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31 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
Dantes' Revenge, 24 January 2003
Author: lugonian from Kissimmee, Florida

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (United Artists/Reliance, 1934), directed by Rowland V. Lee, from the immortal novel by Alexandre Dumas, and personally supervised by Edward Small, capitalized on the current trend of literary works adapted to the motion picture screen. It stars British import Robert Donat, making his Hollywood debut, in fact, his only one as a leading performer on U.S. soil. He would spend the duration of his career in British-made productions, thus, later winning an Academy Award as best actor in another memorable performance in GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (MGM, 1939) opposite Greer Garson.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with either the book or the motion picture(s), here is a brief summary: The story, which begins in 1815, finds Edmund Dantes (Robert Donat) a young sailor on a French ship who has honored the dying request of his captain, LeClere (William Farnum), to carry a private letter to Napoleon on Elba. While ashore, he meets with Mercedes De Rosas (Elissa Landi), the woman he loves. Because Fernand (Sidney Blackner) loves Mercedes, he, along with others in his scheme, succeed to have Dantes arrested for carrying a secret letter and for this reason, unjustly imprisoned in the Château d'If. While in prison, Dantes is treated harshly and cruely by the guards, and Mercedes, although still in love with Dantes, finds herself marrying Fernand, later to bear him a son. Later, Dantes encounters Abbe Faria (O.P. Heggie), an old man imprisoned there for many years who spends his free time cutting his way through prison walls and digging a tunnel that would someday get him through to freedom. Over the years, Abbe Faria educates his friend Dantes by showing him a chart of the location of fabulous treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. While digging through the tunnel, there is a cave-in that crushes Abbe Faria's ribs, later the cause of his death. As the guards prepare to take the old man's body away, Dante switches places with the deceased, and hides himself in the burial sack. After being thrown into the ocean, Dantes breaks himself free.He is then rescued and picked up by Captain Camp (Mitchell Lewis), who makes him part of his crew. After shaving off his long beard, Dante locates the island of Monte Cristo and he goes ashore to possess the treasure, making him a very rich man. He then returns to France in the guise of The Count of Monte Cristo to then avenge his three enemies, Fernand, Raymond DeVillefort (Louis Calhern) and Danglars (Raymond Walburn), the men who had him unjustly sent to prison where he stayed for twenty years. How Dantes achieves his vengeance adds to the suspense and pleasure of the avid "revenge is sweet" viewer.

Also seen in the supporting cast are Georgia Caine as Madame De Rosas; Luis ALberni as Jacopo; Clarence Muse as the muted Ali; Douglas Walton as Albert De Mondego; Juliette Compton and Lionel Bellmore, among others. The memorable musical score by Alfred Newman would be repeated in latter films, notably the "Ave Maria" underscoring portion used for LES MISERABLES (20th Century, 1935) starring Fredric March.

Hailed by many as the very best and most memorable screen adaptation to the Dumas novel, this obviously goes without question. Aside from it being faithful to the book, the movie itself holds interest throughout, and Robert Donat's performance, ranks one of his best in his long but occasional screen career. Had this movie been produced a few years later, chances are that the Dantes character would have been played by the likes of future swashbuckling kings as Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power, or even Douglas Fairbanks Jr., for example, but although Donat's Edmund Dantes is one of the best ever to be recaptured on film, asthma and ill heath would prevent him from performing similar duties in future Hollywood swashbuckling adventures.

Unfortunately, film prints to THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO that have circulated on television and video since the early 1980s was the abridged 97 minute version, eliminating about 20 minutes worth of footage. If one were to locate a rare video copy either at a local library or a video store, chances are they would acquire a 1990s VHS format from Video Treasures, also being a shorter and "colorized" copy. While it's hard indicate what's been actually edited, the cuts are obvious, particularly through sudden blackouts during the plot followed by fade-ins to the middle of scenes that play like reading a middle of a chapter of a book without a new beginning. Also missing from those VHS copies is the cast of actors and their roles, something that existed on TV prints prior to 1980. Restoration to the film's original length (114 minutes) and crisp black and white photography finally turned up on Turner Classic Movies on July 6, 2008.

The success of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO spawned sequels "in name only" in later years, including THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO (United Artists, 1940); THE RETURN OF MONTE CRISTO (Columbia, 1946), both featuring Louis Hayward as a descendant of Edmund Dantes; among others, as well as countless remakes and imitations, but this 1934 version still should hold interest today. Rarely seen in recent years, it did have a "colorized" television presentation on the Disney Channel in the early 1990s as part of its "Best of Hollywood" program, but like the Video Treasures copy, was not the complete version.

