Doctor Syn - The Movies!

One of my all-time favorite movies is Dr. Syn alias the Scarecrow.  The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh is the title given to the production when was aired three one-hour episodes on American television. This movie starring Patrick McGoohan in the days after he was a secret agent but before he became a prisoner is a rousing adventure yarn which delighted me as a youngster on The Wonderful World of Disney. The Scarecrow as portrayed by McGoohan actually frightened me and still gives me goosebumps. 

Before the days of VHS and DVD, the way to "own" a film was to buy the novel adaptation and I snapped up the one by Vic Crume for the Disney story. It goes to show how much they changed from Russell Thorndyke's novel that there even needed to be a novel adaptation. The original source for the story wasn't in fact a later Thorndyke novel but a variation of it by William Buchannan. I've never read this version. The gem pictured above is hidden somewhere in the many boxes of books in this house. I despair finding it really, save by accident. 

The story was also adapted into comic book form by Gold Key Comics. They also produced two additional issues with fresh stories. The Scarecrow is given more of a role similar to the novel in this movie and is more of the dashing rogue in the Robin Hood tradition. 

Hammer's 1962 Night Creatures (alternately title Captain Clegg) adapts Thorndyke's original novel (or possibly an earlier film I'll discuss in a moment). 

Hammer was beat out by Disney for rights to the name, but they did a pretty decent job of translating the events of the first novel to the screen. I was underwhelmed by this one when I first saw it, as it's a weaker effort than the classic Disney adaptation, but it is truer to the source material, even though Doctor Syn cannot be called that but is referred to as "Doctor Bliss". He is played rather energetically if more sanely by Peter Cushing. 

The very first adaptation called simply Dr. Syn starring George Arliss from 1937.  It's possible this film served as the inspiration for the later Hammer effort because there are scenes the two share which are not in the novel. Syn is played in this movie by George Arliss, a beloved actor who was approaching seventy. His relative fragility does hurt the movie at times, but overall, he's a worthy if somewhat stiff Syn. The movie underplays Syn's seeming madness and gives the viewer a typically more upbeat ending than does the novel. 

 NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Doctor Syn - The Novels!

Doctor Syn: A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh by Russell Thorndike is a book that is the original source for the great Disney production which attracted me to the character The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh so many decades ago. The actual true source of the Disney feature was an adaptation of the original by the author Richard Buchanan under the title Christopher Syn. I'll have more on the movie adaptations tomorrow. 

What we have in this 1915 novel is a character which is rather unlike the open and rather friendly Disney character who operates with cleverness and zeal to care for the poor people of Romney Marsh by using authority as a parson and his charisma as a bandit called The Scarecrow to protect them from oppression. The Doctor Syn of this story is a wild and spooky character who is respected by his flock but also somewhat frightened by him as he is wont to do wild things which beggar description.

When British soldier appear on the scene to rein in smuggling in the area it brings about a crisis as they bring along a strange man who can identify a presumably dead pirate named Clegg, a pirate who was famously hanged some years before. Syn, we discover has some connection to Clegg and while the mystery isn't all that deep, the discovery of the truth unfolds leisurely though out the tale.

There are some great characters in the story such as Mipps, stout-hearted and charming coffin maker who has more than a few secrets. Imogene, a barmaid who herself might have connections to the old pirate Clegg. And much of the tale is told from the perspective of Jerry Jerk, a young boy who loathes his schoolmaster Rash and daydreams of becoming a hangman so he can have the teacher dangling from the end of his rope. Young master Jerk is a Huckleberry Finn type of boy who is filled with raucous thoughts of violence but is armed with a no-nonsense attitude which makes him a sturdy ally for many.

On many levels this is a weird and violent yarn with secrets which lurk behind the think wooden walls of the small village which is often haunted by spooks who ride across the marsh in the dark of night. There's a neat creepiness to the story, but also a zany misdirection as it never seems to go where you imagine it should as attention is paid first to one character then another.

This is the first and also the last of the Syn novels. Many prequels were written some years later beginning in 1935 (twenty years after the original) by Thorndike. They are:

Doctor Syn on the High Seas (1935)

Doctor Syn Returns (1935)

Further Adventures of Doctor Syn (1936)

Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn (1938)

Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn (1939)

Shadow of Doctor Syn (1944)

Some time I need to get hold of them and check them out, if the writing is anywhere nearly as good as it is in this one. But I fear they are not. 

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Doctor Syn - A Smuggler Tale Of The Romney Marsh!

Doctor Syn: A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh by Russell Thorndike is a book I've wanted to read forever and a day and finally I picked up one from Amazon and dashed off with it to my nook to finally at long last find the source for the great Disney production which attracted me to the character so many decades ago.

What he have in this 1915 novel is a character which is rather unlike the open and rather friendly Disney character who operates with cleverness and zeal to care for the poor people of Romney Marsh by using authority as a parson and his charisma as a bandit called The Scarecrow to protect them from oppression. The Doctor Syn of this story is a wild and spooky character who is respected by his flock but also somewhat frightened by him as he is wont to do wild things which beggar description.

When British soldier appear on the scene to rein in smuggling in the area it brings about a crisis as they bring along a strange man who can identify a presumably dead pirate named Clegg, a pirate who was famously hanged some years before. Syn we discover has some connection to Clegg and while the mystery isn't all that deep, the discovery of the truth unfolds leisurely though out the tale.

There are some great characters in the story such as Mipps, stout-hearted and charming coffin maker who has more than a few secrets. Imogene, a barmaid who herself might have connections to the old pirate Clegg. And much of the tale is told from the perspective of Jerry Jerk, a young boy who loathes his schoolmaster Rash and daydreams of becoming a hangman so he can have the teacher dangling from the end of his rope. Young master Jerk is a Huckleberry Finn type of boy who is filled with raucous thoughts of violence but is armed with a no nonsense attitude which makes him a sturdy ally for many.

On many levels this is a weird and violent yarn with secrets which lurk behind the think wooden walls of the small village which is often haunted by spooks who ride across the marsh in the dark of night. There's a neat creepiness to the story, but also a zany misdirection as it never seems to go where you imagine it should as attention is paid first to one character then another.

This is the first and also the last of the Syn novels. Many prequels were written some years later by Thorndike. Some time I need to get hold of them and check them out, if the writing is anywhere nearly as good as it is in this one.

After reading the novel I dug out my copy of Hammer's Night Creatures which adapts the story pretty thoroughly. Hammer was beat out by Disney for rights to the name, but did a pretty decent job of translating the events of the first novel to the screen. I was underwhelmed by this one when I first saw it, as it's a weaker effort than the classic Disney adaptation, but it is truer to the source material, even though Doctor Syn cannot be called that but is referred to as "Doctor Bliss". He is played rather energetically if more sanely by Peter Cushing.

And the very first adaptation called simply Dr.Syn starring George Arliss from 1937 I have ordered and on the way.  It seems a close adaptation of the novel too can be found here . In fact it seems likely the source for the movie by Hammer. 

I'll have to dig out the Disney version next. It's been several years since I savored this  outstanding classic entertainment with Patrick McGoohan as the mysterious Scarecrow.

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