Svengali

Starring:John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Crisp, Bramwell Fletcher, Carmel Myers, Luis Alberni, Lumsden Hare, Paul Porcasi, Henry Otto, Ferike Boros, Adrienne D'Ambricourt, Ellinor Vanderveer, Yola d'Avril
Director: Archie Mayo
Studio: Gotham Distribution
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

A gothic film of subordination and power!
Look Into My Eyes...
Barrymore's best
Under John Barrymore's spell
AN INTERESTING ANTIQUE.

Svengali
Starring: John Barrymore , Marian Marsh , Donald Crisp , Bramwell Fletcher , and Carmel Myers
Director: Archie Mayo
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000C2ISF
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Customer Reviews:

A gothic film of subordination and power!.......2005-03-12

From the glorious mind of George Du Maurier and the assertive direction of Archie Mayo this film to my mind constitutes one of the best films in that decade. The famous Cabinet of Caligari, Metropolis, The crowd and The Golem were monumental masterworks which anticipated clear and metaphorically the horrible nightmare of the possible consequences of an oppressing State against the individual. Both sinister characters Caligari and Svengali employ the hypnosis device to reach their pretended objectives. Dementia, mind suggestion and intense mental domain; the irrational behavior crowd before the leader. In such short interval of fourteen years these five films were capable to foresee the awful facts derived of the manipulation of the will with perverse goals.

John Barrymore with this acting proved once more why he was one of the giants actors of those ages. Miriam Marsh is absolutely credible in this struggling picture. Fine direction of Archie Mayo and one of my favorite cult movies in any age.

Look Into My Eyes..........2004-07-18

At first glance, SVENGALI (John Barrymore) is just a slimy, heartless music instructor, taking advantage of the folly of his female students (victims). On closer inspection, he is a demonic presence, mesmerizing those he desires with those hideous eyes of his! Trilby (Marian Marsh) is a beautiful young model, who captivates SVENGALI and drives him to obsession. He simply must possess her and sets out to do so by hypnotizing her (in the guise of a headache cure). The various shots of SVENGALI's eyes are unforgettable. In them we see an evil that is otherwise hidden deep in SVENGALI's heart. While others think of him as a harmless buffoon, we know what he REALLY is, as well as what he's really capable of. Trilby is drawn into those eyes, becoming his slave. Though she becomes a singing sensation, we realize that she is only a puppet for her new master, a caged bird chirping for her captor. Her life is reduced to SVENGALI. This is a horror story about domination, submission, and death. Eerie and disturbing, SVENGALI is a must-see classic. Highly recommended...

Barrymore's best.......2004-06-14

John Barrymore gives a performance for the ages as the title character. His walk, body language, makeup and voice are outstanding and he makes the mesmerist a very tragic character.
The overlooked Archie Mayo does a great directing job for this early sound film and the very green Marion Marsh, helped by Barrymore, is the doomed Trilby. This is Barrymores's greatest hour.

Under John Barrymore's spell.......2003-07-30

Maestro Svengali (John Barrymore), professeur du chant, dwells in a shabby attic. His hair is greasy and his goatee split like a snake's tongue. But one indifferent "Ja, Liebchen, I know how you feel" is enough to bring women to throw themselves at his head. But heaven help those who fall for his flattery. He has no use for a burdensom appendage, and a gullible woman who throws herself in the Seine because of him grieves him not particularly: "Ah, that was a pity. She was very sweet - but a bad businesswoman. Tsk, tsk, tsk". The scene of action is Paris. The Paris of MOULIN ROUGE and LA BOHEME.

Svengali's morning toilet is not too careful - he spits in a cuspidor - and the sight of a young briton taking a bath gives him the idea to play "God save the Queen" to make him stand up. Most of the time he grapples with the problem of how to pay his rent, but when his purse if filled he spruces himself up and goes to town, unaffected by the mockery of the passers-by.