Regardless of print availability, the 1934 first sound version to THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO remains an adventure classic from the "golden age of Hollywood" that has stood the test of time. (***1/2)

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25 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
The Best Known Version, 22 May 2005

Author: theowinthrop from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I like Robert Donat. He had marvelous stage presence, and a fine speaking voice (ironically, as he suffered from asthma). He was a terrific actor, who did get an Oscar for his portrayal of MR. CHIPS, but due to poor health made far too few movies. And we are the poorer for it.

His performance as Edmond Dantes, in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, is the one most people recall seeing. It is the best known performance in that role on film. But is it the best performance? I think it is one of the two best performances. The other one was by Gerald Depardieu in a film version for television that was shown on two nights a few years back as a mini-series. It told far more of the details of the thousand page plot than this film version with Donat did. But that might be a serious defect.

It sometimes helps to plow through a long classic work to see what all the shouting is about. Alexander Dumas Sr.'s novel was an adventure tale set in the years 1815 to 1830/35. It was more than an adventure novel. The son of a French Revolutionary War General, Dumas recognized that the Bourbon restoration of 1814, and 1815 - 1830 was a step backward for French liberties - that despite Napoleon's egomania he had straightened out France's constitutional rights and had restored it's glories. So the novel, looking at the careers of it's three (or four) villains notes who is considered favorably by the new regime: the business swindler Danglars (who becomes a banker), the questionable military hero De Mondego, and the ruthless, hypocritical legal master De Villefort. The fourth villain, Caderrouse, is a born criminal, who is in and out of jail. He is really a human parasite in the story. He doesn't even appear in this version with Donat.

The idea of the novel is that circumstances twist the fate of Edmond Dantes into the hands of these swine. Danglars is jealous that his employers by-passed him, and made Dantes (a younger man) the captain of the merchant ship they work on. De Mondego is in love with Mercedes, and she is to marry Dantes, so he hates his shipmate as well. De Villefort finds that Dantes unwittingly knows information about the return of Napoleon from Elba that could blast his career with the Bourbons (the information implicates De Villefort's father, a longtime supporter of the Emperor). So it is that these three act together to put Dantes out of the way - in the infamous Château D'If prison.

The novel shows how Dantes tunnels into the cell of the Abbe Faria, how the latter teaches him the sciences, history, culture, and bequeaths to him a buried treasure he was protecting. After a remarkable escape, Dantes gets to the isle of Monte Cristo off Italy and finds the treasure. And he uses it to destroy his enemies.

Because the three have Achilles heels it is not too difficult, but if the film was shown as the novel reads a film director would have a serious problem: After four hundred pages of plot, one begins to resent Dantes - now the Count of Monte Cristo. He is so determined to destroy these three (and Caderrouse, who helped starve Dantes' dependent father to death), that innocent third parties are hurt all over the place. Also some of the plots make the villains less villainous because their personal lives are involved. De Villefort finds members of his family being poisoned, and suspicion falling on his beloved daughter. This plot line was jettisoned in the 1934 film version. Probably just as well, as Louis Calhern's characterization of De Villefort was quite sharp and business-like, but not loving as the actual character is to his legitimate children in the novel (however, he does try to dispose of an illegitimate baby at one point - an act that eventually helps destroy him).

For a good, "classic comics" style version of Dumas' novel, Donat's film will do well. But try to catch Depardieu's version, and (better yet) try to read the complete novel.

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22 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Never surpassed, 14 April 2005

Author: palinurus2 from United Kingdom

I was lucky enough to obtain a video copy of an excellent black & white print of this movie, as I believe the colourisation of current copies falsifies the viewing experience. The photography and lighting are so exquisite, only the 1930's movie-making artists - it was an art form then - could accomplish it and it has to be appreciated like an antique: old, but immensely valuable for that.

They truly don't make them like this any more, and after having seen some of the subsequent screen versions, I still don't believe this one has ever been surpassed. I have also read Dumas' novel and would say that except for some minor alterations to the plot, the movie is largely true to the book.

Robert Donat is a dashing Dantes, whose ageing in body and spirit during the course of the movie is utterly believable (but he even improved on his ability to portray a physical and mental journey a few years later, when he made "Goodbye Mr. Chips"). Elissa Landi is a sweet and witty heroine, and the villains are so beautifully characterised (notably Sidney Blackmer's Mondego) that it becomes all the more satisfying when Dantes deals with them according to their own villainous traits.

I particularly enjoyed the intelligent flashes of irony with which the grim story is suffused, such as Dantes' double-speak as he flatters his enemies, at the same time telling them truth which they choose to misunderstand. The script is fantastic, the acting luminous. I feel sorry for those who hesitate to watch black & white classics like this one - they miss out on the very essence of what the art of movie-making and acting really used to be about.

