Svengali

9/1/19541h 40m

Theatrical Release (US)

Overview:

A man hypnotizes a young woman into being an opera singer.

Director:

Noel Langley

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

paris, france
mannequin
painter

Cast

Hildegard Knef

~ as ~

Trilby O'Farrell

Donald Wolfit

~ as ~

Svengali

Terence Morgan

~ as ~

Billy Bagot

Derek Bond

~ as ~

Landlord

Alfie Bass

~ as ~

Carrell

Noel Purcell

~ as ~

Patrick O'Farrell

Jeremy Brett

~ as ~

Pierre

Paul Rogers

~ as ~

Taffy

David Kossoff

~ as ~

Gecko

Hubert Gregg

~ as ~

Durian

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
5
A better example of over-acting you will struggle to find in this overly theatrical adaptation of George Du Maurier's 1894 novel "Trilby". Hildegard Knef is a young, impressionable, girl who falls under the spell of the almost Rasputin-esque Donald Wolfit in the title role. He hypnotises her to rid her of pesky headaches, and give her the voice of an angel - and soon she becomes an international star of the opera. Robert Newton was originally slated for the lead, but I can't imagine he could have done better than Wolfit, who has the maniacal look (eyes, especially) and pithy dialogue down to a T. The support from Terence Morgan - as her much younger beau "Billee Bagot", Paul Rogers, David Kossoff and the truly wonderful singing of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf keep this entertaining enough, but the staging and style are just to limiting to let this version of a really menacing and evocative story soar.