Trilby (1915)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Trilby O'Ferral (Clara Kimball Young) is a wannbe scarlet who one day hopes to be the next big star. She crosses paths with Svengali (Wilton Lackaye) who becomes obsessed with her and decides to use hypnosis to control her mind.
TRILBY was filmed countless times in the silent era and apparently this here was the seventh version. Yes, the seventh by 1915! The story would be filmed several other times going forward but the most popular one would be the version with John Barrymore. This version here certainly isn't anything great or even good for that matter but there are enough interesting things to make it worth watching.
The main reason to watch it would be for the locations and sets. The film looks extremely good and there's no question that it has a very authentic feel to it. Another major plus is the stylish cinematography, which makes the film seem like it had a much bigger budget than it probably did. Clara Kimball Young was okay in her role but I must say that I found Lackaye to be quite boring in the role of Svengali.
