I saw the 1934 adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic some years ago, inspired by its excerpt in V for Vendetta. Although I enjoyed it (and seeing why V did too), later I could remember little more than the basic outline: A wrongfully imprisoned swordsman gets revenge. Perhaps a second take, especially one for a modern audience, would stay with me better.
Illiterate sailor Edmond (Jim Caviezel) helps his dying captain pay an emergency visit to Elba during the exile of Napoleon (Alex Norton). The price of treatment by the local physician is Edmond's agreement to stealthily deliver a letter, which Napoleon claims is innocent. Upon returning to France, Edmond is charged with treason—thanks not to an honest misunderstanding regarding the mail, as he first believes, but to treachery by three acquaintances. During his long stay at the Château d'If, priestly inmate Faria (Richard Harris in one of his last roles) secretly teaches him in many ways and then helps him escape and find a vast hidden treasure. Edmond reappears in civilized society in the guise of the titular count, observing his old enemies and plotting their downfalls....
Why the treachery? In the case of the arresting magistrate (James Frain), it's to suppress embarrassing knowledge that the conspiratorial letter was for his dad. Another traitor, loutish first mate Danglars (Albie Woodington), can't stand Edmond getting promoted ahead of him. The last and perhaps most infuriating of the bunch, Fernand (Guy Pearce), is Edmond's romantic rival for one Mercédès (Dagmara Domińczyk). In this version, unlike in the book, Fernand had seemed to be Edmond's closest friend but always resented him for having more joy despite a lower station in life. Quite a rotten classist, all the better for intensifying emotions.
Another invigorating addition is the warden, Armand (Michael Wincott), who stands out for periodically whipping prisoners he knows to be innocent of the charges. We never learn how he got that way, but you might say he gets added to Edmond's little list, except that he gets dealt with before the whole count shtick. (I think the next characters Edmond meets, a pirate crew, were also made up for this movie.)
Edmond even initially wants revenge on Mercédès for not waiting. Having received a false report of his death, she had soon wed but never loved Fernand. Her teenage son, Albert (early Henry Cavill), further complicates matters. I was afraid that Edmond would regard Albert the way an adult male lion regards another's cub, but he's nobler than that, not least after recognizing Albert's courage.
I was also relieved that Edmond does not exactly take after V or the antihero of Oldboy. More like Andy from The Shawshank Redemption, losing only some of his innocence after imprisonment. Faria must have had a mollifying influence, not making a theist of him but talking him out of multiple murders. This is not to say that no one dies in the story, nor does it utterly preach against vengeance. But there's a lot of satisfaction to be had in watching those men get their comeuppance in other ways.
Perhaps I should mention that those ways are further departures from the source material, as a DVD documentary short indicates. Screenwriter Jay Wolpert insists that what works well in the novel doesn't necessarily maximize value in cinema. Lest you feel, well, betrayed, might I assure you that none of the changes appear to contradict the spirit of the original. And we do get a wilder sword fight than most on screen.
One fairly common complaint is that Mercédès isn't shown to stand up against Fernand, who, among other offenses, has the gall to call her a whore while being far more of one himself. A deleted scene had her saying exactly what she could and would do to get back at him. Ask me, they should've kept it, adding only about a minute to the present 131. Modern feminists might find it underwhelming, but in 1830s France, a wife had only so many options.
Maybe someday I'll read the book. In the meantime, the '02 adaptation, for all its errors noted on IMDb, is a decent treat I don't expect to forget nearly as quickly as the '34 one.
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