This is one of the rarer books in the initial Dr Syn series. It sells for up to $500 on the ebay.com site. In hardback, the initial pressings were in error as Thorndike was spelt incorrectly as Thorndyke on the front cover and correctly inside. This early 1915 edition is the most sought after.
After many years he decided to give up the adventurous life and return to his original calling, even in this fate played a hand when he was shipwrecked onto the very beach at Dymchurch where it all began. Once again welcomed into the village by his old friend Sir Anthony Cobtree, the local squire, he settled down into his rightful role as vicar but inevitably this wasn't to last. One day his close friend Mipps who had been with him through all his piratical years and had settled in the same village came to him for help. Mipps had got himself involved in local smuggling activities and the Customs and Excise were hot on his heels. Syn adopts the disguise of a scarecrow and saves the necks of all those involved and then finds himself elected as their leader. From then on he became a kind of latter-day Robin Hood, not only looking after the spiritual needs of his parishioners but also lining their pockets with gold. For years he led the smuggling ring on Romney Marsh to the benefit of all except the authorities to which he was a great embarrassment. Eventually they catch up with him along with a ghost from his days as "Clegg" the pirate with the resulting untimely and somewhat sad death of Syn. Overall I have always enjoyed reading these well-written historical mystery books.
The only criticism I have is that the author seems to have abandoned Syn in his hour of need, help was nearby in the form of Mipps yet he did nothing why? Did Syn really die?
Fans of Walt Disney's version of the Russell Thorndyke story, made in 1962, are in for a shock from the Arliss version. The older movie is vastly inferior to Disney's Technicolor print, although its grainy black and white is fitting for the story's intrigue. More significant is the difference in characterization. Instead of Disney's masked, dashing, laconic, and equestrian vicar Arliss gives us a frail-looking old parson who is alternately kindly, clever, deceptive, intimidating and enraged, a truly complex role challenging enough for Arliss.
This original screen version of Dr. Syn could not be made today. Dr. Syn and his antagonist, Royal Navy Captain Collier, each have their good and bad points. But the villain of the piece is a muscular mulatto with no redeeming features. This bigoted dramatization is a contemporary of D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (Thorndyke's original novel about Dr. Syn was published the year after the Griffith classic was released), which also featured a ruthless (albeit educated) mulatto. In Dr. Syn, the mulatto is a rapist who was marooned on a desert island by Captain Nathaniel Clegg and his pirates after his ears and tongue were cut off.
Captain Collier, in pursuit of Clegg's ship, the Imogene, rescued the mulatto; thereafter keeping him chained and led like an attack dog. When Collier gives up the sea to lead revenue detachments in search of smugglers, he brings the mulatto along, with his keen nose for wines and liquors.
Twenty years later, Collier leads his men to Dymchurch, where Captain Clegg's grave is in the same churchyard where Dr. Syn is the pastor, offering a good word for rich and poor parishioners alike, although he can't resist teasing the tippling local physician about his claims that phantom horsemen are riding through Romney Marsh at night. Collier learns of the ghost story and begins to investigate, while the mulatto discovers that Clegg's coffin is empty and escapes custody to seek revenge.
We soon learn that Dr. Syn is really Clegg and the mysterious "Scarecrow," who leads Clegg's former pirates in a secret smuggling operation, using a real scarecrow as a signaling device and a place for concealment at night. While his subordinates are getting rich from the profits, Dr. Syn gives his share to the poor or for civic projects like a new schoolhouse. His double role also allows Syn/Clegg to serve as legal guardian of his beautiful daughter Imogene, whom Dr. Syn fears will have her heart broken by the squire's bachelor son, who is equally afraid Imogene will break his heart.
Dr. Syn considers himself to have been reformed when, as Clegg, he survived being hanged when friends used acid to weaken the ropes. Afterward he took up his religious and smuggling work. And, as the Scarecrow, he orders his smugglers to avoid violence, using the legend of the phantoms and various ruses (such as switching road signs to confuse anyone tracking his riders) to maintain their cover. His smuggling takes money from the king and diverts it to fighting local poverty, which Syn blames on heavy taxes.
