3/5 Peter O' Toole displays magnificence in soap opera melodrama
  by Club 7 (USA)
(5 stars for Peter O' Toole, 3 Stars for Script and the rest of cast)
Svengali is a splendid experience thanks to the great performance by Peter o' Toole.
Svengali is about a young talent discovered by an agent then sent to be vocally refined by the master vocal coach Anton Boyziak (O'Toole).
The student and teacher form a kind of relationship and so on..
Jodie Foster does a good job acting and singing but the whole cast including Foster seem like students when acting in the presence of O' Toole.
O' Toole is not only intellectual but he displays heart and soul in his delivery of lines as well in his facial expressions and body movements.
It's simply a staggering, memorable, and most moving performance filled with angst,despair, happiness,rage,passion,refinement, and destruction.
Svengali is soap opera refined to fit the big screen with all of the melodramatic elements you have come to expect from a soap but made into a wonderful experience by the supreme acting performance of Peter O' Toole.