Best movies like The Mad Genius

Cruel passions! Mad longings! A monster playing with the souls of his fellow beings!

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Mad Genius Starring John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Charles Butterworth, Donald Cook, and more. If you liked The Mad Genius then you may also like: The Vagabond King, The Woman in White, Never Let Me Go, The Next Corner, Nijinsky and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

A crippled puppeteer rescues an abused young boy and turns the boy into a great ballet dancer. Complications ensue when, as a young man, the dancer falls in love with a young woman the puppeteer is also in love with.

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The Vagabond King

Louis XI of France drafts Paris's popular "king" of criminals as Provost Marshal in his fight against usurper Charles of Burgundy and the traitorous nobles who rally around him.

The Woman in White

A young painter stumbles upon an assortment of odd characters at an English estate where he has been hired to give art lessons to beautiful Laura Fairlie. Among them are Anne Catherick, a strange young woman dressed in white whom he meets in the forest and who bears a striking resemblance to Laura; cunning Count Fosco, who hopes to obtain an inheritance for nobleman Sir Percival Glyde, whom he plans to have Laura marry; Mr. Fairlie, a hypochondriac who can't stand to have anyone make the slightest noise; and eccentric Countess Fosco who has her own dark secret. The artist also finds himself drawn to Marion Halcomb, a distant relation to Laura for whom the Count also has plans.

The Next Corner

While honeymooning in Paris Elsie is rescued from attentions of a man.Her hero is Don Arturo who takes her to Countess Longueval after her husband must go for work to Argentine.When her husband returns he is shocked how have Elsie change.Elsie goes to a party in Arturos hunting lodge,where he forces himself on her.Arturo is shot by a Stranger and Elsie confesses all to her forgiving husband.Juan Serafin is found shot.

Nijinsky

The film suggests Nijinsky was driven into madness by both his consuming ambition and self-enforced heterosexuality, the latter prompted by his romantic involvement with Romola de Pulszky, a society girl who joins impresario Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes specifically to seduce Nijinsky. After a series of misunderstandings with Diaghilev, who is both his domineering mentor and possessive lover, Nijinsky succumbs to Romola's charms and marries her, after which his gradual decline from artistic moodiness to complete lunacy begins.

Russian Dolls

Five years after their summer together in Barcelona, Xavier, William, Wendy, Martine and Isabelle reunite.

Becky Sharp

The first feature length film to use three-strip Technicolor film. Adapted from a play that was adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's book "Vanity Fair", the film looks at the English class system during the Napoleonic Wars era.

Beyond the Rocks

A young woman dutifully marries an older millionaire and then falls in love with a handsome nobleman-- who'd previously saved her life-- on her unhappy honeymoon.

Camille

Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.

Can-Can

Parisian nightclub owner Simone Pistache is known for her performances of the can-can, which attracts the ire of the self-righteous Judge Philipe Forrestier. He hatches a plot to photograph her in the act but ends up falling for her — much to the chagrin of her boyfriend, lawyer François Durnais.

The Obsession

A ballet teacher's obsession with a young student leads him to date the girl's unaware mother in order to get closer to the object of his twisted affection.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

At the urging of his gargoyle pals, Quasimodo leaves Notre Dame tower against the wishes of his guardian, the evil Judge Claude Frollo. He ventures out to the Festival of Fools and finds his first true friend, a Romani woman named Esmeralda, who entrusts him with a secret. When the secret is revealed, Quasi soon finds himself fighting to save the people and city he loves.

Cobra

Rodrigo, an impoverished Italian nobleman takes a job with a New York antique dealer he met overseas. Swearing off women, Rodrigo focuses on his job. But complications arise when he falls in love with his friend's secretary-- and his friend's wife looks to make a date with him.

Dance Macabre

Jessica is an American ballerina who reluctantly enrols in a Russian dance academy, where she meets the charismatic choreographer Anthony. A dead ringer for Anthony's long dead lover, Jessica becomes Anthony's favourite student - and his personal obsession. But what should be the chance of a lifetime for Jessica becomes a living nightmare, as each of her fellow dancers is brutally murdered.

Grand Hotel

Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.

Faust

A very free adaptation of Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus', Goethe's 'Faust' and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.

Love from a Stranger

Ann Harding plays a lovely but somewhat naive young woman who goes on a European vacation after winning a lottery. Swept off her feet by charming Basil Rathbone, Harding finds herself married before she is fully able to grasp the situation. Slowly but surely, Rathbone's loving veneer crumbles; when he casually asks Harding to sign a document turning her entire fortune over to him, she deduces that her days are numbered.

Screamtime

Compilation of three short horror films: "That's The Way To Do It", "Dreamhouse" and "Do You Believe In Fairies?" plus some new linking material.

