Dr. Syn: Alias the Scarecrow
MEMORIES:
Kirkland remembers...This was shown on the Wonderful World of Disney when I was small, and it SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ... More »
Posted on 08/24/07
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Cast:
General Pugh...Geoffrey Keen
Joseph Ransley...Patrick Wymark
King George III...Eric Pohlmann
Katharine Banks...Jill Curzon
Simon Bates...Tony Britton
Harry...David Buck
Mr. Mipps...George Cole
Mr. Frank...Alan Dobie
Lieutenant Philip...Eric Flynn
Jailer, Dover Castle...Percy Herbert
Squire Banks...Michael Hordern
George... Richard O'Sullivan
John Banks ...Sean Scully
Grandmother...Elsie Wagstaff
Mrs. Waggett...Kay Walsh
Unknown...Robert Brown
Unknown...Mark Dignam
Unknown...Gordon Gostelow
Unknown...Simon Lack
Unknown...Bruce Seton
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Imagine you’re a small child watching the following scene: You’re in a barn. A scarecrow-man with a scary, curled mouth, and another man with an eagle’s head, are threatening to hang a third man from the center beam.
Would that stick in your memory? Most likely. When you’re six or seven years old, it can be hard to distinguish what’s real from what’s “just a movie.” Quick flashes of that twisted scene, terrifying visions of the snarled face of the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, just might creep up on you in the night when you least expect it.
That’s the effect Disney’s Dr. Syn: Alias the Scarecrow had on many a kid. Surprisingly, though, the scarecrow isn’t meant to be a frightening figure. Patrick McGoohan, before his roles in The Prisoner and Secret Agent, here plays a real character from the 18th century: the English pastor, Dr. Syn. In daylight hours, he’s an upstanding citizen; at night he’s a rogue smuggler, intent on redistributing the royal wealth, Robin Hood style, to the hardscrabble commoners of Romney Marsh parish who are being taxed into poverty by King George.
Aided by a small, underground band of peasants, The Scarecrow raids the King’s treasures and smuggles them into town by night, all the while giving the slip to the King’s soldiers and avoiding fiendish press gangs out to blackjack young men into Royal Navy service. The plot thickens when an escaped American revolutionary prisoner comes to Dr. Syn for help.
Meanwhile the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh also presides over the fate of a town official’s son, who has run away from the Royal Navy after been pressed into service by one of the gangs. Our mild-mannered pastor-hero has to perform a difficult balancing act: keep his identity secret, shelter the fugitives, and avoid a turncoat who’s threatening his operations.
McGoohan’s magnetic performance helps power this cross between historical drama and action-adventure film. First presented as a four-part miniseries entitled The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color in 1962, Dr. Syn reappeared later, re-packaged as a feature film under the name Dr. Syn: Alias the Scarecrow. The feature played a number of times on television during the 1970s. It’s hard to find on video, but its cult status ensures its survival as one of McGoohan’s great performances.
