The Mad Genius

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'.

The Mad Genius is far from the best of John Barrymore's sound films. But it certainly provides a character for him to go full blast in terms of style and yet not seem overacted. Barrymore's plays a cripple who wanted to be a great ballet dancer, but only is confined to doing puppet shows with his sidekick Charles Butterworth.

One day he and Butterworth rescue young Frankie Darro from a cruel father Boris Karloff. Barrymore sees in young Darro the promise and form of the dancer he wanted to be. This was before the Code so the homoerotic ideas in the scene are exploited to the max.

Fast forward a dozen years and Darro is now Donald Cook at the top of his game as a ballet dancer, a veritable Nijinsky. He's also got eyes for pretty Marian Marsh, but so has Barrymore.

Barrymore's years of training in the puppet theater have stood him in good stead as he's now a real puppet master, scheming and manipulating people to his will. His scene with Luis Alberni who is manager of the company to get him to do something he doesn't want to do is unforgettable. I won't reveal what he has over him, but this also was a subject later banned by the Code.

Not the best of Barrymore's work, but it should provide a real introduction to his acting. And he's given great support by the ensemble Warner Brothers and director Michael Curtiz gave him.

John Barrymore stars as Vladimar Tsarakov, a crippled dance enthusiast who runs a traveling marionette show with his partner Karimsky (Charles Butterworth). After a show in Central Europe, they notice a young boy (Frankie Darro) being chased by his abusive father, with the boy displaying strength and grace of movement. Tsarakov smuggles the child away, and raises him to adulthood. Named Fedor (Donald Cook), the young man has become perhaps the greatest name in ballet, but his life is completely dominated by Tsarakov, who does everything in his power to make sure the young man stays focused, even if it means chasing away his new beloved Nana (Marian Marsh). Also featuring Boris Karloff.

Barrymore gets to go wild-eyed and over-the-top, while Cook makes for a leaden leading man. Butterworth's comic relief is amusing but seems out of place. Karloff has a small, unbilled role as the young Fedor's abusive father. I liked how Tsarakov maintains control over manic director Alberni by plying him with cocaine.

Yet another 1930s film that I first saw on TV in the 1950s.. It was the first time that I had ever seen ballet on film and the first time that I had ever seen the great John Barrymore. My mother, who used to watch these movies with me and gave me my first background knowledge of them, explained who he was and that he had two famous siblings Lionel & Ethel. While I would later see many other John Barrymore vehicles including this film's precursor SVENGALI, it was over 40 years before I had the chance to see THE MAD GENIUS again and that was on a converted Region 2 VHS tape. Now I have it on this MOD disc from the Warner Archive Collection and it's a real treat.

John Barrymore plays Ivan Tsarakov, a vagabond puppeteer who rescues a young boy from his brutal father (Boris Karloff before FRANKENSTEIN). He trains the young boy to become the ballet dancer he never could be because of a club foot. They both become very successful with Barrymore turning into a dictatorial impresario much like Anton Walbrook in THE RED SHOES. Both are based on the real life head of the Ballet Russe, Serge Diaghilev although GENIUS predates SHOES by 17 years. This film was done as a followup to the earlier SVENGALI which also featured Barrymore and Marian Marsh.

The story is basic and would get recycled many times. Gifted dancer Fedor (played by Donald Cook and based on the great dancer Nijinsky) leads his ballet troupe to international acclaim under the guidance of tyrannical impresario Barrymore. When Fedor falls in love with a young dancer in the troupe (Marsh) everything goes to hell in a handbasket leading to a bizarre and horrific finale. The movie was directed by a pre-CASABLANCA Michael Curtiz and is full of German Expressionistic touches. Supporting turns by Charles Butterworth and especially Luis Alberni (also from SVENGALI) as a drug addicted choreographer add to the mix. Not a great movie but an extremely memorable one. Highly recommended for fans of Barrymore and 1930s pre-Code cinema...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

In another of John Barrymore's bizarre characterizations the great actor portrays a club-footed itinerant puppeteer who rescues an abused boy from vile existence,recognizes the lad's incredible of agility and footwork and begins to train the youngster to be a "new" Nijinsky.Years go by,the boy reaches manhood,and Barrymore the impresario of a successful ballet company.But when the ballet dancer begins to have ideas of his own,falls in love with pretty Marian Marsh,Barrymore,consumed with madness and jealousy attempts to manipulate their lives leading to shocking results. This extraordinary film oscillates between intriguing drama and moments of near horror with Barrymore in masterly control of his human puppets. Boris Karloff is the boy's monstrous father and Luis Alberni stands out as the drug-addicted ballet director.Magnificent direction by Michael Curtiz