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Svengali
A man hypnotizes a young woman into being an opera singer.
Year: 1954
Genre: Romance, Drama, Thriller
Studio: George Minter Productions
Director: Noel Langley
Cast: Hildegard Knef, Donald Wolfit, Terence Morgan, Derek Bond, Alfie Bass, Noel Purcell
Crew: Noel Langley (Director), Wilkie Cooper (Director of Photography), William Alwyn (Music), Muir Mathieson (Music), John Pomeroy (Editor), Noel Langley (Screenplay)
Runtime: 100 minutes
Release: Sep 01, 1954
IMDb: 5.90/10 by 8 users
Popularity: 1
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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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.