What happened to Louis XVII, the sad little boy who succeeded King Louis XVI of France to the title of king when that monarch was beheaded? This was one of the great historic mysteries from 1795 when the little boy was reported as having died in his Parisian prison cell, to 2002, when a DNA test was performed on the remains of the same little boy. The DNA test verified that the boy was the unfortunate son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and that the hundred or so people who were said to be him as a grown man were all (knowingly or unknowingly) imposters. Still, for at least the first fifty years or so of the death of the boy in 1795, there was much interest in the question of what happened. Most notably, the lawsuits brought by the so-called Duc de Richmont to prove his claim to the thrown, or the lawsuits by Wilhelm Naudorff (a Dutch engineer) who also tried (and failed) to produce evidence establishing his title. In America, Mark Twain used the odd story to create "the King" one of his two imposters in HUCKLEBERRY FINN. It was about the most useful thing to ever come out of this tangle over an identity.
DANGEROUS EXILE could not be made today, because now we know the poor little monarch did die in captivity. In 1958 it was perfectly all right to make such a film, which explains that little Louis escaped by one of those Montgolfier balloons from Paris to Wales, and was soon taken in by some British aristocrats who sensed he was important. He is suffering from nightmares which reveal the prison life he has been going through (an example - when he was forced to watch from a window when his mother was beheaded).
Slowly his identity becomes settled, and Jourdan enters as a French aristocrat who has planned this escape, putting his own son in as a decoy. But Jourdan does not realize that a second plot has occurred that is centered on a Banker. This banker has had the "King" (actually Jourdan's son) rescued and is hiding him. But there are two other groups interested in the child: The authorities, desperate to avoid disclosing how they botched watching the little King, and the minions of the Comte de Provence (the dauphin's uncle - and future Louis XVIII). Eventually the minions of Provence kill off the little boy (thinking him the Dauphin). A poor boy from a local almshouse is passed off as the real Dauphin (who has died). Keith Mitchell, as a French army officer, goes after the real Louis XVII with his men, only to be beaten and killed by Jourdan in a private duel. The Dauphin ends by being willingly identified as the dead son of Jourdan's (so as to grow up with a normal, happy life). Yes, the plot is full of holes, but I still wish the Dauphin had had a happier, longer life, rather than his short one in prison, with it's dirt and negect (which helped kill him)>
DANGEROUS EXILE could not be made today, because now we know the poor little monarch did die in captivity. In 1958 it was perfectly all right to make such a film, which explains that little Louis escaped by one of those Montgolfier balloons from Paris to Wales, and was soon taken in by some British aristocrats who sensed he was important. He is suffering from nightmares which reveal the prison life he has been going through (an example - when he was forced to watch from a window when his mother was beheaded).
Slowly his identity becomes settled, and Jourdan enters as a French aristocrat who has planned this escape, putting his own son in as a decoy. But Jourdan does not realize that a second plot has occurred that is centered on a Banker. This banker has had the "King" (actually Jourdan's son) rescued and is hiding him. But there are two other groups interested in the child: The authorities, desperate to avoid disclosing how they botched watching the little King, and the minions of the Comte de Provence (the dauphin's uncle - and future Louis XVIII). Eventually the minions of Provence kill off the little boy (thinking him the Dauphin). A poor boy from a local almshouse is passed off as the real Dauphin (who has died). Keith Mitchell, as a French army officer, goes after the real Louis XVII with his men, only to be beaten and killed by Jourdan in a private duel. The Dauphin ends by being willingly identified as the dead son of Jourdan's (so as to grow up with a normal, happy life). Yes, the plot is full of holes, but I still wish the Dauphin had had a happier, longer life, rather than his short one in prison, with it's dirt and negect (which helped kill him)>