Dr Doctor Syn

Doctor Syn is a character portrayed in a series of books by Russell Thorndike.

The DVD of release of Doctor Syn The Scarecrow, has at long last been released by Disney in November 2008

When the infamous pirate Captain Clegg, decided that piracy was getting a little too risky, he settled down to a rather more respectable life as the vicar of Dymchurch (a coastal village on Romney Marsh in the county of Kent, Southern England).

It would seem that this tame existence was a little too much to take after the heady days of making adversaries 'walk the plank'. With his faithful church sexton and ex pirate colleague Mr. Mipps, he formed a band of smugglers made up of 'The men of the Marsh'. By day Dr. Syn was a respectable vicar, by night he was the 'Scarecrow', the much feared and admired head of the smugglers.

In those days a lot of money was to be made from smuggling French brandy into England. Brandy entering England by official routes was heavily taxed. Throughout the stories Dr. Syn is no hero (nowadays you could equate him to a heroin smuggler), but we find ourselves routing for him. This is because like Robin Hood (a common thief), he uses his ill gotten gains to help the poor of his parish. Also like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars he is against the Empire, in this case personified by England's King George.

His adventures require him to, outride the King's excise men, avoid recognition as Captain Clegg, rescue members of his band who get caught, avoid being unmasked (as the Scarecrow), escape from prison and generally to be a swash buckling hero with two personas (like the Scarlet Pimpernel, Superman and Batman).

The book 'Doctor Syn' was first published in 1915. Unfortunately Russell Thorndike killed off the good / bad Doctor, before the final chapter. Such was his popularity however, that rather like Sherlock Holmes, he had to be resurrected. He then became the subject of a further six books by Russell Thorndike.

I used to have five of the other books, but unfortunately cannot now find them. From recollection my copies were released by Arrow books in paperback.

I never did manage to track down the original book 'Doctor Syn'. The great news is however that it was re-released in 1998 by the Romney Bookshop. The illustration above and just below (by Emily Goddard), are taken from the cover.

The book which can be obtained from the publisher Romney Book Shop (20 High Street, New Romney, TN28 8BY, Tel: 01797 362989), has additional interest in that as well as containing the original story, it also has a bio and photo of Russell Thorndike (1885-1972), as well as a 'Foreword' by his son Daniel Thorndike and a 'Preface' by Sybil Thorndike.

To the best of my knowledge he first appeared on film in the black and white 1937 production 'Dr. Syn' directed by Roy William Neill, starring George Arliss and featuring Margaret Lockwood. In 1997 this film is being distributed on video by 'Timeless Video Inc', P.O.Box 16354, North Hollywood, CA 91515-6354, USA. (ISBN 1-55784-771-2).

In 1963 there was a colour Disney production 'Dr. Syn Alias the Scarecrow' starring Patrick McGoohan (Danger Man, The Prisoner) as Dr. Syn and George Cole (St. Trinians, Minder) as Mr. Mipps. This film has also been released on VHS and is due for a 2008 DVD release. I have noticed that some people claim that the movie version was created some 6 years after the 1963 televesion version. This is certainly incorrect since I saw it at a cinema in Lewis, Sussex, England prior to 1966.

Hammer also released a film circa 1962 called 'Night Creatures' which was also titled 'Captain Clegg", which featured the same character.

USA	DR. Syn Movies on DVD Please click on an image to check availability	UK
	This collection of 3 movies includes the 1937 version of Dr. Syn, which starred George Arliss.
	Dr. Syn alias the Scarecrow was announced as being due for release by Disney on DVD in August 2004. However that never happened. Today the 8th of November 2008, I have just received an email from amazon.com to say my order for a DVD copy of this movie has been shipped. Disney have released this under the name "Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh".
	This collection of 8 Hammer movies includes Night Creatures, which starred Peter Cushing.

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway in Southern England runs a locomotive named Dr. Syn. I used to have links to relevant pages, but they kept disappearing, so it is probably best to search Google for something like Dr Syn Locomotive.