The Man Who Played God is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by John G. Adolfi.

George Arliss stars as a concert pianist embittered by the loss of his hearing, who eventually finds redemption by helping others; it also features a then little-known Bette Davis as the much younger woman engaged to the protagonist.

While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, renowned concert pianist Montgomery Royle is permanently deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler; for him, his love of music and his career are over.

Royle returns to New York City from Paris with his sister Florence, close friend and confidant Mildred Miller, and his considerably younger fiancée Grace Blair.

Thereafter, using a pair of powerful binoculars from his third story window, he spends his days observing and reading people's lips in nearby Central Park.

Months later, following Grace's return from an extended California visit with friends, he witnesses a conversation in the park between her and Harold Van Adam.

[4]: 122 In September 1931, disappointed with the way her Hollywood career had failed to progress, Bette Davis was packing to return to New York City when George Arliss called and invited her to discuss the role of Grace Blair with him.

She would remain with Warner Bros. for the next eighteen years, and Davis was beholden to Arliss for the rest of her life, crediting him for "the career that finally emerged".

But when we rehearsed, she startled me; the nice little part became a deep and vivid creation, and I felt rather humbled that this young girl had been able to discover and portray something that my imagination had failed to conceive ...

[5] Classical music performed in the film includes Fantaisie-Impromptu by Frédéric Chopin, Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, and Onward, Christian Soldiers by Arthur Sullivan.

Warners reportedly changed tactics when the film received positive feedback from the so-called Hays organization; the studio decided it would be a timely example that motion pictures could be wholesome entertainment.

[10][b] Martin Quigley, the trade paper publisher and Hays office insider, gave the film an enthusiastic recommendation in his Motion Picture Herald, and two of his staff did the same.

The most evident difference between these two was that the earlier film finished with the protagonist's hearing restored, a plot contrivance that garnered negative reviews and was ditched for the 1932 version.