Cortechba Overrated

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

ksf-2 Stars John Barrymore and Charles Butterworth as a team of performing puppeteers. They see a man whipping a child, and come to his rescue. and yes, that's the monster-master Boris Karloff, as the boy's terrible father we see right at the opening. Some elaborately staged scenes, with large casts of uncredited roles, as they choreograph dance numbers on stage. Butterworth had a dry, sarcastic, under-stated humor, and had a career in Broadway before entering film. Has an interesting bio here on imdb... died quite young in a car crash. While wikipedia.org states it was an accident, imdb claims it may be been intentional. The story shows a russian cast putting together a show in berlin. Trials, tribulations, ups, downs, love triangles. Lots of talk... proving that this started out as a play. It's okay. Directed by Michael Curtiz, who had started out in the silent films, as had Barrymore and Karloff. Curtiz' best known work was probably the oscar winning Casablanca in 1944 !

mukava991 In "The Mad Genius" John Barrymore delivers one of his most enjoyable screen performances, playing a club-footed, alcoholic, womanizing Russian puppeteer who takes an abused youth under his wing and molds him into a great star with the Ballet Russe, an accomplishment he could never attain himself due to his deformity. Some may consider his performance hammy, but at least it's Grade A.The film opens expressionistically somewhere in "Central Europe" on a rain-drenched night with Barrymore and his dim-witted sidekick (the deadpan Charles Butterworth) rehearsing a traveling puppet show when a barefoot youth (Frankie Darro), fleeing a beating from his insanely sadistic father (Boris Karloff), stumbles into their tent. Barrymore and Butterworth hide him and leave town in a horse-drawn wagon shot at a tilted angle as it creaks along a muddy road.Zip to Berlin several years later. The youth is now a young man (Donald Cook) who is in love with a fellow dancer (Marian Marsh). Barrymore, still the puppeteer but of humans now, wants no one interfering with his controlling relationship and maneuvers Marsh out of the company while elevating a lesser dancer to her position. Meanwhile, Barrymore's dance director (Luis Alberni) is slowly going mad from a cocaine addiction enabled by his employer. The two are locked together, feeding on each other's weaknesses, paralleling the central relationship between teacher-mentor and star-protégé. Barrymore needs Alberni's skills as a dance master; Alberni can't function without the drugs Barrymore provides.The camera often shoots from low angles, with ceilings visible. Lots of chiaroscuro. Pre-Code subject matter includes extramarital cohabitation, prostitution, drug addiction, and (for the time) grisly violence. Suggestive dialogue abounds.Barrymore feasts on the role. Luis Alberni plays the frenzied addict to the hilt. Marian Marsh and Donald Cook are sometimes mechanical and artificial but not to the extent that they undermine their roles and both have strong moments. Carmel Myers is excellent in a brief drunken scene with Barrymore.Donald Cook looks so much like the Warners contract actress Kay Francis that they should have been cast in a movie together as siblings. Just sayin'.

LeonLouisRicci This Follow-Up to Svengali (1931) is a Similar Story, the Lush Art-Deco Production and the Stylish Direction from Michael Curtiz makes this a more Sprawling and Grander Film, but perhaps, not a better one. There are Many Highlights of Pre-Code Daring that are Evident throughout Dealing with Drug Addiction (Cocaine), Sex, and a number of Scantily Clad Dancers (mostly dancers warming up) and Spicy Dialog with Innuendos Galore. A Bloody Axe-Wielding Ending with a "Phantom of the Opera" Feel and to Lighten things now and then, Charles Butterworth's Smooth Talking Nonsensical Dolt. There's Boris Karloff, a heartbeat before Frankenstein (1931), in a very Small but Noticeable Role as a Sadistic Child Abuser, and Marion Marsh as a Doll-Faced Dancer that can Light Up the Screen. John Barrymore's Lead Performance is Captivating Evil and Playful at the same time. Donald Cook is the Love Interest. Barrymore's "Golem" is OK but Unremarkable.Overall, the Film is Rich with Ingredients as it Globe Hops and most of the Money (evident On Screen) was Not Recovered at the Box Office Forcing WB to Cancel Barrymore's Pricey Contract. Definitely Worth a Watch for Movie-Buffs, Pre-Code Enthusiasts, Art-Deco Fans, and Early Sound Techniques. The Look of the Movie is Outstanding.

kidboots This movie was so obviously an attempt by Warners to cash in on John Barrymore's earlier "Svengali", they even reunited a lot of the cast - Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Carmel Myers and Luis Alberni. This movie was to ballet what "Svengali" was to opera, purportedly based on the relationship between Diaghilev and Nijinsky, although in reality Nijinsky had already created a stir in the ballet world before he met Diaghilev.John Barrymore gets a chance to play another "warped" genius and his performance dominates the film, without him it would be just a forgettable romance played out against a ballet background. This time he is a crippled puppeteer who, as a child, was rejected by his ballerina mother because of his clubfoot. Since then he has crushed his dreams and now runs a traveling marionette circus. When he gives shelter to a village boy, Fedor, (Frankie Darro) who is hiding from his cruel father (Boris Karloff), Tsarakov (Barrymore) vows "I will make him the greatest dancer of all time"!!! and within 15 years, Fedor (now played by Donald Cook) has taken the ballet world by storm. You definitely don't see Cook perform many intricate steps but he handles the dramatic part of the story okay. Tsarakov is now manager of a "Ballet Russe" (shades of Diaghilev) but behind his kindly uncle demeanor is an evil tyrant who manipulates people through their own weaknesses.Fedor is in love with the beautiful Nana (Marsh) but that does not fit in with Tsarakov's plans and he plots to have Nana expelled from the company. He forges a letter and forces drug addicted choreographer Bankieff (Luis Alberni) to sign - or he will withhold the drugs that he knows Bankieff craves. His plan backfires however and Fedor and Nana run away together, Fedor getting a job in a seedy cafe (a rare chance to hear Cole Porter's "You've Got That Thing") and sinking into a depression when he realises that ballet is in his blood. There is an interesting plot development when Fedor starts to exhibit the same characterizations as Tsarakov, in his voice and speech but apart from a couple of characters remarking on it, it doesn't go anywhere. It all ends in a completely melodramatic way that would have pleased Barrymore no end.In a 1985 Films in Review article, Marian Marsh recalled the happy memories she had of working with Barrymore. He was enjoying a period of great calm, he was happily married to Dolores Costello, he wasn't drinking (much) and his wife and little daughter "Dee Dee" often visited him on the set. Miss Marsh said that far from being "the Great Actor" he was very kind to her and helped her in her craft.