Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Al Westerfield I saw this film as a youngster and never forgot it. About 15 years ago I was able to tape a version off TV. The sound track had a whirring on it that rose and fell in pitch throughout. As a result, as much as I liked the film I never watched it again. Last night I DVR'ed it when shown on TCM just on a hunch. The print was soft but the sound was impeccable. It was everything I remembered with some nice surprises. The film has everything: action, adventure, romance, spirit, bravura performances, memorable lines, wonderful sets, inspiring score and crisp direction. In my opinion it is the perfect recording to the screen of a classic novel.What I had forgotten was the score. The finale of Our Daily Bread had become a favorite. Then I discovered it in Les Miserables. And now I know where it originated. Hearing all the riffs on the main theme was a pleasure.Donat was wonderful of course. But I'd forgotten just how amazing Landi's work was here. Not a false note. Louis Calhearn wears is mantle as the screen's greatest sophisticated villain with pride. It was also a pleasure to see Harry Cording here. I collect his often minuscule roles. Here I think he is both a jailer and the assassin in the tableau.

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.

Cyke 112: The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) - released 8/29/1934, viewed 8/28/08.The Hays Code goes into full effect. John Dillinger is gunned down in Chicago by the FBI. Adolph Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany. BIRTHS: Sydney Pollack, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Clemente.KEVIN: I've seen only one other version of this classic tale, the well-made 2002 film directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Jim Caviezel in the title role. That film's screenwriter Jay Wolpert chose, rightfully I believe, to inject more action into the story that had mostly been played for melodrama in the past. The awesomest part of this movie is Robert Donat, who hits so many notes playing this character. Edmond Dantes could probably be considered one of the earliest anti-heroes, because even though we're rooting for him, his actions have a tinge of scheming villainy to them, at times not all that different from those he intends to exact his revenge upon. Sydney Blackmer is quite bland and unmemorable as Mondego (his best scene is his undignified death), Raymond Walburn is plenty slimy as Danglars, and Louis Calhern's corrupt Villefort is the only one that comes close to matching Donat's energy. Elissa Landi is also very good, and manages to make her character age as convincingly as Donat. Dantes' escape scene, though effective, was a little unusual, at least by today's standards. The editing and pacing were very plodding and meticulous with almost no music. The pistol duel between Dantes and Albert also went by very quickly (without music) rather than building up the suspense. I'm sure that even the most low-key director making this story today would not present such crucial dramatic turning points that way. Still, even by today's standards, this 1934 version appears to be the one to beat.DOUG: Once this movie popped up in 'V for Vendetta' as the title character's favorite film, we put it on the list and never took it off. Now you know how our list is made. My exposure to Dumas' classic tale mostly amounts to the 2002 version with Jim Caviezel. I thought that was a good movie. But I liked this one a lot too, for a number of reasons (I'll be comparing the two a lot in this review). I liked this one better for the ways it follows Dumas' original story a little more closely, especially in the unexpected problems that emerge in Edmond's quest for revenge; he was rewarded a little too much in the 2002 version. Tackling each of his targets one by one: The swordfight between Edmond and Fernand is rather bland (this is before Errol Flynn would turn swordfights into a movie cornerstone), as is the whole conflict between the two. Edmond's revenge is more about going after all three guys as a single unit of evil, rather than the 2002 cut where he focuses primarily on Fernand. I didn't dig the end of Danglar's section; I don't care if it's that way in the book or not, that kind of finish is just a cop-out. I liked the conflict when he realizes he can't go after Villefort (who totally deserves it, the slimeball) without hurting the guy's daughter. (*Contract Player Alert*: Speaking of Villefort, he's played by Louis Calhern, the bad guy from the Marx Brothers' 'Duck Soup.') Overall, I wish like everyone else that Robert Donat had done many more movies than he did, and I look forward to seeing him again soon in Hitchcock's 'The 39 Steps'. Last film: Of Human Bondage (1934). Next film: Cleopatra (1934).

Ron Oliver Fabulously wealthy and mysterious, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO becomes intimately involved in the lives of three powerful men in Paris.Alexander Dumas' classic novel comes to abridged life in this powerful adventure film. There is very little swashbuckling and a good deal of talk, but it is all done so intelligently and the film, with its lavish production values, is so entertaining to watch that the diminution of dash & drama is easily overlooked.Robert Donat portrays stalwart Edmond Dantes, the much abused hero, from a young ship's officer caught up in Napoleonic intrigue, to a wretched inmate doomed to oblivion in a hideous prison, and finally the middle-aged and tremendously powerful Count, and he plays it all exceedingly well. This is an actor, now in danger of becoming somewhat obscure, who performed valiantly in films throughout his career, consistently providing characterizations worth watching.Donat dominates the film; in support are Elissa Landi as the woman who never gives up loving him; Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer & Raymond Walburn as the three men from Marseilles who each have their own reasons for wanting Donat dead; and elderly O. P. Heggie as the saintly priest who becomes Donat's mentor & friend in prison.Smaller roles are vividly enacted by Lionel Belmore as the corrupt Governor of the Château d'If; corpulent Ferdinand Munier as a highly distraught King Louis XVIII; Luis Alberni & Clarence Muse as smugglers who become Donat's willing accomplices in his quest for revenge; Douglas Walton as Landi's conflicted son; and Holmes Herbert as the judge at Donat's Paris trial. Sour-faced Clarence Wilson appears for a few moments as a supporter of Donat.