Svengali 1931

[Neville6000]

2:22-best barefoot shot ever, and one of the first!

[MrMaryHalpin]

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[101111101101]

wow the girl is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!

[shiki12d3]

I dont get it did they have contact lenses back then? Im confused how did they get his eyes to look like that?

[StephenJTatum]

I remember staying up late one night catching this movie by accident and being spellbound. One of my favorite B&W's

[tapasitos]

Lucifer at Woodstock

[haygroup221133]

is this movie really scary?

[PsionicX1]

@haygroup221133 Not really, but very well done, very well acted. Superb really. And if you're like me and you enjoy telepathic/hypnotic mind control elements in stories, then this is a must see film! Its available here on youtube.

[TenderTrap86]

Look at that shot at 0:45. Wow! The great thing about these older films are that their directors did whatever they wanted. There was no film school. Either you had directorial talents or you didn't. Simple.

[matrixschmatrix]

@TenderTrap86 Not really, technical limitations made a lot of interesting shots incredibly difficult unless you had unusually skilled people (and impossible in some situations), the materials were extremely expensive meaning that talented or not you could only try making a movie if you had a studio or a lot of money backing you, and in 1930 the movies were more than old enough that most of the skilled directors had long apprenticeships in the industry before directing anything

[silenceofthehills]

@TenderTrap86

I think that's a model shot too. Its just really well blended.

[StephenJTatum]

My favorite B&W, saw this movie at like 3am one night and was blown away.

Awesome vibe.

[UnpunishedMovie]

the sets and lighting are far ahead of their time, at least in American cinema. this movie is truly a classic work. Every film student should see this.

[PsionicX1]

Svengali looked like a telepathic mack when she opened that door!

[flaminia5]

actually he resembles Rasputin a little

[asdesas]

Is it sacrilege to say I would like to see what Dracula might have been like if it had been directed by Archie Mayo instead of Tod Browning? This movie should really be embraced as a classic.

[charliebernstein]

Actually, it IS embraced as a classic. In the original novel, the title character was the woman, Trilby. Like Browning, Mayo felt that the fiend, not the victim, was the main event (see also The Phantom of the Opera, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Blob, and ss on), and changed the name to Svengali.

The rest is rock 'n' roll history.

[peiboy]

This was an awesome movie!

[hungmunchkin]

There's a great analysis of this exact scene in Robert Spadoni's book Uncanny Bodies (page 41, if you're interested).

I'm reading it now, and it's very cool to be able to find this on youtube so easily to see what he's writing about. Thanks for uploading!

[jmen4ever]

Marian marsh, was SO cute! A shame she quit acting so young.

[astralagosto]

Hi henriflix,

Thank you for putting this clip of Svengali. This is a movie is rarely put on television and it's one of the best films ever made.

The German Expressionist sets and use of chiarooscuro is awesome. This film is one the first that restored the elegance of silent film to sound film.

[Mass01867]

Also, I believe John Barrymore, who portrays Svengali here in this 1931 epic, is the grandfather of Drew Barrymore.

Please Post if I'm mistaken.

[isimmich]

Mass01867...you are not mistaken.Drews dad was a dear friend for many years. Sadly he is gone :(

[Mass01867]

Read "Trilby" by George du Maurier.

Published about 1890, it's the first writing of Svengali and Trilby to my knowledge.

It's not too easy to find, but it's not totally unavailable if you look around.

It's very difficult at times to follow, and there are many expressions that are versed in French. But if you commit to it, it's well worth the time spent reading.

The 1931 movie "Svengali" captures the story of "Trilby" and portrays it in a way that no other movie has ever led from a book.

[countrad]

the concept of less is more is made visible in the perfect sequence that only shows Trilby's shoes as she hesitatingly approaches Svengali's door.

[creamofcardstv]

I like your video clip and have rated it as awesome. Please check out my latest one on some top 1930's movie star legends on trading cards. They include: John Barrymore, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Buster Keaton, Clark Gable, Lilian Harvey, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford ....