Hildegard Knef

Donald Wolfit

Terence Morgan

Derek Bond

Alfie Bass

Noel Purcell

Jeremy Brett

Paul Rogers

David Kossoff

Hubert Gregg

Harry Secombe

Peter Illing

Joan Haythorne

Hugh Cross

David Oxley

Richard Pearson

Toots Pounds

Michael Craig

Neville Phillips

Martin Boddey

Rica Fox

Joan Heal

Arnold Bell

Cyril Smith

Marne Maitland

Michael Hordern

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Noel Langley

Wilkie Cooper

Muir Mathieson

William Alwyn

John Pomeroy

George du Maurier

Beatrice Dawson

Frederick Pusey

Denis O'Dell

Douglas Peirce

Nora Bentley

Harold Fletcher

George Minter

Gordon Bond

Alan Hume

Anne Barker

Sash Fisher

Maude Spector

Ben Arbeid

Romance

Drama

Thriller

Svengali

George Minter Productions

United Kingdom

CinemaSerf

A better example of over-acting you will struggle to find in this overly theatrical adaptation of George Du Maurier's 1894 novel "Trilby". Hildegard Knef is a young, impressionable, girl who falls under the spell of the almost Rasputin-esque Donald Wolfit in the title role. He hypnotises her to rid her of pesky headaches, and give her the voice of an angel - and soon she becomes an international star of the opera. Robert Newton was originally slated for the lead, but I can't imagine he could have done better than Wolfit, who has the maniacal look (eyes, especially) and pithy dialogue down to a T. The support from Terence Morgan - as her much younger beau "Billee Bagot", Paul Rogers, David Kossoff and the truly wonderful singing of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf keep this entertaining enough, but the staging and style are just to limiting to let this version of a really menacing and evocative story soar.

English