Dracula

Watching the 1931 movie Dracula with Bela Lugosi tonight. Something compelling about the hypnotic charms of Lugosi's titular damned, aristocratic lord of the undead.

In one scene, Dracula chances upon a beautiful young flower seller in the street. His eyes shine intensely as he stares at her; the woman freezes, her face softening, as his will overwhelms her.

Not long afterwards, he programs a young woman to pass a message to Dr Seward, and to forget what was told to her immediately she has fulfilled her task.

That, I think, was the thing that got so many women hot under their blouse collars back in the day; the confidence and charisma of the Count.

After a weekend in which the world mourned the Muppetteer Jerry Nelson, 78, who was the voice of Count von Count, it seemed appropriate to sit back and enjoy watching how others saw hypnosis, back in the day. To those with little or no knowledge of the field, the ability to compel someone to obey your perverted whims must have seemed like the darkest kind of sorcery.