bkoganbing Louis Hayward never got quite the acclaim that swashbuckling actors like Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn did for these roles. He was an independent and never had a big studio to back him. This film, The Son Of Monte Cristo was an Edward Small production released by United Artists and it shows Hayward at his best advantage as a larger than life hero who fought for honor, his lady's as well as a cause of freedom.As we know from Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count Of Monte Cristo, he became the wealthiest man in Europe with a taste for the cause of liberty and a man who as a banker knew how to settle all kinds of accounts. His son Edmond Dantes, Jr. is following in Dad's footsteps and they've brought him to the Duchy of Lichtenberg whose military dictator George Sanders rules with a brutal hand in the name of the Queen, Joan Bennett. But Sanders ambition knows no limits as the viewer of this film learns, he'll make Lichtenberg a satellite of a major European power if he can be king as well as military ruler.The film borrows from both The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Mark Of Zorro as Hayward turns Monte Cristo into a dandified fop representing his banking house. By night however he becomes the hooded Torch, symbol of liberty for the people of Lichtenberg who keeps striking where Sanders least expects it.This film along with The Man In The Iron Mask from the previous year marked Hayward's apex as a film star. His service as a combat photographer with the Marines during World War II earned him a Silver Star. But his absence from the screen put a halt to his rise to the top of the Hollywood pinnacle. Other stars like James Stewart, Tyrone Power, and Clark Gable made it all the way back, but sadly Hayward never did.Joan Bennett is a beautiful heroine willing to bear the unbearable for her people and life with Sanders as a husband and king is pretty unbearable. Montagu Love who is usually a bad guy in these kind of films is a good guy here as the minister Bennett has confidence in. Ian Wolfe who usually plays nebbish types is a particularly sneaky and nasty spy for Sanders and he really gets what's coming to him. You'll also recognize Clayton Moore with that distinctive voice in a part without the Lone Ranger mask and young Rand Brooks who was Olivia deHavilland's brother in Gone With The Wind plays another eager young patriot. As for Sanders this film is business as usual for him as he plays yet another distinctive cad as a villain.Heroes aren't real heroes in our more cynical age which is the reason that sadly films like The Son Of Monte Cristo aren't made any more.

Snow Leopard With a good story full of adventure, action, and intrigue, plus a very good cast, "The Son of Monte Cristo" is an entertaining and enjoyable movie. Louis Hayward and Joan Bennett work well in the lead roles, and George Sanders is always a threat to steal any scene he is in. The story stands on its own, since the only connection it has with the often-filmed "The Count of Monte Cristo" is the main character's relationship with the previous Count. So there's no need to be familiar with the original to be able to enjoy this one.Bennett is effective as the spirited Grand Duchess, and Hayward has a juicy role as the young Count, which gives him the chance to assume a different persona every so often during the course of the story. As the brutally ambitious general, Sanders's appearance is quite a bit different from the more familiar look he has in his best-known roles, but his voice and mannerisms are easily recognizable, and he comes across with a good blend of suavity and menace.The story has the Grand Duchess being held at the mercy of the general, with the Count eagerly getting involved in the fictional country's affairs. The story has many turns and mild surprises, and it does a rather resourceful job of coming up with new predicaments and developments to keep things going. Most of the plot devices are familiar from other sources, but they are pieced together with skill, and its very good as light entertainment.

