I have always been fond of The Three Musketeers, Man in the Iron Mask and of the swash-buckling tales in general. The Man in the Iron Mask(1939) shows perfectly why. Some of the effects are on the dated side and while looking gorgeous I found for my tastes Joan Bennett to be too blithe. However, the sumptuous costumes and sets more than make amends, as does the stirring score, beautiful cinematography, sword play that is as far away from clumsy as you can get and James Whale's direction, which is suitably sympathetic without it ever been plodding or overly-flamboyant. The script is witty and intelligent and the story is as compelling as you'd expect. Bennett aside, the performances are great. The Musketeers are well done and it was nice seeing Peter Cushing in his screen debut, but for me the standouts were the malevolent Fouquet of Joseph Schildkaut, Warren William's noble D'Artagnan and the altogether riveting dual-role performance of Louis Hayward as the arrogant, cruel Louis and the gentle, romantically helplessness of Phillippe. All in all, a swash-buckling adventure classic of the highest order. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Review of The Man in the Iron Mask
