The Corsican Brothers (1941)

After their parents are killed, co-joined twin boys are separated, with one raised as a gentleman in Paris and the other in the mountains becoming a bandit.

Director:

Gregory Ratoff

Writers:

Alexandre Dumas (novel) (as Alexandre Dumas père), George Bruce (screenplay)

Stars:

Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Ruth Warrick, Akim Tamiroff

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Mario Franchi / Lucien Franchi
Ruth Warrick	...	Countess Isabelle Gravini
Akim Tamiroff	...	Baron Colonna
J. Carrol Naish	...	Lorenzo
H.B. Warner	...	Dr. Enrico Paoli
John Emery	...	Tomasso
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Count Victor Franchi
Gloria Holden	...	Countess Franchi
Walter Kingsford	...	Monsieur Dupre
Nana Bryant	...	Madame Dupre
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Count Gravini
Veda Ann Borg	...	Maria
William Farnum	...	Priest
Sarah Padden	...	Nurse
Manart Kippen	...	Martelli

Storyline

After their parents are killed, co-joined twin boys are separated, with one raised as a gentleman in Paris and the other in the mountains becoming a bandit.

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Plot Keywords:

death of brother | flogging | hairy chest | bare chested male | vendetta | 

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Taglines:

FATE PLACED ONE SOUL IN THEIR TWO BODIES! (original print media ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Adventure | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die korsischen Brüder

Company Credits

Production Co:

Edward Small Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 96 min (video) 95 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Due to his service in the US Naval Reserve after the United States' entry into World War II, this was Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s last film until Sinbad, the Sailor (1947) six years later.

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Connections

Version of Os irmãos Corsos (1966)

User Reviews

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr is great as a swashbuckler

Based on the famous Alexander Dumas novel of the same name, Siamese twins, Mario and Lucian Franzi are separated at birth by surgery and adopted by different parents. Lucian is raised in Corsica as a bandit, while Mario grows up in Paris as a suave gallant, but Lucian has a special psychic ability to feel his brother's feelings, though he is not even aware of his existence. At age 21, they are reunited in Corsica by their foster-parents and are informed that their parents were murdered by Count Colorra who has become the ruler of Corsica by killing off all his enemies through vendettas. In typical Sicilian fashion, the bandit brothers swear vengeance and start their campaign by attacking Colorra's interests. Mario becomes romantically involved with Countess Isabelle Gravini who is under pressure from Colorra to marry him and saves her from Colorra's clutches. Lucian who also falls in love with Isabelle,becomes jealous of his brother and abandons him when Colorra captures Mario. How Lucian escapes and gets his girl constitutes the final part of the movie.

The highlight of this movie is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, who stars in the title roles with great gusto and suavity. He is great in roles in like this, much better than his father was. However, to swashbuckling buffs, the swordfights in this film are, perhaps, only of middling quality. While Fairbanks carries the film on his broad shoulders, his co-star Ruth Warrick is not impressive. And Basil Rathbone would have been a great choice to play the villain Colorra rather than Akim Tamiroff who comes across more as a buffoon than as a sinister Sicilian cutthroat.

In summary, "The Corsican Brothers" is a pleasant, highly watchable movie, with just the right amount of violence to make it exciting. However, the director Gregory Ratoff should have portrayed the unsavory institution of vendetta which blighted so many families in the isle of Sicily, in a less approving light.

Reviewed by Sundar Narayan