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.
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.