The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) – R. V. Lee

Swashbucklin’ adventure at its best! Robert Donat plays Edmund Dantes, a poor sailor vilely and wrongly imprisoned in an island jail by corrupt French officials.  Indeed, the key is metaphorically thrown away when his phony death certificate is signed by wicked Louis Calhern – thus, his fate is sealed without a trial even (at least not yet).  In prison for a decade or more, he finally meets up with another long-bearded mentor (who has tunnelled for 8 years to reach him) who then schools him in science and all other arts until finally….a clever escape!  But I shan’t tell Alexandre Dumas’s entire story here.  Suffice it to say, with the assistance of a buried treasure on another lonely isle, Dantes emerges as the newly titled Count of Monte Cristo and slowly seeks justice and revenge on those who imprisoned him.  Each episode is rousingly triumphant (as the score cues us to cheer) and Donat’s performance is impeccably classy and full of honour throughout.  Although the supporting cast isn’t all up to his standard, there are a few standout familiar faces (for example, what’s Preston Sturges fave Raymond Walburn doing here as an enjoyably pompous villain?).  Yet things are so wonderfully surging that viewers young and old can’t help but be swept along to the exciting conclusion.  Touché!