Grade: D+
Synopsis: A crippled puppeteer (John Barrymore) becomes determined to live his dream of becoming a great dancer vicariously through a young boy.
The Mad Genius is basically a retreat of star John Barrymore’s earlier film, Svengali (1931). Indeed, after the success of Svengali, Warner Brothers rushed The Mad Genius into production, releasing it less than six months after Svengali opened.
Under director Michael Curtiz the story takes on a decidedly mad-scientist bent, as Barrymore’s character’s obsession and gradual madness become more and more apparent as the film unfolds. As such, Barrymore’s great, but unfortunately, the film’s ending comes right out of left field and leaves you cold. Audiences were apparently unimpressed as well, as the film flopped and led to the end of Barrymore’s 10-year stint at Warner Brothers.
Though uncredited, Boris Karloff appears at the film’s beginning, playing the abusive Russian father of the boy Barrymore’s character would later take in. It’s a small role, but Karloff is suitably menacing, and it’s funny that the script later mentions Frankenstein, the role that would make Karloff a star later that year.
In the end, fans of Svengali might want to give The Mad Genius a look, but most would do better simply watching the original which, thankfully, doesn’t focus on a male ballet dancer.
