Trilby (1923)

Interesting facts

Trilby is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by James Young and starring Andrée Lafayette, Creighton Hale, and Arthur Edmund Carewe. It is an adaptation of the 1894 novel Trilby by George du Maurier about a young woman named Trilby who falls under the power of the domineering mesmerist Svengali.

Production

French actress Andrée Lafayette traveled to Hollywood to make this film (her first major role), then after making a picture in Canada soon after, returned to France where, after appearing in several more films, she more or less retired in the mid-1930s. "Trilby" was filmed earlier in 1915, directed by Maurice Tourneur, but the 1923 version is considered superior by critics. Variety called Andrée Lafayette "the ideal Trilby in face and figure".

Arthur Edmund Carewe had a very successful career as an actor until he died in 1937, appearing in several horror classics such as The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Mystery in the Wax Museum (1933). Creighton Hale also went on to appear in several silent horror classics as well, including The Cat and the Canary (1927) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929).

Director Young shot two different endings for the film, one following the novel in which Trilby dies, and one in which she lives (as in the revamped 1915 version by Maurice Tourneur). At the last minute, the producers opted for the version in which she dies, because "that ending was so familiar to movie audiences at the time".

The film was remade as Svengali in Germany in 1927, which starred Paul Wegener in the title role. The first sound film version of Trilby was made in the United States in 1931 (also retitled Svengali), considered by critics to be "the definitive adaptation" today.

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