Svengali (1914)

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Movie
Original title Svengali
Country of production Austria-Hungary
original language German
Publishing year 1914
length 57 minutes
Rod
Director Luise Kolm
Jakob Fleck
script based on the novel Trilby by George du Maurier
production Anton Kolm
Luise Kolm
Jakob Fleck
for Viennese art film
occupation

Svengali is an Austrian silent film from 1914 with Ferdinand Bonn in the title role.

action

The story is told by Trilby, a girl from a small family who prefers to work in circles of artists and students. One day she meets the mysterious Svengali, a musician who, through hypnosis, promises her a great career as a singer. Through Svengali's magical powers she actually succeeds in ascending, but this power also has its downsides. Trilby more and more loses her own will, which she only regains through Svengali's violent death. But she is soon so weak herself that she is struggling with death. Only at the last moment can she find her way back to life through love for a young man.

Production notes

Svengali , sometimes called The Hypnotiseur , was premiered on May 1, 1914 in the Beethovensaal in Vienna. The film was around 1050 meters long on three acts, which corresponds to a playing time of less than an hour. In Germany, Svengali was distributed by the Munich-based company Bayerische Filmgesellschaft Fett Wiesel.

criticism

Vienna's Neue Freie Presse wrote: " Bonn is coming back as Svengali, in the very role in which he established his young reputation with us about three lusts ago. The figure of Svengali fits the film wonderfully, the mysterious, the demonic, the film Adhering to traveling musicians, who is able to elevate the little model girl Trilby through the mysterious power of hypnosis to a celebrated singer, promises effective effects for the cinema. In this role Bonn proves again that a great actor on the speaking stage can also perform in the purely figurative and mimic representation the film wins us over as a great artist. The love idyll of the trilby with its painter, which is cruelly destroyed by Svengali's intervening, is touchingly portrayed by Viennese actors. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ the cast list shows a “Miss. Nording ”. Since at that time only one Betty Nording can be proven as an actress in Graz and Vienna, it should be about her
  2. ↑ "Svengali". In:  Neue Freie Presse , April 3, 1914, p. 22 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp

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