The Mad Genius

The Mad Genius is a 1931 American drama with elements of horror and romance. It centres on Vladimar Ivan Tsarakov, a puppeteer whose physical disability has put paid to his own ambitions of dancing ballet. He rescues an abused boy, Fedor, and trains him into a celebrated dancer. Trouble comes when the grown Fedor falls for the ballerina Nana Carlova, a woman Tsarakov also loves, and the older man fears the relationship will derail the career he has built.

The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, the fourth of the twenty-five features he made in the period covered by the records, following Noah's Ark and preceding Doctor X. John Barrymore plays Tsarakov, with Marian Marsh as Nana, Donald Cook as Fedor, Charles Butterworth as Karimsky, Luis Alberni as Sergei Bankieff and Carmel Myers as Sonya Preskoya. The screenplay is by J. Grubb Alexander and Harvey F. Thew, and Warner Bros. Pictures produced. It runs eighty-one minutes.

Audience response has been moderate. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.3 from 865 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.4 from 23 votes. The two are close, suggesting a film that viewers regard as watchable without ranking among the director's strongest efforts.