But Syn's reformation is an illusion, at least in some ways. While he lies freely to cover up the local smuggling (it works; the local squire laughs off the phantom sightings), Syn's Scarecrow has a reputation for ruthlessness that his pirate band still respects 20 years after Clegg was hanged. When one of his smugglers tries to blackmail him, the gentle pastor almost kills him in a fight, then blames the mulatto for the assault. When Captain Collier puts the unconscious blackmailer in custody for questioning, Syn tells Mipps, his chief lieutenant, that the questioning must not take place. While Syn dines with Collier, who is starting to unravel the mystery, the blackmailer is spirited away and hanged on the marsh. When a seemingly angry Syn asks Mipps "Who did this?" the reply, in a whispered, mafia-like growl, is "How should I know?" ("Who will rid me of this priest?" demanded a medieval English king, after which one of his listeners murdered St. Thomas a Beckett). At the inquest, Syn, this man of the cloth and a faith based on love and forgiveness, is unable to talk about the mulatto without a tone of rage.
So how does George Arliss manage to turn this complex character into a hero? The only way to find out is to see the movie. Few actors could pull it off, but Arliss does and not by accident. He could play ruthless, conniving villains when he wanted to (he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for portraying an evil rajah in the Green Goddess, losing the award to himself in his portrayal of Disraeli that same year). The Arliss genius also included playing characters that get into trouble by being too clever by half, then wiggle out of the dilemma. In this story Dr. Syn becomes overconfident in his battle of wits with the equally clever captain.
Disney's "Scarecrow" is a thrilling adventure yarn, but his target audience was children. Arliss's Dr. Syn is simultaneously a romantic adventure and morality play for adults who can tolerate its lack of political correctness and its inferior print. It has a fine cast, most notably Margaret Lockwood as the maiden struggling with a romance that defies traditional English class lines, not to mention her unknown pirate lineage. But it works because it bears the final stamp of Arliss greatness.
This is a Walt Disney Home Video original. Starring Patrick McGoohan, George Cole, Tony Britton, Michael Hordern, Geoffrey Keen. Screenplay by Robert Westerby. Based on "Christopher Syn" by Russell Thorndike and William Buchanan. Co-producer: Bill Anderson. Directed by James Neilson. The year is 1736, and rebellion rolls across the English Countryside as the peasants of Dymchurch parish struggle under the strain created by King George III's oppressive taxes. To crush the resistance of the local commoners, the tyrannical General Pugh (Geoffrey Keen) is dispatched to the area, where he begins a reign of terror. But, from his refuge in the swamps of Romney Marsh, the parish vicar Dr. Syn (Patrick McGoohan), disguised as "The Scarecrow," rides with his courageous band of smugglers to the defense of the hard-pressed farmers and villagers. Swashbuckling deeds and explosive action highlight this classic Disney tale of intrigue and adventure.
Film Review
Captain Collier and his men arrive in the village of Dymchurch following a tip-off that the place is a hive of smuggling activity, but the villagers have been forewarned of their approach and they find nothing. The village has all the outward appearance of rural respectability and at its heart is the affable, ever-gracious figure of the local rector, Dr. Blyss. In the tiny churchyard is the grave of Captain Clegg, a notorious pirate hanged for his crimes. But Collier's suspicions are aroused further when a mulatto, whose tongue was cut out by Clegg, reacts violently on seeing the familiar features of the rector ...
From a great reviewer M Haoglin comes............................
The old Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow story, given the Hammer treatment. Also known in the U.S. as Night Creatures, and not also known as Dr. Syn, incidentally, because Disney had already acquired the rights to that novel (and hence, title) for a competing version of the same story. Captain Clegg is a direct remake of the 1936 film version, not the original novel. Pictured here [not shown] is the German poster, which translates as The Captain Clegg Gang. As late as 1972, Cushing had an interest in remaking this story:
Awaiting Revenge (1972)
An unproduced remake, or perhaps sequel, to Captain Clegg. It appears that Cushing had as much input in the writing of this scenario as he had in the 1962 version.
While the Thorndikes were touring the USA with a theatrical company, a murder took place outside their hotel. The body was left all night on the street below their window. Unable to sleep, they passed the time by telling stories. The character of Doctor Syn is said to have been created that night. The Thorndikes knew Dymchurch well and were frequent visitors. Russell lived in several different houses in the village, and was often to be found in the Ship Inn, which is featured prominently in the novel.
Such was the popularity of the original novel that Thorndike went on to write six others, which recount Doctor Syn's earlier life. The descriptions below of the seven novels are taken from the Arrow paperback editions.
Doctor Syn on the High Seas (1936?): "Recounts the early life of this brilliant young Oxford scholar, who throws away the Bible for the sword in his mad quest for vengeance. By killing a notorious bully in a duel, Syn wins the hand of the Beauty of Oxford and accepts the living of Dymchurch-under-the-Wall. But his wife runs away with a friend of his, and Syn, abandoning his pulpit, follows them to the Americas. His enemy has hidden himself among pirates sailing under the Jolly Roger. Syn himself follows suit, calls himself Captain Clegg, and becomes the Terror of the Seas." The story begins in 1754.
