Official Synopsis:
"Scarecrow! Scarecrow! The soldiers of the King feared his name!" And so began the hard-to-forget theme song to The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh. Walt Disney's thrilling three-part adventure was produced for his Wonderful World Of Color weekly TV show and aired February 1964. Filled with action, drama and suspense, it follows the adventures of Dr. Christopher Syn -- brave priest by day, righter of wrongs by night. And, for the first time, presented in widescreen format on DVD. To make your experience even richer, there's a bounty of bonus material. Enjoy Walt Disney's TV introductions in widescreen. Then watch Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow, the feature-length film created from the TV episodes for release in England. Discover the evolution of the Dr. Syn legend, from his origins in literature through Walt Disney's film version. And, finally, explore how and why Walt created a satellite studio in England in the 1950s. Featuring exclusive introductions by film historian Leonard Maltin, this is a timeless collection from generations past for generations to come.

  
Our Take:
According to the liner notes in the latest Walt Disney Treasures release, Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, this is one of the most requested properties from the Disney canon. I find that interesting, because I’ve never even heard of it.  Now, I’m not a die-hard Disneyphile but I have a pretty healthy understanding of the company’s past output and I know their history pretty well and I’ve never heard of Dr. Syn. 

Apparently, it was a three-part adventure from Disney’s Wonderful World of Color weekly TV show from 1964 that was later made into a movie.  It stars Patrick McGoohan as a very Zorro or Batman-esque type of vigilante character in a story set in the revolutionary war period.  The character is a priest by day and a masked avenger by night.  I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the show because a lot of television from the 1960’s is rather bland, but actually Dr. Syn is a pretty interesting show.  Not only does it feature good production values and some exciting adventures, but I found the acting and writing was a little better than I’m used to from this time period.  The character visuals are impressive and I found that the costumes in the show really go a long way towards giving an overall sense of the time period. 

Sure, Dr. Syn isn’t nearly as gritty and dark as we’re used to in this day and age of shows like 24 but it’s a pretty good adventure that’s good for the whole family.  People who like the old classics like Zorro will definitely enjoy this one.  The fact that it includes all three parts of the adventure as well as the full length movie is pretty nice, but what else would you expect from the Walt Disney Treasures line, which has done a fantastic job of bringing some really obscure properties to light and giving us as complete collection as can be had. 

There are a number of special features on this set.

* Introductions by Leonard Maltin (5 minutes)

* Walt Disney TV Introductions in Widescreen (4 minutes)

* Dr. Syn: The History of the Legend (16 minutes) - The origins of the character and the show.

* Walt Disney: From Burbank to London (12 minutes) - Learn about Walt Disney’s early forays into live action films and the part that England played in that.

Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh is not the type of thing I’m going to recommend that everybody goes and checks out, but it is good for people who want something a little bit different, and especially good for fans of the Disney canon.  It’s an exciting adventure action show that families can watch together and that offers up a little bit of a different flavor from what we get on television nowadays.  Of course, packaged in the lovely Disney Treasures tin and including some nice extra features that give you a sense of what Disney was like in the 60’s, this is definitely a set that’s worth a look. 

Overall Picture:
Movie: B+
DVD: B+

- Mike Spring

Editor