Svengali

Rating:
Summary: Nice restoration of atmospheric melodrama
Review: Svengali is not generally regarded as one of the great Hollywood classics of the 30s, but remains a very solid, atmospheric, entertaining fantasy-melodrama. John Barrymore is fascinating as the title hypnotist/charlatan, alternately sardonic, chilling, or tender, in a quite restrained and textured performance (especially for 1931). The rest of the cast is adequate, but Barrymore (in an extremely creepy makeup) dominates the film. The opening scene is funny and scary at the same time, and the scene where Svengali "calls" to Trilby at night, across the rooftops of Paris, is a stunner. (And yes, the infamous "nudity" is intact.) The atmosphere, art direction, and photography are often striking, and the usually workmanlike Archie Mayo adds the occasional nice touch.
Roan's restored DVD release easily rates an "excellent" though the print is still not quite flawless. For comparison I cued up my VHS copy (taped off PBS years ago and fairly respectable, or so I thought) and noticed that not only are the running times virtually identical, but that there is some light but noticeable water or chemistry spotting at certain points in the film that corresponds exactly on both prints. Apparently this damage resides in the available master elements. Other than that, if the TV print is at all representative, Roan has cleaned up a huge amount of speckling, scratching, blemishing, etc. Overall the print looks terrific: rich blacks, good tonal scale and shadow and highlight detail; not razor-sharp but very respectable. There is still some very light occasional speckling, vertical scratching, and the aforementioned spotting/staining. But these problems are few and far between and most people probably wouldn't notice unless they were looking for them. It also appears that frames may have occasionally been duplicated to replace missing/damaged ones. I'm guessing here, but every once in a while movements appear slightly "retarded" or "slo-mo", just for a split-second. Hardly noticeable and does not detract from the overall beautiful restoration job. Roan should be commended not only for releasing this neglected film on DVD, but for spending the time and $$ to clean it up so nicely. No extras beyond chapter stops and production notes. If there was even a trailer or anything the DVD would get 5 stars. The movie is a solid 4, leaning toward 5 if you're a student of Hollywood's Golden Age or a Barrymore fan.