Lili

Members of a circus troupe "adopt" Lili Daurier when she finds herself stranded in a strange town. The magician who first comes to her rescue already has romantic entanglements and thinks of her as a little girl. Who can she turn to but the puppets, singing to them her troubles, forgetting that there are puppeteers? A crowd gathers around Lili as she sings. The circus has a new act. She now has a job. Will she get her heart's desire?

Birds of Paradise

Two dancers at an elite ballet academy in Paris must compete for a contract to join the highly coveted Opéra National de Paris as they confront their competitive nature, sexual awakenings and how far they would go to win.

If I Were Free

A recently divorced interior decorator falls in love with a married barrister.

The Phantom of the Opera

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge

In Berlin during WWII, the Nazi regime is attempting to develop a drug that will reanimate the dead in order to use them in the war effort. Toulon arouses suspicion as a Nazi dissident, and his secret is discovered. During a Nazi raid on his home, Toulon's beautiful wife is murdered. Toulon vows revenge, with the help of his animated puppets.

Retro Puppet Master

A direct-to-video prequel in which, Toulon runs a puppet theatre in the heart of Paris and meets the sorcerer (the mysterious Afzel). When his life is saved by the lovely Swiss Ambassador's daughter Ilsa, we bear witness to the origin of the Puppet Master.

Stella Maris

Stella Maris is a beautiful, crippled girl, who is cared for by a rich family. They shield her from the harsh realities of the world, so that she has no idea of the cruel things that some people do. Unity Blake is a poor orphan all too familiar with the harsh realities of the real world. These two young women both fall in love with John, love which is complicated by the fact that he is still married to (though separated from) a bad wife.

The Tales of Hoffmann

A young poet named Hoffman broods over his failed romances. First, his affair with the beautiful Olympia is shattered when he realizes that she is really a mechanical woman designed by a scientist. Next, he believes that a striking prostitute loves him, only to find out she was hired to fake her affections by the dastardly Dapertutto. Lastly, a magic spell claims the life of his final lover.

The Turning Point

As young dancers, they were best friends and fierce rivals. Deedee left the stage for marriage and motherhood, while Emma would become an international ballet icon. But when Deedee's teenage daughter is invited to join Emma's dance company and begins an affair with a young Russian star, the two women are forced to confront the choices they've made, the resentments they've hidden and the emotional truths they must face at the turning point.

The Elder Son

A thief on the run convinces a single father that he is his long-lost son. Complications ensue when he falls in love with his newfound "sister".

Strange Interlude

After Nina Leeds finds out that insanity runs in her husband's family, she has a love child with a handsome doctor and lets her husband believes the child is his.

Her Majesty, Love

The wealthy von Wellingens are shocked when the father of their son Fred's fiancée Lia juggles desserts at a formal dinner. They encourage Fred to break the engagement. Lia goes to Berlin to marry a Baron von Schwarzdorf, and Fred arrives too late to stop the marriage.

The Lady of Scandal

A famous British actress gets involved with two members of a reserved British noble family, whose plan to get rid of her backfires.

The Lady Refuses

A wealthy London nobleman hires a pretty but poor young girl to distract his playboy son from marrying a golddigger. Complications ensue when the girl and the father begin to fall for each other, and things get even more complicated when the son declares his love for her, too.

Love Bound

A gold-digging woman wins a big settlement against an older married man, which threatens to destroy the man's family. His son, discovering that the woman is part of a ring of blackmailers and that she is planning to flee the country, takes along his hulking chauffeur and follows her onto an ocean liner. There the two pretend to be a pair of wealthy playboys so that the woman will make a play for him and try to blackmail him, too, so he can then expose her and prove his father's innocence. Complications ensue.

Whom the Gods Destroy

Broadway's most successful producer, John Forrester, is deeply in love with his wife Margaret and dreams of the future when his son Jack will step into his shoes. He sails to England to produce a show but the ship strikes a derelict wreckage and is sinking rapidly. In the ensuing wild panic, Forrester saves many lives, until finally, panic stricken by sudden fear, he dons a woman's clothes and is among the rescued. On the coast of Newfouldland, the villagers, not aware of his true identity, curse him but he is befriended by Alec who helps him conceal his identity. With a planned story of his survival, he returns to New York but cannot face his family or friends after he sees the plaque to his heroism on his New York theatre. Deciding to remain thought of as dead, he becomes a derelict himself, surviving on odd jobs as he watches from afar his now-grown son begin his career as a producer.

Shanks

Malcolm Shanks is a sad and lonely man, deaf, mute and living with his cruel sister and her husband, who delight in making him miserable. His only pleasure, it seems, is in making and controlling puppets. Thanks to his skill, he is offered a job as a lab assistant to Dr. Walker, who is working on ways to re-animate dead bodies by inserting electrodes at key nerve points and manipulating the bodies as if they were on strings. When the professor suddenly dies one night, Shanks gets the idea to apply their experimental results to a human body, and then to start exacting some revenge.

Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel

Sir Percy is forced to return to France one last time, to rescue his wife from the clutches of the sinister Robespierre. It's clearly a trap, but nothing will keep the good old Pimpernel from carrying out his mission-- He is up against the usual cadre of clods and dolts, after all.

Graustark

While traveling by train from Denver to Washington, DC, wealthy young Grenfall Lorry meets a beautiful young girl. When they are accidentally left behind in a mining town, they race through the mountains and finally catch it. They travel to Washington and have a great time, but they soon part. They meet again later in the small European country of Graustark, where Grenfall and his friend Harry rescue her from kidnappers, and they then discover that she is actually the country's Princess Yetiva. She is engaged to Prinze Lorenz of Asphan in order to pay off Graustark's enormous debt from the war, but Lorenz is murdered and Grenfall is framed for the crime. Complications ensue.

Hard Contract

A cold hearted American hit man goes to Europe for "one last score". His encounter with a beautiful young woman casts self doubt on his lifeblood, and influences him to resist carrying out the contract.

The Fire Brigade

Terry O'Neill is the youngest of a family of Irish firefighters. He falls in love with Helen Corwin, but complications ensue when Terry learns that her father, a wealthy contractor, has cut costs by putting his buildings in danger of fire.

What Every Woman Knows

Aspiring young Scottish politician John Shand enters into an unusual agreement with the wealthy Wylie family -- if they fund his education, he must marry their daughter, Maggie. Staying true to his word, John weds Maggie and begins a successful career, thanks largely to his savvy wife. The couple's relationship is placed in jeopardy when John faces temptation in the form of the lovely aristocrat Lady Sybil Tenterden.

Sharp Shooters

A "love-'em-and-leave-'em" sailor hooks up with a dance-hall girl in Paris while waiting for his ship to sail. She falls in love with him, and when his ship leaves port she decides to show up at its next stop and reunite with her lover. However, when she arrives at the ship's next destination, she discovers that her "lover" has already found another local girl to spend his time with. Complications ensue.

Margot

At the age of forty Dame Margot Fonteyn is considered to be past her best as a prima ballerina and Ninette de Valois is reducing her roles at the Royal Ballet. Then the exciting young Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, a recent defector to the West, comes into her life and her bed and revitalizes her career. Frederick Aashton creates a new ballet for them and they become the golden couple of the ballet world. However, Margot is married to Roberto 'Tito' Arias, a Panamanian politician of dubious repute who is not sympathetic to her calling and is probably faithless. When he is shot and paralyzed for life Margot must carry on dancing well into her sixties in order to pay for his costly treatment though she still collaborates with Rudolf in the occasional ballet.

Just the Way You Are

Susan is a professional flautist who has been handicapped since childhood and is forced to wear a leg brace to get around. After breaking up with her boyfriend, she accepts the offer to travel to Europe on a concert tour. While in Paris, she comes up with an idea to disguise her leg by putting it in a cast and travel on her own to the French Alps to be treated without pity. Not looking to find romance, Susan however has become the interest of Peter, a news photographer. They soon fall in love and Susan is forced to decide if she should tell Peter the truth about herself.

I Loved You Wednesday

Vicki Meredith, an American ballet student in Paris, falls in love with Randall Williams, another American studying architecture in Paree, and they set up some light housekeeping together until she learns that Randall has forgotten to mention that he has a wife back in the USA. This miffs Vicki to the point where she ups and heads for South America where she meets and falls in love with Philip Fletcher, a construction engineer from America. But he hustles off to build Boulder Dam. They meet again in New York City and discover their separation has made their love even stronger. Then, Randall and his wife show up and sophistication rears its ugly head.

Garden of Lies

An American girl marries the prince of a small European country. On their wedding day, the couple is involved in a car accident, the result of which is that the new bride suffers amnesia and can't remember who she is or anything about herself. While her new husband is off tending to his ailing father, the king, the woman's doctor hires a man to pose as her husband, hoping to jar her memory. She falls in love with her new "husband"; complications ensue.

You Can Tutu

A heart-warming family film about one girl's dream of dancing in the lead and realizing the only way to do it, is believing that you can.

Let's Face It

A soldier stationed on an army base and his fiancé, who runs a women's "fat farm" nearby, want to get married but don't have enough money. Three customers of the "fat farm" scheme to get back at their philandering husbands by hiring the soldier and two of his buddies as "escorts" for the weekend. Complications ensue when the husbands show up unexpectedly.

A Woman's Way

Set in Paris, the story concentrates on the romantic triangle involving cabaret singer Liane, bon vivant Tony and petty crook Jean.

Queen of the Chorus

A chorus girl falls for a young man pretending to be his boss, a millionaire. WHen his boss returns from a European trip and finds that the woman he loves is engaged to his secretary, complications ensue.

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