eisenheim’s popularity with the citizens. It also doesn’t help that the prince’s fiancée, Dutchess Sophia von Teschen (Jessica Biel), is Eisenheim’s former childhood sweetheart. Prince Leopold charges his conflicted enforcer Uhl (Paul Giamatti, wonderful in an uncharacteristic role) with reining Eisenheim in one way or another. A wonderfully opulent production design, great Prague locations, and fine performances from the cast--especially Norton and Giamatti--turn what could have been a pretentious mess into an engrossing melodrama. Some conventional plotting--such as the treacly romantic subplot and an outcome that’s telegraphed early in the story (capped with a closing sequence straight out of The Usual Suspects)--robs the movie of some of its momentum, but Burger’s confident direction and the leads’ sharp performances allow The Illusionist to cast an intriguing spell.