The Classic Literature On Film Blogathon – The Count of Monte Cristo (1975)

This is my first of 3 reviews for the The 2020 Classic Literature On Film Blogathon taking place this weekend and being hosted by Paul of Silver Screen Classics

Tnx for letting me partake Paul!

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“[plans for revenge] I shall move like the Sword of the Lord with a terrible swiftness.” – Edmond Dantes

Number of Times Seen – 1 (2 Apr 2020)

Brief Synopsis – During the Napoleonic era, a man is falsely accused of treason and sent to prison discretely where he plots his revenge on those responsible.

My Take on it – This is a film that I’ve been interested in seeing for quite some time since even as a kid, I loved the story that this film is based on.

When I heard about this blogathon, this was my first pick for a film to watch and review because I’ve been pushing it off for far too long.

The problem with the way that they tell this story is the fact that things are presented in too tame a fashion which takes away from the impact of this kind of story.

I have always enjoyed the work of Richard Chamberlain, but his performance in this film comes across too passionless which hurts things a bit too much because things seem incomplete.

They truncate the story a bit too much here and the latter half of the story feels far too rushed.

In addition to Chamberlain, this film features Louis Jourdan, Trevor Howard and Donald Pleasence in prominent roles which helps make this feel a bit more poignant despite the fact that there are a few too many problems with this film.

Unfortunately, of the three film versions of this story that I’ve seen, this is the weakest and least impactful and the Jim Caviezal version of The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) is IMHO by far the best.

Bottom Line – Great story, but they keep things a bit too tame and that takes away from the poignancy of things.  Chamberlain is a great actor but something feels a bit missing in the easy that he portrays the character because it comes across passionless.  The story is truncated a bit too much also and parts of the story feel too rushed.  The cast is what makes this film worth watching tho because besides Chamberlain, we get to see Jourdan, Howard and Pleasence all play prominent parts in the story which makes things a bit more impactful along the way despite the various other flaws in things.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Anthony Dawson, who portrayed Noirtier de Villefort, father of Prosecutor Gérard de Villefort, portrayed by Louis Jourdan, was just five years older than Jourdan. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

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