"The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader." ~ Paulo Coelho

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Movie Review: The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)

Hello Everybody!

"My friend here with introduce me."

We are taking a break from the watch-along as I am here to participate in Fritzi at Movie Silently's Swashathon! A blogathon of swashbuckling adventure! I love swashbucklers so as soon as I saw this I knew I had to participate!

When you look at me, or even if you know me, you think, "MC, the mystery girl. The girl who does not like romances." I am the person who goes around saying that I don't like romances!  But, I have this secret hidden romantic side.
How did I figure this out? Well, I like to figure out what my top five favorite movies and books are, in case anyone ever asks me. When I ask my sisters what their top five favorite movies are, they say, "I don't know, I never think about it." I think about it all the time!
Then I realized (okay, my mom sort of pointed it out) that my top five favorite movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
STAR WARS: A New Hope (1977)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Are all romances, or at least the tiniest bit, or they have sequels that are romances. I know, crazy.
Then I started thinking about my top five favorite fictional books. Two of those are romances.
So, I guess I like romances, especially swashbuckling romances, but let's get this straight, I only like really good romances.
Anyway, enough of all that nonsense. I am here to review a movie! (One of my top five!)

The Son of Monte Cristo (1940):
The unofficial sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo, based on the book by Jules Lermina:
"It has to work!"
The Grand Duchess Zona is a prisoner in her own castle. General Gurko Lannen has taken over and has all the guards under his command, and he wants Zona to marry him! Zona needs help. She goes out for a ride but plans to go further, until her coach gets upset! Just then, the Count of Monte Cristo's son, Edmond, rides by. He gives her his help, while falling in love with her. When things go wrong, Edmond joins the Torch, a rebel newspaper trying to help get Lichtenburg back into Zona's hands. Edmond will pretend he is helping Gurko Lanen, while he is actually helping Zona. Will it work?
"I'm beginning to wonder which me is me!"
As it happens: "My father was the best swordsman in France!"
Genre: Action, Adventure, Swashbuckler, Romance.
Costumes: 9, lovely!
My favorite:
Script: 9, only one or two bad words.
"You ruffian! ....My lamb!"
Crew:
Directed by: Rowland V. Lee
Produced by: Edward Small
Written by: George Bruce
Starring:
Louis Hayward as Edmond Dantès, Jr. "That young man makes a career of making people in trouble more in trouble."
Joan Bennett as Grand Duchess Zona.
George Sanders as General Gurko Lanen. "It is a pity that such a career as yours has to end."
Florence Bates as Countess Mathilde. "I'll take care of that!"
Lionel Royce as Col. Zimmerman
Montagu Love as Baron Von Neuhoff
Ian Wolfe as Conrad Stadt
Music: 10!
Music by: Edward Ward
Quotes: 9,
"The horses are not the best."
"Can they walk?"
"Why yes!"
"That's all that matters."
"But, it's dark!"
"You don't say!"
Storyline: 8, there is some fighting, smoking, death, and kissing, but I love the storyline! My sister claims it is a "cheesy" movie, but it most certainly is not!
"There are some things even the rope cannot strangle."
Good For: Romantics, People who like swashbucklers!
You can't really see it that well, but they are having some action with swords here! This is a swashbuckler, there is a lot of duels!
Overall Score: 9!

Please watch this movie! It is a great one!

Also, be sure to go check out all the fun at Movies Silently!
For these few days I made a header with the classic quote from this movie:

It looks more like a pirate theme than I expected, but it is okay.
Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic

8 comments:

  1. I have never seen this, but it definitely sounds like a movie I would like! I may have to check it out sometime:) especially if it's a top five (alongside Star Wars and BatB!), which means it must be pretty good, right?

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    Replies
    1. I do think you would like it! Yes, making the top five is a big accomplishment, as I am very picky about movies. :) A few little references are to The Count of Monte Cristo, but you don't have to read that book, or see that movie first.

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  2. Sounds great, I'll have to look into this!

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  3. Thank you for joining in and crunching the numbers on this swashbuckler!

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  4. You have made me want to see this one. I loved Louis Hayward in The Man in the Iron Mask. This one sounds like just as much fun. Thank you for the recommendation.

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    Replies
    1. It is so good! And the actors go together so wonderfully!

      Thank you for your comment!

      Delete

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"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, where you stop your story." -Orson Welles