Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1934
The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film)
Buy The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Count of Monte Cristo' is a 1934 American adventure film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Robert Donat and Elissa Landi. Based on the 1844 novel 'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas, the story concerns a man who is unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him. When he finally escapes, he seeks revenge against the greedy men who conspired to put him in prison.'Variety' film review; October 2, 1934, p. 37.'Harrison's Reports' film review; September 8, 1934, p. 143.
This is the first sound film adaptation of Dumas' novelfive silent films preceded it.
Plot
and Elissa Landi in 'The Count of Monte Cristo'
In 1815, a French merchant ship stops at the island of Elba. A letter from the exiled Napoleon is given to the ship's captain to deliver to a man in Marseille. Before he dies of a sickness, the captain entrusts the task to his first officer, Edmond Dants (Donat). However, the city magistrate, Raymond de Villefort, Jr. (Calhern), is tipped off by an informer, the second officer, Danglars (Raymond Walburn), and has both men arrested after the exchange.
Dants' friend Fernand Mondego (Sidney Blackmer) accompanies him to the jail. However, he, Danglars, and de Villefort all stand to gain from keeping Dants imprisoned: Mondego is in love with Dants' fiance, Mercedes (Landi); Danglars wants to be promoted captain in Dants' place; and the man who accepted the letter turns out to be de Villefort's father (Lawrence Grant). De Villefort consigns Dants without trial to a notorious prison, the Chteau d'If, on the false testimony of Danglars.
When Napoleon returns to France, giving Dants' friends hope for his release, de Villefort signs a false statement that he was killed trying to escape, which Mondego shows to Mercedes. Deceived, she gives in to her mother's deathbed wish and marries Mondego.
Eight years of solitary confinement follow for Dants. Then one day, the aged Abb Faria (O. P. Heggie), a fellow prisoner, breaks into his cell through a tunnel he has been digging. The two join forces; Faria calculates it will take five more years to finish. In the meantime, he starts educating Dants.
However, as they near their goal, a cave-in fatally injures the old man. Before he dies, he bequeaths a vast hidden treasure to his protg (Faria's enemies had tortured and imprisoned him in an unsuccessful attempt to extract its location). The body is sewn into a shroud, but while the undertaker is away, Dants substitutes himself for the corpse undetected. He is cast into the sea. He frees himself and is picked up by a smuggling ship.
Dants later follows Faria's directions and finds the treasure on the uninhabited island of Monte Cristo. With a fortune at his command, he sets in motion his plans for revenge. To begin, he arranges to have Albert (Mercedes and Mondego's son) kidnapped and held for ransom. Dants "rescues" the younger man in order to gain entry into Paris society, using his purchased title of Count of Monte Cristo.
First to be brought to justice is Mondego. While the French ambassador to Albania, Mondego gained renown for his bravery in an unsuccessful defence of Ali Pasha. Dants arranges a ball to "honour" his enemy, then arranges to have him exposed publicly as the one who betrayed Ali Pasha to his death at the hands of the Turks. Unaware of the count's role in his disgrace, Mondego goes to him for advice. Dants reveals his identity and they engage in a duel; Dants wins, but spares Mondego, who returns home and commits suicide.
Next is Danglars, now the most influential banker in Paris. Dants uses his services to buy and sell shares, sharing tips he receives from his informants. When these turn out to be infallibly profitable, Danglars bribes a man to send him copies of messages to Dants. Greed leads him to invest all of his money on the next report, just as Dants had planned. When the tip proves to be false, Danglars is bankrupted. Dants reveals his true identity to Danglars, who is left penniless and insane.
However, there are unexpected complications that threaten Dants' carefully conceived plans. Albert Mondego learns of his involvement in his father's downfall and challenges him to a duel. Mercedes, who had recognized her former lover upon their first meeting, begs him not to kill her son. He agrees. Albert deliberately changes his aim because his mother has told him who Monte Cristo really is, and the duel ends without injury.
