Le Comte de Monte Cristo (1943) - film review

On the day of his engagement to his beloved Mecédès the mariner Edmond Dantès is arrested for treason and sent to the Château d’If, an island prison. He realises that he has been betrayed by a rival sailor, his fiancé’s former suitor and a corrupt state procurer.  Several years pass before Dantès meets a fellow prisoner, Abbé Faria, who was also wrongly imprisoned.  Before he dies, the Abbé tells Dantès about a fabulous secret treasure buried on the island of Monte Cristo. Dantès profits from the Abbé’s death to escape from the island.  Having regained his freedom, his sole preoccupation is to take vengeance on those who ruined his life...

Although somewhat overshadowed by Vernay’s subsequent Monte Cristo film which starred the legendary Jean Marais, this film is a respectable adaptation of the famous Alexandre Dumas novel.  It was made in two parts, each roughly about 90 minutes long, and was a Franco-Italian production, made under the watchful gaze of the Nazi overlords.

The privations of war-torn Europe are banished in what, even now, appears to be a lavish period production.  No expense was spared on the sets, which include some extravagant décor, and well choreographed crowd scenes (including numerous ballroom sequences) create at least the illusion of opulence.

Whilst some of the acting is a little wooden, the film offers some memorable acting performances.  Pierre-Richard Willim’s Edmond Dantès contains just the right blend of bitterness and compassion, making his a plausible contender for the best screen Monte Cristo.

The film runs to three hours in total, but it rarely appears to drag, benefiting from a fine script and making full capital of the story’s dramatic moments.  Whether deliberately or not, the shadow of French poetic realism haunts the film, lending some disturbing moments, such as the murder of the jewel merchant and Cristo’s final merciless confrontation with his enemies.

The Monte Cristo story has been adapted so many times for cinema (28 versions between 1907 à 1971) that some of the best adaptations have been almost overlooked.  Vernay’s film certainly deserves a higher profile than it has enjoyed to date, even if it lacks the star names which make some of the other versions more saleable.

© James Travers 2001

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