George Arliss

Margaret Lockwood

John Loder

Roy Emerton

Graham Moffatt

Frederick Burtwell

George Merritt

Athole Stewart

Wilson Coleman

Wally Patch

Meinhart Maur

Muriel George

Wallace Bosco

Leonard Sharp

Roy William Neill

R. E. Dearing

Maude T. Howell

Angelina Cameron

Alfred Roome

Jack E. Cox

Alex Vetchinsky

Louis Levy

Roger Burford

Michael Hogan

Russell Thorndike

Drama

Adventure

Doctor Syn

Gaumont-British Picture Corporation

CinemaSerf

George Arliss is the ostensibly harmless local vicar "Dr. Syn" in a small English village that is visited by the excise men, determined to identify those who are smuggling goods - brandy, silks, etc. - from France. Unbeknown to all, (except us), he is really the shrewd criminal mastermind behind this meticulously planned, and lucrative operation. Can he keep the nosey "Capt. Collyer" (Roy Emerton) from discovering the truth - and can he keep "Imogene" (Margaret Lockwood) from finding out a secret far worse? Russell Thorndike wrote a good novel, but somehow this film really never catches fire. It is has loads of mystery to it, but neither Arliss nor the usually reliable Lockwood are really on their game. Roy William Neill (who went on to do the marvellous Rathbone/Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" mysteries) is also well off his own game too, leaving us with a rather procedural costume drama that ought to have been much more lively and entertaining - we have crypts, creepy graveyards and misty marshes to work with, after all. I did enjoy it, but sadly nowhere near as much as I had expected.

English