The Man Who Played God [The Silent Voice] *** (1932, George Arliss, Bette Davis, Louise Closser Hale, Violet Heming, Ivan F Simpson, Wade Boteler) – Classic Movie Review 3771

Director John G Adolfi’s mawkish, heart-tugging 1932 movie The Man Who Played God [The Silent Voice] stars George Arliss as Montgomery Royle, a concert pianist who goes deaf after an explosion, and is plunged into despair and bitterness over the loss of his art and profession.

Louise Closser Hale plays his sister Florence, who persuades him to learn lip-reading, which he uses to help others. And then Royle is saved from his despair by teaching his devoted much younger pupil, Grace Blair (Bette Davis), who believes she is in love with him.

Actually The Man Who Played God is not as nearly dreadful as it sounds. It is saved from sickliness by the skills of Arliss as the musician, the young Davis over-acting beautifully as his student in her first chance to make a big impression, and Louise Closser Hale, who is excellent as his sister Florence.

Lesser talents than these might have made this drama unbearable. It is based on the play The Silent Voice by Jules Eckert Goodman, from the short story by Gouverneur Morris.

Also in the cast are Donald Cook, Ray Milland, André Luguet, Oscar Apfel, Paul Porcasi, Russell Hopton, Hedda Hopper, Ivan F Simpson, Charles E Evans, William Janney, Fred Howard, Murray Kinnell, Wade Boteler, Grace Durkin, Paul Panzer, Harry Stubbs, Michael Visaroff and Leo White.

Salvatore Santaella played the piano solos for Arliss.

It was remade later (less well) as Sincerely Yours, a 1955 vehicle for Liberace.

It was the 24-year-old Davis’s seventh film, one of an incredible nine films she made in a single year – 1932. Universal dumped Davis after a six-film year of lacklustre performances but she was lucky to be picked up by Warner Bros and this was the first movie Davis made under her contract for them, where she did most of her best work.

Arliss starred in the play and its 1922 silent version of the play. Both Arliss and Ivan F Simpson played the same roles in the 1922 silent. 

The play ran for 71 performances on Broadway from 29 December 1914 to March 1915. The cast included Wade Boteler, who is also in the movie.

Arliss is nearly 40 years older than Davis, who plays his fiancée. When Arliss phoned Davis to ask her to audition for the role, she thought it was a practical joke.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3771

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