Genre Guesstimation – The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by J-Dub of Dubsism and we will be reviewing our favorite Movies featuring Royalty

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of May by sending them to royaljdub@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice J-Dub!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Movies featuring Royalty.…

“Is there no one I can trust? – Phillipe

“None. You are a King.” – Louise de la Vallière

Number of Times Seen – Twice (Video in 1990 and 1 May 2019)

Brief Synopsis – The Head of the Musketeers tries to find a way to free the twin brother of the King from imprisonment in order to place him on the thrown.

My Take on it – This is a film that I recall seeing in my English Literature class in High School and left an impression on me over the almost 30 years since I saw it.

This is a very tame version of this famous Alexandre Dumas story and it’s as engaging as one could hope for.

Richard Chamberlain is fine in the dual lead roles but something feels as if it is missing and would allow us to witness a stronger difference between the characteristics and mannerisms of the two main characters he plays that would warrant such a drastic change in government.

This original story features all 4 of the famous Musketeers, yet this film cuts out the three original ones and leaves only D’Artagnan to be a major part in this plot.

This is actually a bit disappointing since it takes away so much from the feelings of nostalgia when the Musketeers get together and it therefore also lacks the camaraderie that we have come to know about these characters.

The story, as told here also doesn’t manage to spend enough time developing any of the characters enough for us to care more about what happens to them and this is quite a shame.

Bottom Line – Pretty tame version of this story. Chamberlain is fine in the dual lead roles yet doesn’t manage to bring a distinct difference between hos two characters that would make the viewer care what will happen. The fact that the Three Musketeers themselves are cut out of this story and only D’Artagnan remains is a bit disappointing because it takes much away from the nostalgic feeling and camaraderie that this kind of story should evoke. The story also doesn’t spend enough time developing the characters which also hurts things a bit.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Jenny Agutter reportedly hated working with Patrick McGoohan. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not really. This is a water down and tame version of this story and it’s as good as it probably could have been.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)