Doctor Syn (1937)

Well Deserved Praise

Crappy film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

As has already been pointed out Arliss was pushing 70 when he made this film and he is about 20 years too old to realistically play this role.It was also the penultimate year of Gaumont British as a viable production company.In 1936 they made 12 films,in 1937 when this film was made,8 and the following and last year 2.The company would close down Lime Grove studios and become involved in the financial disaster that happened in 1938.There was even a Board of Trade inquiry which was inconclusive.As a result Rank purchased the assets and that was the end of Gaumont British.This film creaks along.In fact the makers seemed to forget one little fact.Clegg had not been ordained as a preacher,merely swapped identities with the original preacher.So at the end he conducts the marriage of Loder and Lockwood,but of course they aren't in the circumstances legally married.Rather a better film is "Ask a Policeman" the Will Hay comedy based on smuggling.

The final film of the actor George Arliss was this version of the story of Dr Syn, who was a pastor by day and a smuggler by night. Later versions would star Peter Cushing for Hammer and Patrick McGoohan for Disney, this is the weakest version of the story.The movie is okay melodrama, but isn't anything to write home about. Certainly had it not been an a multi-feature DVD I would never have picked it up, but now that I've seen it I can't say it was a complete waste of time.Part of the problem is that Arliss was well past his prime when he played the lead. While the fact that he was pushing 70 should not be held against him; the fact that he looked very close to dead, or at least embalmed and was playing a man of action should. The role should have been played by Tod Slaughter and you would have had a classic film.In his day Arliss was hailed as a great actor of the stage, unfortunately sound came too late to allow him to be anything but okay. If you want an okay time killer or to see a once great actors last gasp then see this version of Doctor Syn, otherwise stay away.

There are some black and white films which as they grow older become more and more evergreen. (The obvious example is Casablanca). This is one such, although it may not appeal to the young and non-british. Some of its fascination lies in the attitudes, acting styles and techniques which are so neatly frozen in time. If the plot seems a little contrived here and there, or the dialogue rather stilted especially in the romantic scenes, it all adds to the feel of the period in which the film was made (rather than that in which it was set).The plot centres on the coastal hamlet of Dymchurch, where a detachment of the Royal Navy is about to make a search for smuggled goods. The inhabitants of the village are outwardly honest and simple folk, but many of them have nefarious secrets to conceal.The original novel "Dr. Syn", derived from Kentish local legend, was very much darker and bloodier than this film. Likewise, George Arliss's performance as the mild and unctuous parson bears little outward resemblance to the eponymous reprobate of the novel. However, Arliss's character becomes much more believable and deserving of the viewer's wholehearted sympathy towards the end of the film.There are some other acting highlights, notably Wilson Coleman's tipsy country doctor and Graham Moffat's Dickensian fat boy. This was one of Margaret Lockwood's early starring appearances and she smiles, bursts into tears and pouts beautifully throughout.The action sequences all start suddenly without any preceding build-up of tension, and end even more quickly. The comic aspects of the film are given greater emphasis than the action and this adds to the general lightness of atmosphere. The only menacing undertones are provided by the constant references to dark goings-on on the surrounding marshes, and Meinhard Maur's performance as the mutilated mulatto seaman, intent on revenge.All in all, the film is delightful nonsense which deserves more attention than it has received.