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14 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Edmund Dantes's Code of Street Justice, 30 November 2005

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

As a story The Count of Monte Cristo still has great power. Case in point, the movie Sleepers where four young men from Hell's Kitchen were sexually abused in a reform school they were sentenced to. They found in the Alexandre Dumas novel a man they could understand very easily given their street code. Edmund Dantes code of street justice translates very easily to just about every culture in the world, be it the mean streets of New York or the post Napoleonic Era in France.

Robert Donat is Edmund Dantes an ordinary seaman who carries a letter from Elba about Napoleon Bonaparte's imminent return to France in 1815. Now he doesn't know he's carrying the letter, it was given to him by his dying captain. Three men who have their own reasons not to see the truth come out imprison Donat without trial in an island prison off Marseilles.

After years there Donat effects his escape and plans to wreak vengeance on them, but not just to kill them, to expose them because all three have risen to importance in France. He's the Count of Monte Cristo now, having been bequeathed a hidden treasure by another inmate.

The kids from Sleepers as well millions of others have learned what Dumas tried to convey, that hot blooded revenge killing won't do. If you have to take vengeance make sure it is an extremely calculated series of moves.

Monte Cristo is the perfect kind of role for the cerebral Robert Donat. Donat makes us believe his transformation from the young and hopeful Edmund Dantes to the calculating Monte Cristo. If it were not for the Oscar Donat received for Goodbye Mr. Chips this one would have been the signature role of his career.

Also look for some good acting by Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern and especially Raymond Walburn in their parts. Walburn especially. He's usually the jovial gladhanding type, often a knave, but never a villain as he is here. Not a Walburn you're used to.

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Ultimate Revenge, 12 December 2002

Author: John Lunghi from Fairfield, CT

The story of an Innocent man, being finally vindicated is stretched to the nth'degree in this Dumas classic story, and there has never been, nor ever will there be, a finer screen adaptation than this. The cast, set, and cinematography, are classic examples of early 30's filmmaking at its best. Rowland Lee's direction, an excellent multi-national cast, and Donat's inspired performance as Edmond Dantes makes this one of the finest action/adventure/payback films of all time. A MUST SEE, for any serious moviegoer. Steal the time to visit the Chateau d'If and escape into a truly great adventure movie.

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Fine old film, 27 January 2002

Author: artzau from Sacramento, CA

Robert Donat was a fine actor who went on to win our hearts with Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. People often forget that he was slated to play the lead in the Sabatini novel, Captain Blood, which went to Errol Flynn, thus establishing his career and mark on Hollywood (and what a mark!). Donat, according to his biographers, detested Hollywood and made several films in Great Britain. His role in the Hitchcock 39 steps is legend. This film, which is a slightly more faithful adaptation of the Dumas book than the one only recently (1/02) released, is superior to its predecessor in several ways. Alas, the other reviewer here is likely too young to have seen in its original B/W but it is a fine film. the lovely Elissa Landi plays Mercedes and Sidney Blackmer, Donat's betrayer. The character actor, O.P. Heggie plays the priest and fellow prisoner of Dantes. Veteran Louis Calhern, here youthful, plays the other betrayer and villain. There's no video or DVD, so if this shows up on the late show, by all means, check it out.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Classy Telling Of Classic Tale, 22 July 2005

Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

Fabulously wealthy and mysterious, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO becomes intimately involved in the lives of three powerful men in Paris.

Alexander Dumas' classic novel comes to abridged life in this powerful adventure film. There is very little swashbuckling and a good deal of talk, but it is all done so intelligently and the film, with its lavish production values, is so entertaining to watch that the diminution of dash & drama is easily overlooked.

Robert Donat portrays stalwart Edmond Dantes, the much abused hero, from a young ship's officer caught up in Napoleonic intrigue, to a wretched inmate doomed to oblivion in a hideous prison, and finally the middle-aged and tremendously powerful Count, and he plays it all exceedingly well. This is an actor, now in danger of becoming somewhat obscure, who performed valiantly in films throughout his career, consistently providing characterizations worth watching.

Donat dominates the film; in support are Elissa Landi as the woman who never gives up loving him; Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer & Raymond Walburn as the three men from Marseilles who each have their own reasons for wanting Donat dead; and elderly O. P. Heggie as the saintly priest who becomes Donat's mentor & friend in prison.

Smaller roles are vividly enacted by Lionel Belmore as the corrupt Governor of the Château d'If; corpulent Ferdinand Munier as a highly distraught King Louis XVIII; Luis Alberni & Clarence Muse as smugglers who become Donat's willing accomplices in his quest for revenge; Douglas Walton as Landi's conflicted son; and Holmes Herbert as the judge at Donat's Paris trial. Sour-faced Clarence Wilson appears for a few moments as a supporter of Donat.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A wonderful movie, 6 February 2000
Author: p38at6 from USA

This should be a classic. It is a superb motion picture. It has a brilliant cast. An excellent interpretation of what the author of the book wrote. The director and producer was of the top class.

