pyrocitor Okay - hands up if you were led here by V for Vendetta. Be honest.But hey - that's very okay. Suffice to say that 1934's crack at Alexandre Dumas' timeless tale of treachery and revenge is a robust and spirited enough adaptation to get your blood pumping as much as everyone's favourite alliterative rollicking revolutionary. The script, while necessarily abbreviated, holds up as one of the more faithful Dumas adaptations as a procedural account of Dantes' methodical vengeful takedown of his betrayers at least until the grand departure of its romantic, very 1930s-populist ending (which is too sweet to excessively fault). Still, the pace is lively and the action plugs along at a compelling jaunt. If the screenplay sometimes dallies with segments spelling out the narrative's themes a bit thickly, it more than compensates with its share of excellent barbed dialogue zingers along the way. Those more familiar with the 2002 Jim Caviezel remake than Dumas' novel might take some adjusting to the pace here, as Dantes' dual with Mondego (restructured as principle antagonist in the remake) is dispensed with fairly early and unceremoniously. Instead, we get a climactic trial sequence (another complete departure from the text), giving Donat a chance to do his best heroic shouting, which feels adequately conclusive in its stead. Being a product of its time, this Count of Monte Cristo's staging restrictions and performance conventions may make it a flatter and calmer rendition than the explosive catharsis our righteous indignation at Dantes' plight might expect or befit (the scenes of Dantes' captivity in the Château D'If in particular feel jarringly civil, compared to the gruelling, inhumane torment Dumas painted). This certainly isn't helped by the somewhat film's cheap, anachronistic costumes, and an overenthusiastic musical soundtrack which soars in to punctuate key emotional moments with such ferocity that it tends to quash rather than heighten their resonance. Still, the film's production values are excellent, juxtaposing some key location footage (Dantes' daring underwater prison escape is perfectly chilly and claustrophobic) with some stellar studio sets - Abbe Faria's cell has the austere artistry of a stained glass window, and Dantes' treasure horde discovery is rousing adventure stuff. Robert Donat is excellent as the titular rogue-hero. He drives Dantes' plunge from chirpy sailor to apoplectically bitter prisoner to debonair aristocrat clouded by acidic ruthlessness with grace and a piercing insistence, handling Dantes' nuances much more deftly than his on-the-nose dialogue. Elissa Landi is also terrific, sliding from warm and giddy to caustic and cautious as his warped love Mercedes, and her bold decision to play up Mercedes' grim detachment rather than mugging for soft focus close-ups throughout the film's latter half plays as appealingly emotionally truthful. Sidney Blackmer and Louis Calhern are appropriately seedy, but a bit too prissy and standoffish to make much of an impact as the villainous Mondego and De Villefort; however, Raymond Walburn is a colourfully boorish, charismatic highlight as greedy, corrupt banker Danglars. Finally, character actor O.P. Reggie is warm slyness personified as the cheekily inspirational Abbe Faria, Dantes' friend in captivity. Released the year before Captain Blood, it's easy to see Monte Cristo settling into the 1930s resurgence of seafaring adventure films. Director Rowland V. Lee feels most at home with Dantes' adventures at sea and crisply energetic sword fights than the talkier melodramatic romantic angst and political intrigue, which are done suitably, but with less pizazz. As such, 1934's Count of Monte Cristo remains a sturdy and heartily enjoyable Dumas adaptation, and one of the more bombastic and abiding costume dramas of Classical Hollywood.-8/10

mukava991 This briskly paced, attractively packaged version of the Dumas classic continues to stand the test of time, owing in large part to Robert Donat, an actor for the ages, and a supporting cast which includes the able Louis Calhern as Donat's strongest enemy, the florid Raymond Walburn as the weakest, and the aristocratic beauty Elissa Landi as the love interest. The story itself is melodrama at its best, with the hook of an innocent man not only wronged by self-seeking villains but wronged in a spectacularly cold-blooded, inhuman manner: railroaded to a veritable dungeon for a crime he did not commit and left to rot forever, only to be saved by a chance encounter with a noble fellow prisoner who bequeaths to him the location of a hidden treasure which he uncovers after a daring escape from his confinement. And then, using his vast fortune, he plots a great act of justice for his enemies, now prominent personages of great corruption, not by stooping to their level, but by cleverly manipulating them into self-exposure and ultimate destruction.

