Le Masque de fer (1962) - film review

After France has won the war against Spain, King Louis XIV must marry the daughter of the King of Spain to forge a lasting alliance between the two countries.  Unfortunately, Louis is seriously ill and his days appear to be numbered.  What no one knows, not even Louis himself, is that the king has a twin brother named Henri, who is locked away in a prison on the island of Sainte Marguerite.  To conceal his identity, Henri is forced to wear an iron mask.  Realising that Louis is not long for this world, Cardinal Mazarin concocts the following plan.  He orders the musketeer d’Artagnan to bring Henri back to Paris so that he can take the place of the king when he dies.  On his island prison, Henri is attended to by Monsieur de Saint-Mars, whose assistant, Renaud de Lourmes, is in love with his daughter, Isabelle.  Neither knows that Isabelle is in love with Henri.  Ignorant of the fact that he is the king’s brother and why he is being kept prisoner, Henri resolves to escape so that he can speak with Louis in person.  On the day that d’Artagnan arrives on the island to collect Henri, the latter succeeds in escaping, with the help of Isabelle. When Mazarin hears of this, and knowing that Louis is recovering from his illness, he instructs de Lourmes to find Henri and bring him back, more dead than alive...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)

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