Returning to his Son of Monte Cristo roots as a dashing hero of the people, Louis Hayward is irritating with part of his performance as the poor man's Scarlet Pimpernel. Instead of France, it's Italy, and Hayward is a foppish count who goes in disguise as a rebel on the high seas secretly protecting Queen Binnie Barnes. He's fighting against minister of police Massimo Serato who wants to depose the queen, yet has her fooled into thinking that he is her protector.
Sounding a bit like Laurence Olivier, Massimo Serato is a decent but cliched villain, and Mariella Lotti is your standard swashbuckler heroine, lavishly dressed and quaffed but nothing special. Hayward overdoes the foppish nest of his disguised character, and after a while, you almost begin to root for the villain.
While the lavish costumes and hairpieces seeing recycled from the dozens of similar movies of the past decade, the sets are extraordinary, closer to the Sternberg look of "The Scarlet Empress" from 15 years before. that seems to be where director Edgar Ulmer put his focus, because while the film is a lavish treat visually, it misfires as a historical view of how the French revolution influenced other countries to rebell against uncaring rulers.
There is a ballet put on towards the conclusion of the film that has a unique look about it, and there, the photographer gets to really what is cinematic magic. Unfortunately, while it's made clear that Barnes is not an evil queen, she certainly does not have the strength that a ruler would need to make sure that's her people are not treated with the cruelty that they find here. The film seems to rip off moments from other successful swashbucklers, but in comparing this to them, it completely misses what made those classics magical. After a while, the constant repeated laugh of Hayward just makes him seem creepy, not heroic.
Sounding a bit like Laurence Olivier, Massimo Serato is a decent but cliched villain, and Mariella Lotti is your standard swashbuckler heroine, lavishly dressed and quaffed but nothing special. Hayward overdoes the foppish nest of his disguised character, and after a while, you almost begin to root for the villain.
While the lavish costumes and hairpieces seeing recycled from the dozens of similar movies of the past decade, the sets are extraordinary, closer to the Sternberg look of "The Scarlet Empress" from 15 years before. that seems to be where director Edgar Ulmer put his focus, because while the film is a lavish treat visually, it misfires as a historical view of how the French revolution influenced other countries to rebell against uncaring rulers.
There is a ballet put on towards the conclusion of the film that has a unique look about it, and there, the photographer gets to really what is cinematic magic. Unfortunately, while it's made clear that Barnes is not an evil queen, she certainly does not have the strength that a ruler would need to make sure that's her people are not treated with the cruelty that they find here. The film seems to rip off moments from other successful swashbucklers, but in comparing this to them, it completely misses what made those classics magical. After a while, the constant repeated laugh of Hayward just makes him seem creepy, not heroic.