One day, Trilby (Marion Marsh), a young, coquettish painter's model bursts into this bachelor's topsy-tuvydom. Casually dressed in a gendarme's uniform and comfortable slippers she poses for all those Toulouse-Lautec-wannabes and falls in love with Billie (Bramwell Fletcher), the young briton who soon proposes to her. While Billie falls for her looks, her singing-voice attracts Svengali's attention. He recognizes her potential as primadonna and uses his hypnotic powers to clear her brain until she thinks nothing but: Svengali. He heals her headache but her pain goes directly in his heart.

The next shot is famous: Svengali calls Trilby via long-distance-hypnosis: His eyes light up like electric bulbs, the camera moves from his pupils along the block of houses in Trilby's bedroom. She sleep-walks in his apartment. His powers are strong enough to transform he in a somnabulist, but to win her love... He obstructs her wedding: She feels guilty after Billie surprises her posing as life-model ("He saw me there, before all those men!"). Svengali lists her former lovers and appeals to her conscience: "You are good like a little bird, like a lark that must sing in the sunlight - but are you good enough to face Billie's mother?" and his cunning is crowned by success.

Five years later, Trilby, now Madame Svengali is a famous primadonna who sends the audience into raptures. Svengali, bemedalled, and "La Svengali", loaden with jewels look very new-rich, but the glittering facade crumbles: Svengali's heart is failing, slowly he loses his grip on Trilby. In those moments she wakes up and greets her old friends as if nothing ever happened. Billie too is in the audience, Billie who still loves her...Svengali pulls himself together and Trilby is spellbound again. He showers her with presents, but she is unable to give him what he wants most - her love: "You are beautiful, my manufactured love, but it is only Svengali talking to himself".

Two components contribute to make SVENGALI a classic: The famous surrealistic sets and John Barrymore's performance. One aspect of his performance is problematic: The protagonist in Du Mauriers novel was a Polish jew, and Barrymore, with his tog, his make-up and his thick german accent may look like a wildly racistic caricature for those who don't know him. But nothing could be further from the truth! He was such a good, open-minded man. His eye-twinkling charm enchants the viewer, and near the end his performance becomes nearly soul-stirring. This was probably his sexiest performance. His biographer Margot Peters found him the personification of seductive guile - Lucifer as serpent, and was remembered of a tomcat watching a mousehole. Barrymore's fourth wife fell so completely in love with him after watching this film, that she chased him by train, plane and even radio-address until he finally said: "yes".

AN INTERESTING ANTIQUE........2003-01-03

For those who are interested to catch a glimpse of the legendary John Barrymore - before he basically became a parody - this film from 1931 is a good choice. In the title role, Barrymore is still quite mesmorising and the photography is interesting. Svengali, of course is that immortal teacher of female singers who can work wonders via his hypnotic glare: Trilby is his newest conquest: she becomes the toast of Europe as Madame Svengali, the singer - all because of his supernatural powers. Marian Marsh makes a visually perfect Trilby but her acting isn't nearly on a par with her benefactor - but then few actresses could really do much with such a mealy, whacko role. Barney McGill's inspired photography won him an AA nomination. Based upon the nearly immortal novel by George Du Maurier, this was - rather unbelievably - first filmed in 1896 (!) by Biograph as TRILBY AND LITTLE BILLEE. Later, in 1915 Equitable filmed the story with Clara Kimball Young and Wilton Lackaye (what a name!) : it was directed by Maurice Tourneur.

Average customer rating:

Peter O' Toole displays magnificence in soap opera melodrama

Svengali
Starring: Elizabeth Ashley , Pamela Blair , Barbara Byrne , Holly Hunter , and Larry Joshua
Director: Anthony Harvey
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

O'Hara's Wife
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Tom Sawyer
Five Corners
Napoleon and Samantha

ASIN: B0007XG4ZK
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Customer Reviews:

