A crippled puppeteer (John Barrymore) tries to control the life of of a dancer (Donald Cook) he discovered and trained.
A follow up to his earlier 1931 film Svengali, The Mad Genius more than lives up to its title. It's absurdly pre-code: there's drug use, swearing, prostitution and a brutal axe murder. Barrymore is fantastic; he bugs his eyes out and has an absurd Russian accent (he's the only cast member to try an accent).
Charles Butterworth provides good comic relief, and Luis Alberni is good as the drug-addled stage choreographer. Mariah Marsh and Donald Cook are a bit wooden as the co-leads.
Michael Curtiz's direction is excellent. There's several nice directorial choices, such as showing the aforementioned axe murder only in shadow. Boris Karloff appears in an uncredited role in the beginning.
Don't miss this one. First time viewing. 3.5/5
A follow up to his earlier 1931 film Svengali, The Mad Genius more than lives up to its title. It's absurdly pre-code: there's drug use, swearing, prostitution and a brutal axe murder. Barrymore is fantastic; he bugs his eyes out and has an absurd Russian accent (he's the only cast member to try an accent).
Charles Butterworth provides good comic relief, and Luis Alberni is good as the drug-addled stage choreographer. Mariah Marsh and Donald Cook are a bit wooden as the co-leads.
Michael Curtiz's direction is excellent. There's several nice directorial choices, such as showing the aforementioned axe murder only in shadow. Boris Karloff appears in an uncredited role in the beginning.
Don't miss this one. First time viewing. 3.5/5