The Man Who Played God Reviews

Concert pianist Arliss performs a private concert for king Luguet but loses his hearing when an anarchist throws a bomb into the palace in an assassination attempt. Depressed and at the end of his career, Arliss returns to his hometown of New York with his fiancee Davis. After a suicide attempt, Arliss discovers that he can read lips. He spends all of his time staring into nearby Central Park, eavesdropping on people's conversations. He becomes generous, bestowing upon the unfortunate various gifts. When he "overhears" a conversation between Davis and Cook, the man she really loves, Arliss allows her to break off the engagement, knowing that she is staying only to serve him. Arliss then donates a pipe organ to a church where he proceeds to play hymns that he cannot hear, but feels. The religious overtones are excessive, but the subject matter allows for them and diminishes any feeling of intrusion. Arliss does a fine job, returning to the role he first played in the 1922 silent version. Davis makes her first Warner Brothers appearance, and there are also bits from Hedda Hopper and a young Ray Milland. Remade as SINCERELY YOURS with Liberace.