Superlative actor George Arliss bid farewell to film with this adventure thriller based on Russell Thorndyke’s excellent novel. Here Arliss plays village divine Dr. Syn, shepherd of the folk of Dymchurch, at least some of whom engage in, and all of whom profit in some way by, smuggling. When a clever officer of the King brings his troops to the area in search of contraband and crooks, a game of trickery and deceit ensues, particularly as the officer comes to suspect that the gentle Dr. Syn may in fact be the notorious pirate Captain Clegg, reputed executed some years before and buried in Dymchurch. Arliss is superb as always, and he gets excellent support from, inter alia, Roy Emerton as Captain Collyer and Graham Moffatt as the boy Jerry Jerk, whose life ambition is to be a hangman.

  Recommended. Otto finds this one pleasing enough to relax.

Movie 130 for 2021.