Igenlode Wordsmith It is almost invariably a bad sign when the villain of the piece utterly steals the show in the first ten minutes - even when said villain is played by the inimitable George Sanders. I was seriously tempted to give up on this film before the eponymous Count had made his (delayed) appearance; indeed, memory suggested that on a previous occasion I had actually done so. To have missed the remainder of this charming film, however, must now rank as one of my most serious misjudgements so far!George Sanders is superb as the ruthless Gurko Lanen, but a performance of this calibre in the role of the villain holds the danger of overbalancing the film in the absence of a totally outstanding performance on the part of his opponent. But the introduction of Louis Hayward's slender, charming Monte Cristo as an outsider into the cliche'd Ruritanian mix proves to be the vital spark that not only saves the film but catapults it to rank as a joyous classic of its genre. As Gurko Lanen sardonically observes, it is an adversary with a sense of humour who is dangerous.No-one could claim originality for the plot. There are strong echoes of 'The Mask of Zorro' to be found, as our well-born young hero alternates the pose of a fop - suffering the scorn of his ladylove - with the role of masked defender of the downtrodden masses. But expectations are constantly subverted; like its title character, the film has the endearing knack of not taking itself too seriously.This is one hero, for all his skill, who has been known to lose when launching himself gaily into battle against overwhelming numbers of his rival's henchmen; who takes his nom de guerre at the whim of a moment from the banner heading of an underground news-sheet; who shrugs off his enemy's imprecations and his lady's upbraiding both alike, with a merry grin; who clearly takes enormous enjoyment in sending himself up by playing the part of a foppish banker to deflect General Lanen's suspicions. In a nod to the Dumas original, the tool that gains him access to the General's plans and confidence is the prospect of a banking loan from the fabled Monte Cristo fortune, and despite his title the young Count is able to point out that, like Gurko Lanen, Edmond Dantes the elder was a self-made man.For, if the hero is not entirely infallible - and all the more likeable for it - neither is the villain entirely without our sympathy. As we see in the opening scenes, Lanen is neither a fool nor a coward, and despite his cultured suavity he is the son of a stonemason, and proud of it; a gifted peasant who has dared to aspire, first to the rulership of his tiny country, then to the hand of the greatest lady in the land, the Grand Duchess herself. It is not a romance that the audience can possibly favour - the would-be suitor is too old, too brutal, too jaded to be a suitable match for young Zona - but it is hard not to wince at the haughty manner in which his courtship is dismissed. To this viewer at least, the proposal sounded genuine, evoking the old proverb that 'if she would not take him, still the lady might make him' - but any possibility for redemption is lost by the all-too-evident contempt of the Grand Duchess for the low-born upstart General.(And I never could see why Baron von Neuhof's arrest for plotting to bring in Louis Napoleon's troops in order to return his own faction to power gets dismissed as "trumped-up charges", when Lanen's last-ditch resort to a similar bargain with the Tsar is trumpeted as a vile betrayal of his country....)It's obvious from the start that this is one villain who is going to give the hero and his allies a run for their money; and so he does. Monte Cristo's flattery doesn't fool the General for an instant, though he is prepared to tolerate the fop as long as he remains useful, and the identity of the spy who ultimately betrays 'The Torch' has been skilfully established from the very first scenes. As soon as Lanen's suspicions are aroused he contrives, with only a little manipulation of those most loyal to his audacious guest, to discover both his secret identity and his concealed escape route in time to have him arrested and thrown in jail.Ruthless and resourceful to the very last, Gurko Lanen keeps us gasping as he gambles everything to achieve his aims. Yet above all, it is Louis Hayward, in the irrepressible part of Edmond Dantes the younger (surely a kindred spirit of Simon Templar?) who really brings the picture to life. It will take all the wit and daring of an opponent as ingenious and endearing as the Son of Monte Cristo to stop the General... with a little help from Zona, who at the crucial moment yet again subverts the genre by saving herself!Bloopers are few, although the Grand Duchess' achievement in adhering side-saddle behind her rescuer on the rump of a galloping horse is little short of miraculous, as is the apparent availability of sticky tape in 1865 for silencing the mouth of the Russian ambassador! During Lanen's balcony speech, a distant off-stage voice can faintly be heard prompting him line by line; while it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the character would have had a prepared speech 'cued' to him in that situation, I somehow doubt that this was intentional :-)

didi-5 It was done on the cheap - see how the backdrops are so obvious in the first scenes where the Duchess and Cristo meet, see how the stunt 'doubles' are, well, hardly doubles - but it is very funny, very loveable, and wins you over. I will admit to a soft spot for little Louis, the very small hero of this, and Joan Bennett has that haughty beauty of so many B pic heroines. But it delivers, and that's what counts. It manages to be entertaining and move along quite well. Perhaps it could have been a bit better in quality but I'm certainly not complaining ...