Dr Syn *** (1937, George Arliss, Margaret Lockwood, John Loder, Roy Emerton, Graham Moffatt) – Classic Movie Review 6624

George Arliss’s last movie sees him as Dr Syn, the 18th-century vicar of Dymchurch, Kent, by day but moonlighting as the notorious pirate Captain Clegg by night.

Old-style actor Arliss gives an antique barnstorming performance which is to taste, but there is an undeniable vigour in director Roy William Neill’s handling of the adventure yarn, and there is much old-fashioned pleasure to be found in the Boys’ Own Adventure fun of men in masks, trap-doors and sliding panels.

The screenplay by Michael Hogan and Roger Burford is based on Russell Thorndike’s novels in the style of latter-day Robin Hood stories.

It is shot in black and white by Jack E Cox and Jack Parry, produced by Michael Balcon and Edward Black, scored by Hubert Bath, Jack Beaver and Louis Levy, and designed by Alex Vetchinsky.

Dr Syn also stars Margaret Lockwood as Imogene Clegg and John Loder as Denis Cobtree. It is Megs Jenkins’s film debut, aged 20.

Also in the cast are Roy Emerton, Graham Moffatt, Frederick Burtwell, George Merritt, Athole Stewart, Wally Patch, Meinhart Maur, Muriel George and Wilson Coleman.

Dr Syn is remade in 1962 as Captain Clegg [Night Creatures] with Peter Cushing and in 1963 as Dr Syn, Alias the Scarecrow with Patrick McGoohan.

Dr Syn has a comic echo in Ask a Policeman (1939), which also features Moffatt.

Stage actor Arliss won an Oscar as Best Actor for Disraeli (1929), made 25 films, and died on 5 February 1946, aged 77.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6624

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