De Villefort has risen to the high office of State Attorney. Dants sends him information about his true identity and activities, which leads to his arrest and trial. At first, Dants refuses to testify, in order to shield de Villefort's daughter Valentine (Irene Hervey), who is in love with Albert. However, when she learns of it, she urges him to defend himself. Dants does so, providing evidence of de Villefort's longstanding corruption.
At last, with all of his enemies destroyed, Dants is reunited with Mercedes.
Cast
*Robert Donat as Edmond Dantes / The Count of Monte Cristo
*Elissa Landi as Mercedes de Rosas
*Louis Calhern as Raymond de Villefort Jr.
*Sidney Blackmer as Fernand Mondego, Count de Mondego
*Raymond Walburn as Baron Danglars
*O. P. Heggie as the Abb Faria
*Irene Hervey as Valentine de Villefort
*Georgia Caine as Madame de Rosas, Mercedes' mother
*Lawrence Grant as de Villefort Sr.
*Luis Alberni as Jacopo, Dantes' assistant
*Douglas Walton as Albert Mondego
*Paul Irving as Napoleon
*Juliette Compton as Clothilde
*Holmes Herbert as Judge
*Clarence Muse as Ali
*Lionel Belmore as Prison Governor
*William Farnum as Captain Leclere
*Paul Fix as Angry Citizen
* Ferdinand Munier as Louis XVIII
* Eric Wilton as Dantes Servant (uncredited)
Production
This was the third film producer Edward Small made for United Artists. Fredric March was the original choice for the title role. Eventually Robert Donat was cast under an international star loan agreement negotiated by Joseph Schenck of United Artists.
Director Rowland V. Lee and playwright Dan Totheroh had written a treatment based on the novel. Totheroh had to go to New York so Edward Small hired Philip Dunne, then an emerging screenwriter, to compose the dialogue. According to Dunne there were only seven words of Dumas in the final dialogue: "the world is mine!" spoken by Edmund Dantes when he gets his treasure, and "one, two, three" when he disposes of his enemies.Philip Dunne, 'Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics', 'Limelight', 1992 p 32
Dunne added, "I told the director, Rowland Lee, I'd never read the novel. He said he'd act it out for me and he did such a good job I've never read it. In fact, I used all his dialogue, I just wrote it down.... But I got my first credit."
Filming started in May 1934.
Differences from the novel
The film changes some major details of the story. Prominent characters from the novel such as Bertuccio, Caderousse, Franz D'pinay, Andrea Cavalcanti, Louise d'Armilly, Eugnie Danglars, Maximilian Morrel, Edouard de Villefort and Heloise de Villefort are all omitted. Haydee's role is reduced to two brief appearances, and her romantic involvement with Monte Cristo is not referred to.
In the novel, Dantes and Mercedes did not rekindle their relationship. Danglars and Fernand betrayed Dantes anonymously via a letter rather than in person, and Dantes only discovered their betrayal once in prison. Mercedes was the daughter of a fisherman, not from a wealthy family as suggested in the film, and there was no indication that her mother was opposed to the Dantes marriage. Monte Cristo and Fernand did not engage in a sword fight. Monte Cristo was not put on trial, as he is in the movie's finale. It was Villefort rather than Danglars who went insane.
Reception, sequels and remakes
The film was very popular Philip Dunne said it "provided Eddie Small with a fortune almost as great as the Treasure of Spada". A sequel, 'The Son of Monte Cristo', was announced almost immediately, but took several years to be made.
'The Count of Monte Cristo' was voted one of the ten best pictures of 1934 by 'Film Daily's annual poll of critics.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
* 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills Nominated
* 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
** Edmond Dantes Nominated Hero
The film had two sequels, 'The Son of Monte Cristo' (1940) and 'The Return of Monte Cristo' (1946). 'The Count of Monte Cristo' was named one of the top ten films of 1934 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Subsequent adaptations of the novel were made in 1943, 1954, 1961, 1975, and 2002.
In the 2006 political thriller film 'V for Vendetta', an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, the titular anarchist refers to 'The Count of Monte Cristo' as his favourite film. Snippets of the film's first duel scene appear in 'V for Vendetta'.2005 film V for Vendetta
References
Buy The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1934