pitcairn89 I echo all the other reviewers in saying that this is a very well-done and entertaining movie. Robert Donat was an excellent actor, and he carries this role very well. He may have won his Oscar for Mr. Chips, but I have always liked him in this movie, and in Hitchcock's "The Thirty-Nine Steps," even more. And Elissa Landi- she was incredibly gorgeous, and a good actress, too. Producer Edward Small must have had a thing for Dumas and swashbucklers. He also produced the 1939 "Man in the Iron Mask," and the 1940 "Son of Monte Cristo." As many people know, Donat was slated to play "Captain Blood" in 1935, but for whatever reason dropped out, and that part went to the unknown Errol Flynn. Flynn's star-making performance catapulted him to the top, and led to the string of classic swashbucklers he made throughout the 30s and 40s. Interesting in that Donat's "Monte Cristo" kick-started a dormant film genre, and his withdrawal from "Captain Blood" introduced the man who would re-invent, and re-invigorate, the whole swashbuckler genre. So perhaps Donat and Flynn can be considered the godfathers of the sound film's action movie (and the inheritors of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.'s mantle). I was also struck by a similarity between some scenes in this, and in the James Whale film, "The Bride of Frankenstein," made just a year later, in 1935. Another reviewer on this site has noted the same thing, and I agree with him completely. Dantes' fellow prisoner, played by O.P. Heggie, is a character very similar to the blind hermit in "Bride," played by- O.P. Heggie. The blind hermit befriends Boris Karloff's lonely monster, in much the same way that this prisoner befriends a lonely Edmund Dantes. Some of the dialogue is quite similar. And, in a particularly dramatic scene between Dantes and his friend, "Ave Maria" is played on the soundtrack. If all of you remember, when the blind hermit meets the monster, and thanks God for bringing him a friend, "Ave Maria" is used on the soundtrack, to very great emotional effect. I read that James Whale actively sought O.P. Heggie to play this part, so one has to wonder if it is just a coincidence, or a conscious plan- I find the former possibility a little implausible. As the other reviewer on this site noted, it may have been a sly in-joke on Whale's part (and not only that- Heggie was an excellent actor, and brought great humanity to these two parts. So Whale's choice was also artistically sound). He was a director who loved in-jokes, and his films are full of humorous and sly references to all kinds of things. You also have to wonder if anyone at the time picked up on it. We can see these films back-to-back now, and notice similarities, courtesy of DVDs and TV, but in the 30s, there would have been a yearlong gap between the showings of these films. I imagine most moviegoers wouldn't have remembered that Heggie had played in the earlier film, or seen the similarities. I hadn't noticed myself, on previous viewings of "Count," but became aware of it just last night. The use of "Ave Maria" made it seem conclusive, to me. Whale also used Douglas Walton in "Bride," as Percy Shelley, and I wonder if he liked the actor in his part as Landi's son, in "Count." Interestingly, Whale directed Edward Small's "The Man in the Iron Mask" in 1939. That same year, Rowland V. Lee, who directed "Count," took over from Whale, and directed "Son of Frankenstein" (and then Lee directed "Son of Monte Cristo" the following year. A bit confusing!). Boy, Hollywood was filled with all kinds of connections. Six Degrees of Monte Cristo!Anyway, just some interesting sidelights to two great films. For fans of both movies, take a look at them.

d_anast Delightful film of the classic stage warhorse, a bit creaky and slow starting, but with cumulative power sustained by the subtle yet vivid characterizations. Each principal has a uniquely nuanced personality, brought forth by gesture and language -- something sorely lacking in today's 90 percent trash. NOTE FOR CINASTES: I never fully appreciated the comic outrages of Jame's Whale's use of the Hermit in Bride of Frankenstein until I saw the prototype, created here by the same actor, O. P. Heggie. The Hermit in "Bride" is a gleeful, unabashed parody of Faria, even in the crescendo of music that mimics the "Ave Maria" in the Whale picture. I'm sure Whale wondered if his in-joke would be caught, and by how many. See the picture and you'll understand.