Doctor Syn (1937)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

During the 1920s and 30s, George Arliss made some magnificent movies (such as "The Millionaire" and "The Working Man")...and earned an Oscar for playing the lead in "Disraeli". Because his career was so distinguished, it's sad that it ended with a rather dull film...one that SHOULD have been so much better. But sadly, "Dr. Syn" just isn't all that interesting.The film begins briefly in 1780 and you see a pirate crew member called 'the Mulatto' left for dead by pirates. Twenty years pass and Captain Clegg the pirate has faked his own death and is now the parson, Dr. Syn. So, he's a preacher by day and the leader of a band of smugglers by night. However, the Mulatto is back...and so are men intent on capturing Clegg and putting Dr. Syn out of business.While all this sounds VERY exciting, the direction is sluggish and uninspiring. And, it lacks the energy and scope to make it a memorable film worth your time.

That lovable old rascal, George Arliss, certainly got around in costume dramas, focusing on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Between Disraeli, Voltaire, Alexander Hamilton, and Cardinal Richelieu, Arliss had played his share of historical characters on screen. Unfortunately, today most of his films are pretty much the same; he continuously sticks his thespian nose into government business, rises in power, and seems to spend more time working to reunite young lovers than he is in trying to accomplish anything to benefit society. Arliss is pretty much doing the same thing here, playing vicar by day and pirate by night. This is a convoluted version of an often filmed tale, and after a great beginning where a pirate betrayer is left to rot on a deserted island (strapped to a pole so he can't escape), it moves quickly downward into an 80 minute long boring piece of British celluloid that is often difficult to watch due to an excessive number of characters and many convoluted plot twists. this seems more like a vehicle for British horror star Todd Slaughter rather than Arliss who concluded his film career here.The young couple whom Arlisw sticks his nose into is played by the young Margaret Lockwood and John Litel, and a plot twist that is revealed three- quarters into the film is just too absurd to believe and to try considering Arliss is previous foray into these type of roles. While expertly crafted and beautifully filmed, It suffers from severe mood swings, sometimes appearing to be several pictures smashed into one, and ultimately ends up an eye rolling mess. this is also one of those British films where the variety of accents makes it often difficult for American audiences to completely understand, and that is rather distracting and ultimately takes away from the interest of seeing the plot fleshed out.

The final screen role of George Arliss finds him back in the United Kingdom in the title role of Doctor Syn. At first glance he's the mild mannered vicar who takes a paternal interest in pretty Margaret Lockwood and her budding romance with the young squire in the area, John Loder. But in reality he's got a far better second career going as a smuggler.Doctor Syn ought to be good at it. In reality he's the famous pirate Captain Clegg thought to have been hung years ago. And some of the village establishment in Dymchurch where Arliss has his parsonage really work for him in the smuggling trade.Roy Emerton of the Royal Navy has come to Dymchurch to uncover the smuggling racket. He's a dogged fellow and his probing uncovers some disturbing information.Arliss gives a fine farewell performance in his last screen role done for his country's cinema as opposed to Hollywood. It's fascinating though that Alfred Hitchcock with an eye towards the American market and our Code changed the pirate/parson in his film, Jamaica Inn, while apparently no one felt any compunction about doing that for Dr. Syn.Two remakes were made of this story, Hammer did one with Peter Cushing in the title role and Walt Disney had a three part television story that starred Patrick McGoohan.Best performance in the supporting cast is that of Graham Moffatt who comes off as a British Lou Costello. He plays an apparently dimwitted young kid who turns out not to be so dumb in the end. Doctor Syn was a fine film for George Arliss to leave the cinema with and it still holds up very well today.

In the year 1780, the notorious pirate Captain Clegg marooned a mulatto sailor on a desert island. The sailor's ears and tongue were mutilated, and he was trussed up and left for dead. Now it is 1800, and the scene is set in Dymchurch, an English coastal village. A detachment of sailors from the Royal Navy has arrived in the village to hunt down smugglers and contraband. The mulatto is part of the naval complement, having been rescued many years previously by the warship's crew. In the village churchyard a tombstone marks the last resting-place of Captain Clegg, who was hanged for piracy ... or was he?In this costume yarn the village of Dymchurch is a law unto itself, the whole community being actively involved in the smuggling industry. At night men dress in the eerie garb of the 'marsh phantoms', and take their orders from the sinister Scarecrow. Why does the village parson, Doctor Syn, react so violently to the presence of the mulatto?George Arliss plays Doctor Syn in this, his last film. As one career was ending another was beginning, an incredibly young-looking Margaret Lockwood appearing as Imogene the barmaid.The scenery is nice and atmospheric, successfully evoking the rickety feel of vernacular architecture of the period. The Ship Inn is particularly good.Undercranking the camera in order to liven up the fist fight seems a somewhat clumsy technique to the modern viewer. The humour, mainly in the form of Jerry Jerk the overgrown schoolboy (Graham Moffatt) doesn't come off. And would a coroner really allow a naval captain to turn an inquest into a discussion forum on smuggling? How does the captain know about the parson's injured wrist?Verdict - An odd little British film with nice atmospheric sets.