When I first saw this on television, I was astounded by both the quality of the acting and of the sets and costumes and I have looked for it on DVD ever since. Having finally obtained it, I'm pleased to find that first appearances were not deceptive. Not only is the production lush, but the acting and story have a stong pull on my emotions.
The story, in short, and trying to avoid giving away any of the plot twists, follows Edmond Dantes trying to gain revenge on the people who had him imprisoned on the day of his engagement to Mercedes, the love of his then young life. Imprisoned in the Chateau D'If, he learns of a fabulous fortune, which, after his escape, he uses to have his vengence.
This adaptation focuses a lot more on his revenge than a lot of other adaptations, which focus more on his time in jail. While this reflects the book more, I do think it could have done with more coverage of that.
That is my only quibble with the adaptation, which is otherwise as good as it could possibly be. Yes, there are some changes from the book, but they are mostly slight, and with the book being the behemoth that it is, some changes are to be expected in any adaptation, in order for it to work on screen.
The main changes are the reduction of the role of Franz D'Epinay, the elimination of Eugenie Danglars and Edward Villefort, an increase in the role of Bertuccio and the invention of a mistress for the Count. I also can't complain about that as Bertuccio is by far and away my favourite character in this adaptation.
The story is so well told that one barely notices the subtitles. They are also clear and well-written, which is as much as one can ask for.
The acting is uniformly good, but Jean-Claude Brialy as M. Morrel and Christopher Thompson as his son Maximillian were particularly good.
Gerrard Depardieu brings his usual strong presence to the title role, and also brings a strong sense of humanity to a character who seems to be driven to strength beyond normal men by his circumstances. It is a great central driving performance.
I really can not give enough credit to the director, set designers, cinematographers, costumers, make-up artists etc, who not only make this a beautiful series to watch, but who also managed to make it seem like this was only a small part of a now vanished world, with the extras all seeming to be moving through to do their own things rather than being mere window dressing for the main story.
Fantastic adaptation, wonderful sets and costumes, brilliant acting. I can't recommend this enough.
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Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Action/Adventure - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Jack Ging, Marla Heasley, Lance Legault, Melinda Culea, Mr T, Dwight Schultz, Dirk Benedict, George Peppard, Carl Franklin
Re-rated based on Ciao's insistence that such reviews are no longer considered "Off Topic"
Soho_Black 16.04.2007 11:02
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" above the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
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