Monte Cristo (1929)
Directed by Henri Fescourt

Film Review

The last of the great super-productions of the silent era, Henri Fescourt's Monte Cristo is easily one of cinema's best, if not the best, adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' celebrated novel.  The artistic quality and scale of the film are breathtaking: this is the silent film at its most ambitious, most perfect, a last great parting shot before the arrival of sound would consign silent films to history for ever.

Although he is virtually forgotten today, Henri Fescourt was one of the most talented film directors of his generation, his achievements including a magnificent adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1925).  Perhaps his greatest film, Monte Cristo, had until recently been thought lost, and it is this which may have contributed to Fescourt's comparative obscurity.  Hopefully, the recent recovery and restoration of this film will help to redress the balance.

Not only does Fescourt succeed in narrating Dumas' complex story with apparent ease, masterfully capturing the excitement, scale and rich characterisation of the original novel, but he also invests it with more than a touch of artistic genius.  The camera work is simple but hugely effective, combining static and moving shots in a way that brings excitement and real emotion into the drama.  The intensely sinister sequence in which the jeweller is murdered is a magnificent appropriation of German expressionism, with some shots most probably inspired by Murnau's Nosferatu (1922).  Similar “dark” moments punctuate the film, bringing a sense of twisted cruelty to Dantès' revenge which is perhaps lacking in other film adaptations.  Contemporary tastes for the exotic are satisfied by the luxurious sets and costumes, which combine Art Deco and elements of Eastern culture, making this a truly sumptuous visual treat for cinema goers of the late 1920s.

The part of Edmond Dantès is played by Jean Angelo, a popular actor of silent French cinema. A noted stage actor, his screen career took off after his appearance in Jacques Feyder's L'Atlantide (1924).  Playing the part of Dantès' rival is Gaston Modot, a well-known actor of the silent era who would feature in some major films of the sound era - such as Buñuel's L'Age d'or (1930) and Renoir's La Règle du jeu (1939).   Monte Cristo differs from the conventional melodrama that was popular in the 1920s in that the central character is more an anti-hero than a hero.   Driven by the baser motive of revenge, Dantès is not an easy character for a spectator to engage with, but Jean Angelo succeeds in the making him sympathetic and somewhat intriguing. Similarly, Modot's portrayal of Mondego is far from being the two-dimensional villain, but a very human character, whose lack of moral courage results in his spectacular fall from grace. Jean Toulout's portrayal of Monsieur de Villefort is also rather poignant, and even comparatively minor characters like the prisoner Faria and the adolescent Calvacanti manage to engage our sympathy.

Recently recovered, Fescourt's Monte Cristo was subjected to a meticulous restoration in 2005 by ZZ Productions for the Franco-German television channel Arte.  The result is an extraordinary achievement: exceptional image quality with remarkably few blemishes.  For the 2006 release, composer Marc-Olivier Dupin provided the film with a score that is not only sympathetic to the film, but which really does accentuate the film's visual brilliance and truly epic scale.  This is undoubtedly one of the finest pieces of cinematic resurrection in recent years.

Film Synopsis

On the day of his marriage to Mercèdes, the navigator Edmond Dantès is arrested, wrongly accused of being a Bonapartist conspirator.  Ignorant of who has denounced him, Dantès is sent to the island castle of If, where he will be imprisoned for the rest of his life.  Before he dies, a prisoner in an adjoining cell, Abbot Faria, tells Dantès where to find a huge fortune in jewels, hidden on the island of Monte Cristo.  By substituting himself for Faria, Dantès manages to escape from If and returns to his hometown of Marseilles, having recovered Faria's treasure on the way.  Borrowing a disguise, Dantès learns that three men were the cause of his downfall: his jealous rival Fernand Mondego, the greedy innkeeper Carderousse and the King's Procurer, Monsieur de Villefort.  Having used his newly acquired wealth to save a former friend, the ship builder Morel, from bankruptcy, Edmond Dantès sets about bringing a terrible revenge on the three men who have ruined his life.  To that end, he adopts the title: the Count of Monte Cristo…