Svengali (1931)

Svengali is a 1931 American horror drama starring John Barrymore as an evil hypnotist who uses his powers to control a talented young singer (Marian Marsh). The film is based on the popular 1894 novel Trilby by George du Maurier. Other versions of the film include four silent movies (1914, 1915, 1923, and 1927) as well as a 1954 theatrical remake and a 1983 made-for-television movie.

Plot Summary
Trilby (Marsh), a young model living in Paris, meets and befriends the kindly old singing coach Svengali (Barrymore), unaware that Svengali is actually a scheming and unscrupulous hypnotist. Trilby allows Svengali to hypnotize her to rid her of a headache, but once she is under, he discovers that she has the potential to be a great singer, and begins to program her to obey him. Eventually he makes her fake her own death so that they can flee Paris together.

Some years later, Trilby's boyfriend Billee (Bramwell Fletcher) discovers that she is alive and well- and married to Svengali and touring Europe as the famous opera singer "Madame Svengali."Trilby has no memory of Billee or her old life, and Billee realizes that she is completely under Svengali's control. He discovers that sitting in the front row of Trilby's performances causes Svengali's mind control over her to weaken, so he begins to follow the pair around Europe in the hope of breaking the spell for good.