Le Comte de Monte Cristo
1961 Adventure / Drama   
 
  • Director: Claude Autant-Lara
  • Script: Jean Halain, Alexandre Dumas père (novel)
  • Photo: Jean Isnard, Jacques Natteau
  • Music: René Cloërec
  • Cast: Louis Jourdan (Edmond Dantès), Yvonne Furneaux (Mercédès), Pierre Mondy (Caderousse), Bernard Dhéran (Henri de Villefort), Franco Silva (Mario), Claudine Coster (Haydée), Jean-Claude Michel (Fernand de Morcerf), Yves Rénier (Albert de Mortcerf), Marie Mergey (Madame Caderousse), Jean Martinelli (Vidocq), Henri Guisol (Abbé Faria), Alain Ferral (Benedetto), Roldano Lupi (Morel), Henri Vilbert (Dantes' Father)
  • Country: Italy / France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 180 min
  • Aka: The Count of Monte Cristo; The Story of Monte Cristo; The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo
 
 
 
Summary
A young sailor, Edmond Dantès, is to marry his beloved Mercédès but on the day of his engagement he is arrested for treason, the victim of a plot by those who envy his good fortune.  Imprisoned on the island of Yf, where he is to spend the rest of his life, Dantès meets a fellow prisoner, Abbé Faria, who tells him the location of a fabulous treasure.  When Faria dies, many years later, Dantès disguises himself as the body and manages to escape from the island prison.  Having recovered the lost treasure, he returns to take revenge on those who had him arrested.

Review
One of the standard bearers of quality cinema in France of the 1950s, Claude Autant-Lara is ideally suited to make a faithful adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ ever-popular novel.  Whilst not as inspired as some of Autant-Lara’s earlier works, this is nonetheless a well-crafted, engaging piece of cinema, which perfectly captures the romanticism of the original novel.

© James Travers 2002


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