4/5 You're getting sleepy...sleepy... you're singing "O mio Babbino caro"
  by Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)
SVENGALI, the villainous hypnotist in George du Maurier's 1894 novel, "Trilby" has so come to epitomize a person who manipulates or exerts excessive control over another, his name is a noun in most dictionaries. In director Archie Mayo's 1931 adaptation of "Trilby," the evil hypnotist is portrayed by John Barrymore.

SYNOPSIS:
By hypnotizing a beautiful model named Trilby, a scheming voice coach convinces her that she's a world class opera diva. This is reality as long as her Svengali is near. The two tour Europe as husband and wife, and "Madame Svengali" becomes a singing sensation. When Billee, the man Svengali stole Trilby from, discovers the ruse he tracks his mesmerized girlfriend and her captor wherever they go.


In the 1983 TV movie of SVENGALI, Peter O'Toole heads a cast that features Jodie Foster, Elizabeth Ashley and Holly Hunter.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(6.9) Svengali (1931) - John Barrymore/Marian Marsh/Donald Crisp/Bramwell Fletcher/Carmel Myers/Luis Alberni/Lumsden Hare/Paul Porcasi