Doctor Syn Returns (1935): "Doctor Syn is wrecked in Dymchurch Bay, sole survivor of a burning brig. Narrowly escaping murder, he ingeniously establishes himself as Vicar of Dymchurch. He might have succeeded in escaping from his piratical past, had not Mipps, an old pirate, discovered Syn's hiding place. Together they settle down as vicar and sexton. But Mipps becomes involved with smugglers, is captured, and Syn's hand is forced. He rides the marshes at the head of his Night Riders." The story begins in 1775.
The Further Adventures of Doctor Syn (1936): "Is concerned with Doctor Syn's adventures as leader of his Night Riders. "Death to the Scarecrow" is once more the slogan of the authorities hunting him down on Romney Marsh. Syn's audacity in maintaining his double identity reaches new heights when he accepts a challenge to drink with the Admiral on his flagship. Syn, however, remains loyal to his King and assists in the destruction of a French privateer in the Channel. But his first loyalties are to his flock as both Parish Priest and Scarecrow, leader of the weird Night Riders." The story begins in 1776. This novel was the inspiration for William Buchanan's novel Christopher Syn.
The Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn (1938): "A Welshman comes to Dymchurch to identify Doctor Syn and to inform him that the pair of them, as the last survivors of a Tontine, are the joint inheritors of a vast sum of money. He has been sent on this mission by his landlord, Tarroc Dolgenny, who is an unscrupulous villain and has planned to murder Doctor Syn, get the Tontine fortune paid to the Welshman, and then by marrying the heiress, who was a pretty niece of the Welshman, he could be sure of the money, and could in turn get rid of his wife's uncle. Doctor Syn journeys to Wales to pit his wits against his would-be murderer." The story begins in 1780. This is described by Arrow as the fifth book in the sequence, even though its action and publication date are both later than "The Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn".
The Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn (1939): "Doctor Syn is confronted by the most dangerous enemy of his career, Captain Blain of the Royal Navy. The by now exasperated Admiralty decides upon strong action against Syn and his smuggler band. But even this is not enough. The Scarecrow and his exploits make him into a national hero. Syn, as the Scarecrow, grows bolder, and he makes it known that he will hunt with the Prince of Wales." The story begins in 1781. This is described by Arrow as the fourth book in the sequence, even though its action and publication date are both earlier than "The Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn".
The Shadow of Doctor Syn (1944): "Once again Doctor Syn, Vicar of Dymchurch, scholar, wit, friend of the Prince Regent (the only parson who could make him laugh) and notorious smuggler, rides as the mysterious Scarecrow at the head of his Night Riders on Romney Marsh. Despite the Reign of Terror raging across the Channel, and the fact that England is at war with France, his luggers brave the blockade with their valuable cargoes of rum, brandy, sundry spirits and silks, to exchange for shorn wool and English gold." The story begins in 1793.
Doctor Syn (1915, republished 1998): "When this story opens there were two things of paramount interest in Dymchurch. One was Romney Marsh - visited, so the villagers whispered, by flaming Demon Riders and Jack O'Lanterns. The other was Doctor Syn, their genial, kindly, well-loved Vicar. To be sure it was a little incongruous at times to hear this godly man break out into the most ungodly refrain from the favourite song of the redoubtable Clegg. But Clegg had been hanged as a pirate - so it was said - full ten years before. How Syn's real identity was finally revealed when the King's men came to Dymchurch, and the strange part he played in the mystery of Romney Marsh, make this a decidedly unusual and thrilling story." The action takes place around the turn of the 18th century. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To reveal that the Slype is a deep, dark and sinister alley with high and terrifying walls connecting the Deanery with the cathedral in a sleepy old Kentish town, is no betrayal of the secret of this book. For that eerie and disquieting chasm played an intimate part in the disappearance of a Dean, the concealment of a Canon, and the strange conspiracy revolving about the cathedral plate.
"The Slype" By permission of Julian Jones
The book, titled "Christopher Syn" by Russell Thorndike and William Buchanan, was published in 1960 by Abelard-Schuman of New York. In 1960 Walt Disney Productions acquired the film rights to "Christopher Syn" and to the character name of Doctor Syn. Their film "Dr Syn, Alias The Scarecrow" was released in the UK in 1963.
Several years later Buchanan attended the first of several Days of Syn in Dymchurch and promptly apologised for his poor description of Romney Marsh. He said that he wished he could re-write the whole of "Christopher Syn" from having seen the real place rather than having conjured it up from his imagination.