The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film)
| The Count of Monte Cristo | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Rowland V. Lee |
| Produced by | Edward Small |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on |
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Cinematography | J. Peverell Marley |
| Edited by | Grant Whytock |
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Production
company |
Reliance Pictures
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.5 million |
The Count of Monte Cristo is a 1934 American adventure film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Robert Donat and Elissa Landi. Based on the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, the story concerns a man who is unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him. When he finally escapes, he seeks revenge against the greedy men who conspired to put him in prison.
This is the first sound film adaptation of Dumas' novel—five silent films preceded it.
In 1815, a French merchant ship stops at the island of Elba. A letter from the exiled Napoleon is given to the ship's captain to deliver to a man in Marseille. Before he dies of a sickness, the captain entrusts the task to his first officer, Edmond Dantès (Donat). However, the city magistrate, Raymond de Villefort, Jr. (Calhern), is tipped off by an informer, the second officer, Danglars (Raymond Walburn), and has both men arrested after the exchange.
Dantès' friend Fernand Mondego (Sidney Blackmer) accompanies him to the jail. However, he, Danglars, and de Villefort all stand to gain from keeping Dantès imprisoned: Mondego is in love with Dantès' fiancée, Mercedes (Landi); Danglars wants to be promoted captain in Dantès' place; and the man who accepted the letter turns out to be de Villefort's father (Lawrence Grant). De Villefort consigns Dantès without trial to a notorious prison, the Château d'If, on the false testimony of Danglars.
When Napoleon returns to France, giving Dantès' friends hope for his release, de Villefort signs a false statement that he was killed trying to escape, which Mondego shows to Mercedes. Deceived, she gives in to her mother's deathbed wish and marries Mondego.
Eight years of solitary confinement follow for Dantès. Then one day, the aged Abbé Faria (O. P. Heggie), a fellow prisoner, breaks into his cell through a tunnel he has been digging. The two join forces; Faria calculates it will take five more years to finish. In the meantime, he starts educating Dantès.
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