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10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
A Pledge Of Revenge Classically Filmed, 19 January 2001

Author: rsoonsa (rsoonsa@bandbbooks.com) from Mountain Mesa, California

Far more than most adaptations of novels, this version of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO adheres to the novelist's plot and details, and does so to its advantage, as the original is wonderfully full-blooded. The role of Edmond Dantes is played well by Robert Donat, who nicely projects the many moments of peril with which his character deals. The imprisonment and escape scenes at the seabound Château D'If, although of a result certain to the viewer, are neatly mounted to create genuine compassion and suspense. Splendidly cast, a wide range of talent brings splendid balance to each act. The passing from the early tableaux of adventure to the thrust of the story: carefully crafted and complex methods of revenge, is effectively delivered by the scenario. Those who decide to watch this classic film will avoid missing excellent acting from Sidney Blackmer and O.P. Heggie, as well as outstanding art direction and costume design.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Focus on Edmond and Mercedes, 12 April 2008

Author: Igenlode Wordsmith from England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The good news is that this turns out to be, as I hoped it might, my "long-lost Monte Cristo" -- the film I once caught the end of, thanks to the BBC, on holiday twenty years ago, and have never been able to find again since. The bad news is that, alas, the part I missed then isn't actually nearly so good as the remainder...

The Reliance Pictures production of "Count of Monte Cristo" is a queer mixture of success and banality; of studio polish and poverty-row shortcuts; of efficient editing and crass musical indirection; of genuine emotional power and thumping cliché; of briskly-moving adaptation and bizarre moments of staging (revolving witness-box, anybody?) A literal version of Dumas it is not -- one would not expect it from any film spectacular of this period -- but many of the changes made are entertaining or effective, and the happy ending provided works at least as well as Dumas' rather unsatisfactory version. The meandering original is reduced to a bare two hours' running time by dint of concise scripting and cutting out most of the sub-plots involving the de Villefort and Morrel families, an attempt which is by and large successful. It works less well at the beginning, where there are simply too many unidentified characters popping up and scheming without any of them really being established properly, particularly as Morrel and de Villefort's father are then pruned from the plot, never to appear again. And de Villefort's downfall as presented here really doesn't work for me: lacking the damning evidence of infanticide, the script doesn't seem to come up with any terribly convincing alternative to turn the tables on the prosecutor. On the other hand, introduced material such as Mercedes' (completely uncanonical) aristocratic snob of a mother, or the tableaux in praise of Fernand at which Haydee accuses him, works very well.

Ironically -- given the Hollywood studio's doubts as to their unknown English import's ability to pull off anything but a fresh-faced lead -- Robert Donat shines mainly in the latter half of the picture as the older, embittered and sophisticated Monte Cristo. His guileless Dantes makes little impression, for it could be any generic juvenile lead role -- the character as written is not so much naive as uninteresting. Donat fares better where he can give a sense of some hidden depths to the part, and his best features are his strong eyes and brows rather than his cheery grin. As Monte Cristo, however, he is both debonair and dangerous, an intelligent schemer with a dry wit at his enemies' unknowing expense, and he is supported ably by both Douglas Walton as the young Albert and Elissa Landi as Mercedes.

It was Miss Landi's performance with which I was truly impressed here; she ages with utter conviction from the wilful girl to the resolute mother, and lends her scenes opposite Donat the real impact that is lacking from so much of the film. In a plot that has been re-angled to concentrate far more closely on the Edmond/Mercedes relationship, her role is vital, and her character provides most of the emotional engagement of the story, from light-hearted charm to heartbreak (Valentine de Villefort, here paired off with Albert, is a mere cypher in comparison).

The film starts off in outright formulaic guise, from Napoleon's appearance (in full uniform and cocked hat, with his hand duly thrust in his breast 'like that') to the standard storm-at-sea sequence with water poured across the screen. It continues to suffer from crude musical underlining more or less throughout, almost sabotaging for example Donat's scene with the dying Abbe Faria, which he otherwise pulls off with conviction, while certain characters, such as Morrel and the mute Nubian Ali, appear to have been retained despite the loss of the plot elements which actually involved them (possibly as a result of cuts to the script later in filming?) Overall, however, the adaptation does a pretty good job of conveying information quickly and concisely -- Albert's entire Italian adventure is dealt with effectively in a matter of a few minutes with none of the essentials lost, and Haydee's brief role introduced without any seeming contrivance. It borrows little in practice from Dumas' wordy original save the bare outlines of its plot, and sometimes not even those; but as an initially uninspired Hollywood screen adaptation it improves considerably as it goes on. Literary fidelity isn't everything, and if it were not let down by certain sections I would have rated it considerably higher; alas, this production remains an odd mixture of the powerful and the pedestrian.

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