Through the miracle of YouTube, I have now watched all of the three film adaptations of Russell Thorndike’s Doctor Syn novels, while through the magic of Kindle I’ve read all the novels except for The Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn, which isn’t yet available in a digital edition. What follows is a guide, from one viewer/reader to another, to this interesting, sometimes exciting, sometimes aggravating adventure series about a vicar in a small town on the Kentish coast who is secretly a former pirate captain, and who runs an efficient – often ruthless – smuggling operation, riding by night in the costume of a ghostly scarecrow.
The author, Russell Thorndike, was an accomplished actor (Dame Sybil Thorndike was his sister, and you can still see him in small parts in several of Laurence Olivier’s Shakespearean movies) but his great love was writing. He authored a one-off novel about smugglers called Doctor Syn: A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh in 1915, and was surprised to find its central character become far more popular than he’d ever anticipated.
The first film version of any of the books was a 1937 English production starring the actor George Arliss in his final role. This one was called Doctor Syn and was based on Thorndike’s novel of the same name. Arliss was about 70 when he played this role, which is too old for the part, and he functions more as a mastermind than an adventurer here.
The second production, Captain Clegg (released as Night Creatures in the US) was done by Hammer Films in 1962. The always excellent Peter Cushing played a more age-appropriate – and more active – smuggler in what was essentially a remake of the 1937 movie (a surprisingly dashing young Oliver Reed plays the squire’s son). The plot is tightened somewhat, and the proper ending restored (the vicar dies), but as before his character is more sympathetic than the one in the book. He’s portrayed as a genuine penitent, motivated by his love for the poor of his parish rather than a bipolar saint/sinner whose main motives are avarice and revenge. His name here has been changed from “Syn” to “Bliss,” in order to avoid a copyright fight with Disney (see below).
The third version is the one which, I expect, most Baby Boomers are familiar with. Walt Disney did a three-part series called The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh on his Wonderful World of Color TV series in 1963. Patrick McGoohan, fine actor that he was, played Doctor Syn as a much younger man than the middle-aged cleric of The Further Adventures of Doctor Syn, which was the source by way of an American retelling called Christopher Syn, written by William Buchanan. The American book considerably softened the Vicar’s character, and Disney softened it even more. Nevertheless, artistically it’s a very successful work in the Zorro vein, especially with Terry Gilkyson’s evocative theme song over the credits. (Oddly, Walt Disney’s filmed introductions to the episodes state that Doctor Syn was a real historical character. As producer he should have known better.)
It would be easy to criticize the movie versions for watering down the essential, red-blooded, red-handed personality of the main character, except…
Except that Russell’s vicar – especially in Doctor Syn and Doctor Syn on the High Seas – can be a rather offputting person. He orders the cold-blooded murder of innocent people, hangs an informer, and slips into racist diatribes. I read somewhere (can’t find it now) that Thorndike himself was very fond of George Arliss’ much scrubbed-up portrayal. I suspect that by then he realized he’d made a mistake in his first book (which is last in sequence) by making the character too ruthless, and also by killing him off. Arliss’ movie version fixed both those problems. And as he added prequels to the series, Thorndike himself turned the character in a more sympathetic direction.
For your reading pleasure, I’ll outline the Doctor Syn books in order of sequence (not publication).
Doctor Syn on the High Seas (1935): The story of Christopher Syn’s career as the dread pirate Captain Clegg, scouring the earth in search of his unfaithful wife and the man she ran off with. I do not like this book, because of a virulently racist plot element.
Doctor Syn Returns (1936): Christopher Syn is conveniently shipwrecked right on the shore of his home town. He grasps the opportunity to take up his former career as a clergyman, but ends up taking control of the local smuggling network, because if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. He also falls in love – tragically – with the squire’s daughter.
The Further Adventures of Doctor Syn (1936): More of a collection of short stories than a continuous narrative. Doctor Syn takes on the Excise, the Navy, and a naval press gang. The Disney version is loosely based on this one.
The Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn (1938): This is the one I haven’t read. According to Wikipedia, it’s another short story collection.
The Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn (1939): Doctor Syn takes on a very nasty cad and villain in order to win a treasure in Wales and save an heiress from a fate worse than death.
The Shadow of Doctor Syn (1944): Our hero gets in a little Scarlet Pimpernel action in revolutionary France, and falls in love with another of the squire’s daughters – again tragically.
Doctor Syn: A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh (1915): Here, in the first story actually written in the series, we discover that the seemingly mild and inoffensive Vicar of Dymchurch is in fact the notorious Captain Clegg, now the kingpin of a ruthless smuggling operation. A naval crew sent to suppress the local smugglers brings along a nemesis from Doctor Syn’s past, bringing down on him a terrible doom. I’ve already reviewed it here.
There you are. If all this appeals to you (and I must say I got a kick out of both the books and the films), I recommend them, with cautions primarily for occasional old-style conventional racism.