MartinHafer 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.

jacksflicks This is is a rather creaky, flawed effort, that reminds me a little of Jamaica Inn. And yes, this is George Arliss's last film, and he is indeed getting on. But he hadn't lost that unique Arliss delivery -- exuberant I'd call it -- that's so delicious to watch. And he had that angular look that lent itself to so many vivid characters, from Disraeli to Rothschild to Richelieu. He had a gaze that added the dimension of guile, even to his heroic characters, and also made him a great villain, as he was in The Green Goddess and finally (or as another reviewer says, eventually) in Dr. Syn.Every glimpse of the great Arliss is a treat, and you should grab anything you see him in, because his vehicles are very hard to find. And that includes this one. If for no other reason, see it to see the man who discovered Bette Davis.

theowinthrop Most people are acquainted with the story of Captain Clegg and Dr. Syn from the Walt Disney series with Patrick McGoohan entitled, THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH. Basically it is about an area of the coast of 18th Century England which is a haven for successful smuggling. The British government is seeking to stop this, and they keep failing to catch the leader and his followers. The reason is that the leader (McGoohan in the Walt Disney series, and George Arliss here) is not such a bad guy, and the laws being enforced are ruinous and unjust to the local populace.This version was Arliss' final film, and it is amazing to me that this movie and DISRAELI are the only two Arliss performances that are on video (I'm not sure if they are on DVD). Like DISRAELI it is a period piece, but his Dr. Syn is not a real historical figure. Still he keeps to most of Arliss's normal role characteristics. Syn is actually the ex-pirate Captain Clegg, who was supposed to have been hanged for piracy a decade earlier at Dymchurch. Clegg and his crew settled in the area, continuing careers as smugglers. But the smuggling laws are broken here because of the unfair effect on the population (they raise revenues for a tyrannical government, and don't take local expenses into consideration). The government sends a leading pirate hunter (Roy Emerton) to the area with a mulatto (Meinhart Maur) who knows what Clegg looks like. Maur was mutilated and abandoned on an island by Clegg years before. What we don't learn until later is that the mulatto had attacked Clegg's wife and daughter (the attack must have shortened Mrs. Clegg's life), so that Clegg was justified in what he did.The film shows how Emerton slowly figures out that Clegg is Syn, and how Syn and his crew do manage to escape again at the conclusion. But the film is a fun one for all that, and a fitting conclusion to Arliss's curious and worthy film career. Brief as it was he did raise the level of acting by his subtleties - and erased some of the bombast that plagued Victorian and Edwardian theater.

stryker-5 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.