Peter O' Toole displays magnificence in soap opera melodrama.......2007-07-02

(5 stars for Peter O' Toole, 3 Stars for Script and the rest of cast)
Svengali is a splendid experience thanks to the great performance by Peter o' Toole.
Svengali is about a young talent discovered by an agent then sent to be vocally refined by the master vocal coach Anton Boyziak (O'Toole).
The student and teacher form a kind of relationship and so on..
Jodie Foster does a good job acting and singing but the whole cast including Foster seem like students when acting in the presence of O' Toole.
O' Toole is not only intellectual but he displays heart and soul in his delivery of lines as well in his facial expressions and body movements.
It's simply a staggering, memorable, and most moving performance filled with angst,despair, happiness,rage,passion,refinement, and destruction.
Svengali is soap opera refined to fit the big screen with all of the melodramatic elements you have come to expect from a soap but made into a wonderful experience by the supreme acting performance of Peter O' Toole.

Average customer rating:

A gothic film of subordination and power!
Look Into My Eyes...
Barrymore's best
Under John Barrymore's spell
AN INTERESTING ANTIQUE.

Svengali
Starring: John Barrymore , Marian Marsh , Donald Crisp , Bramwell Fletcher , and Carmel Myers
Director: Archie Mayo
Manufacturer: ROAN
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004YS6J
Release Date: 2000-10-17

Customer Reviews:

A gothic film of subordination and power!.......2005-03-12

Look Into My Eyes..........2004-07-18

Barrymore's best.......2004-06-14

Under John Barrymore's spell.......2003-07-30

AN INTERESTING ANTIQUE........2003-01-03

Average customer rating:

Svengali/Hidden in America/The Low Life

Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000AJJMYG
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Double Feature: Swing High Swing Low/Svengali

Average customer rating:

Double Feature: Swing High Swing Low/Svengali

Manufacturer: Digital Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Digitally remastered classics
Superior picture and sound quality
Special Features - chapter stops, menus

ASIN: B000FKWXLE

Product Description

Swing High Swing Low: Ex-serviceman Skid Johnson (Macmurray) rises to the top of show business as a band leader, and then falls. Great early performance from Dorothy Lamour and Anthony Quinn. Svengali: Based on the George du Maurier novel Trilby about a hypnotist who controls a female musician.

Average customer rating:

Svengali
Starring: Luis Alberni , John Barrymore , Ferike Boros , Adrienne D'Ambricourt , and Yola D'Avril
Director: Archie Mayo
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Hidden in America (Beau Bridges) / Svengali (Jodi Foster) / 1969 (Kiefer Sutherland) / the Low Life (Renee Zellweger) [4 DVD Set]

Average customer rating:

Hidden in America (Beau Bridges) / Svengali (Jodi Foster) / 1969 (Kiefer Sutherland) / the Low Life (Renee Zellweger) [4 DVD Set]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama Movie Marathon Volume 2: 8 Movie Pack

Average customer rating:

Drama Movie Marathon Volume 2: 8 Movie Pack

Manufacturer: RightNow Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

BONUS: Each movie comes with a portable-media friendly version that can be downloaded to your Apple iPod!
Eight feature films on four DVDs
The Hunchback of Notre Dame;Winterset;Country Blue;The Woman Condemned;The North Star;Hoosier Schoolboy;David Copperfield;Svengali;

ASIN: B000GW32Z2

Product Description

The legends of Drama are gathered here for you in this definitive DVD collection of some of the greatest Drama classics to ever come out of Hollywood. This 8 DVD collection is sure to provide you with countless hours of entertainment. Drama Movie Marathon Volume 2: 8 Movie Pack includes: The Hunchback of Notre Dame directed by Wallace Worsley and starring Lon Chaney, Sr; Winterset directed by Alfred Santell and starring Burgess Meredith; Country Blue directed by Jack Conrad and starring Dub Taylor; The Woman Condemned directed by Dorothy Davenport and starring Claudia Dell; The North Star directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Dana Andrews; Hoosier Schoolboy directed by William Nigh and starring Mickey Rooney; David Copperfield directed by Delbert Mann and starring Michael Redgrave; Svengali directed by Archie Mayo and starring John Barrymore;

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Flight to Nowhere

A River Runs Through It

Shatter (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: The Funeral

Oscar Wilde