Warner Bros.
Starring: John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Crisp
Directed by: Archie Mayo
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Based on the novel Trilby by George L. Du Maurier. Music maestro Svengali (John Barrymore) wields his power of hypnotism over women to get what he wants. When he falls in love with the beautiful Trilby (Marian Marsh) he sets out to steal her from her intended as well as use her voice to make his fortune.
Kitty Cameo: In the first half of the film Svengali lives in an apartment where he owns a black cat which can be seen in several scenes. He can first barely be seen sitting in a chair behind Svengali and his female music student who can’t sing. But the cat can best be seen when Svengali is feeding it from a small dish on the floor in the following scene.
Later when Svengali has begun to work his powers over Trilby, he summons her to his room. When she arrives and opens the door she sees him sitting in a chair with the cat in his lap.
At the end of this scene when Trilby runs away, Svengali sits smiling and the camera pans to the floor where the cat is reaching into a mousehole. The filmmaker likely intended this as being symbolic of the way Svengali is playing cat and mouse with Trilby.
Final Mewsings: Cats are fortunately immune to psycho hypnotists.
Relevant Links:
To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on
Facebook and Twitter.