What a waste of my time!!!

Pretty Good

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

That's what Groucho Marx said in "A Day At The Races", and I wonder if John Barrymore's Svengali was one of his inspirations for that line. Seriously, with that thing, it took me about half an hour to realize that this wasn't intended as a comedy. There is one traveling shot, where the camera circles around Svengali and then flies outside his house and into the house of Trilby, which is genuinely impressive, and the "hypnotizing eyes" effects are successful, but the story is slow-as-molasses, and Barrymore's performance doesn't date well; it constantly calls attention to itself, as if it's the performance that matters and not the film that it serves. ** out of 4.

Master hypnotist and composer, Svengali (John Barrymore at his very best) yearns for a young beauty (Marian Marsh) who is in love with painter, Billie (Bramwell Fletcher; he's the one with the very small role but immortal line in The Mummy (1932): "He went for a little walk. You should have seen his face!"). Using his hypnotism, Svengali fuses his control over Trilby, in a way "owning" her. Billie is always in her heart, which is a problem Svengali attempts for the rest of the duration of the film to diffuse, with little luck. Could he ever secure her affection for him or will Trilby always long for Billie in her heart when his health dissipates and the control loosens? With the Anton Grot sets which give the locales for which the characters exist a unique type of architectural design reminiscent to what the German expressionists were doing at the time, Barrymore's grotesque features (the way his hair and beard give him the look of a vaudeville villain, how his eyes lose their pupils and turn into a complete color when he fully uses his hypnotism to great lengths to grab hold of victims and tell them what he wants them to do at his bidding, his far-reaching height which looks as if he had stilts for legs), the spirited Pre-Code energy in the dialogue and adult material (the way the characters speak on sexual situations such as Trilby's model duties and sexual escapades which Svengali uses to torment her into leaving Billie, Trilby posing nude which horrifies Billie when he sees her allowing artists to paint her body in all its naked glory, the "bath scene" where two of Billie's English artiste pals remove Svengali's clothes (behind a curtain, but we see the cloth fragments scatter out to the floor!) making sure to dump him in a tub, a horrible-voiced singer leaving her abusive husband for an unsatisfied Svengali who was just using her for the money that came out of the marriage to his pocket, etc.), the exciting camera-work (the scene where the camera "follows" the "mind control" of Svengali's hypnotism as it travels from his room, out the window, over the rooftops of Parisian homes (cool miniatures, by the way), and eventually into Trilby's room is a thing of beauty), and tragic melodrama that sees a popular singing act decline due to Svengali's health and age (he is the real reason Trilby's singing voice can achieve the tonal degrees it does (he realizes when looking into her mouth that it has potential to reach the exact lengths he so desires for his composed music)) all certify Archie Mayo's horror film is must-see for film buffs. The film really allows Barrymore carte blanche to take his character and expressively play this character to the hilt. He's so much fun to watch: he clashes with the "more civilized" characters, although Donald Crisp's Laird and Lumsden Hare's burley and jovial pair of English artists trying to make it in Paris, with their beards and excitable personalities (life-loving pair, this two are), meet him half way in the larger-than-life category. Barrymore just knew how to lose himself in these really baroque and often hideous characters, while he could also offer up his handsome "profile" for elegant parts, too. Grand Motel could be seen as an obvious example of Barrymore allowing his regular features to breath absent the mask of grotesquerie. As far as sound films go, Barrymore gave us Svengali, and did he ever sink his teeth into it! Trilby is a shining light that is dimmed by Svengali while Bramwell is saddled with the heart-of-gold romantic love interest Trilby pines for but feels too spoiled by the sins of life to be good enough for (yecch).While not in the conversation with Dracula and Frankenstein although it came out at the same time, perhaps Svengali deserves to be. I think horror fans need to see this and decide, because I love both the Universal films and believe Svengali is right there with them.

Svengali (1931)"Svengali" is a strange strange film, half nightmare, half plain old German Expressionism thrown into an inventive Warner Bros. set. It's amazing at its best, and the set design and photography both got Oscar nominations. The plot that gets built up of increasingly new elements, comic outsiders (Englishmen who believe in bathing every day) and a overtly beautiful blonde model and her apparent love match (they have just met), until the crux of it clarifies--the title character is a madman who can hypnotize people at will.John Barrymore in his archly long, dramatic is a creep, appropriately. When he hypnotizes, his eyes turn to these large glowing white orbs. He has fallen in love with a model and starts to control her, which her fiancé only gradually realizes. Other people just find Svengali a quirky artistic type, and see no harm in him at first.The setting is odd--clearly shot on a studio lot rather than a real Parisian artists colony, it nonetheless is meant to be some kind of rambling set of rooms that are more or less attached, or near each other. For the whole first half, the main characters never really leave the irregular, sometimes offkilter chambers, which look like there were adapted from "Caligari" itself. The light and the framing, and the interesting very shallow depth of field, combine to make a mysterious and really beautiful effect. The Barrymores, as a group, are amazing, but their theatricality, especially John's, doesn't always transfer well to modern movies. In a way, it's this leading man who cuts into the disarming surrealism and horror overall, simply because he's so campy. This might be just a matter of changing tastes, because his effect reminds me rather a lot of Bela Lugosi in "Dracula" which was released the same year (a few months earlier). The story of Dracula is more archetypal and wonderful for the ages, but in my view (I've seen both movies recently) this is much better filmed. The photography, lighting, and blocking (the way the actors move) are more fluid and involved. Archie Mayo, the director, has a handful of completely wonderful films to his up and down career (click on his name to see). As much as this one has some obvious and forced sections, and a plot that doesn't quite involve the viewer as you would hope, it's a really well made, well constructed movie. For 1931 it's sometimes a pure wonder.

Svengali is an impoverished singing professor, of Polish extraction, down on his luck. Living is Paris in precarious conditions, he forces his way into the flat of Taffy, and the Laird, two Englishmen painters. He seizes the opportunity for a bath and borrows clothes that turn him into a more distinguished person.The unexpected appearance of Trilby, a model that has been sent to the English painters, produces a change of heart in Svengali. He cannot have the beautiful girl on his looks alone, so he decides to use his mental powers to cast a spell on the unsuspecting young woman. This will change them forever; Svengali will use Trilby as his trophy because he finds she has the right bone structure in her mouth to be a great singer.Trilby, who was attracted to a young friend of the Englishmen, Billee, until to his shock, he finds her posing nude for a group of painters. Overnight, Trilby becomes a singing sensation with Svengali taking her throughout Europe. The spell works out for a while, but Trilby begins to have problems and Svengali cancels her appearances. It is in Cairo, where Billee had followed Trilby and Svengali that she is able to break the spell she has fallen under.Archie Mayo directed this classic 1931 production. The great John Barrymore, almost unrecognized in his appearance, makes a wonderful take on the legendary man with magical powers. Marian Marsh, one of the screen early beauties is seen as Trilby O'Farrell. The restored DVD had an excellent picture and sound qualities. The supporting cast included Donald Crisp, Bramwell Fletcher, Luis Alberni and Lumsden Hare.What was remarkable in this feature was the art direction of Anton Grof. For the time it was made, and with the resources of the time in which it was filmed, one cannot help being impressed by the sets that were used in the film. Barney McGill was the cinematographer and the musical score is credited to David Mendoza. Archie Mayo directed with an eye for detail the classic novel by George DuMaurier.