THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
October 30th-November 1st 2003, VHS, my bedroom
I got about 250 pages into the book and realized that it was due back to the library before I could have a chance to read the next 1000 pages. Fortunately, my swachbuckling housemate owns a dizzingly collection of movies with swords and/or sorcery, so I got to take the high-school way out.
I should have expected that any film adaptation of a book of that girth and complexity would be almost imcomprehensible and paint everything in broad strokes, but this ITV production was pretty heavy on that score. Nonetheless, it manages to give a strong impression of Dumas' masterwork, and has all kinds of splendid costumes and some fine swordplay. Richard Chamberlain is sort-of well cast as our hero, Edmond Dantes, who get ripped away from his happy sailor's life and girlfriend and dad in Marseilles and tossed into prison for fourteen years, emerging with a chip on his shoulder, a taste for revenge, a treasure map, and a fine head of silver hair. His nemeses are variously played by Tony Curtis (sporting a truly weird wilver skunk stripe in his hair), Louis Jourdan (who goes insane like Joan frickin' Crawford, that is to say, like a champ), Alessio Orlano (who?), and a scene-chewing Donald Pleasance. Dantes' forsaken angel/whore girlfriend Mercedes gets a lovely treatment from TV movie goddess Kate Nelligan. And if I'm not mistaken, the Comte's Nubian gal-pal is played by one of the most stunning women I've ever seen - Isabelle deValvert, who was never in anything else, which would explain why I've never seen this hottie before.
Basically, the Count of Monte Cristo is a bad-ass, and he walks around in a great voluminous black cape, dispensing subversive justice to all the folks who did him wrong. And then he still fails to get the girl. What a bummer! Not especially recommended unless you're interested in checking out the costumes and Isabelle. I had to watch it in three parts because it's fairly boring and I kept falling asleep.
Side note: Ben Affleck is a total failed Richard Chamberlain cloning experiment.
October 30th-November 1st 2003, VHS, my bedroom
I got about 250 pages into the book and realized that it was due back to the library before I could have a chance to read the next 1000 pages. Fortunately, my swachbuckling housemate owns a dizzingly collection of movies with swords and/or sorcery, so I got to take the high-school way out.
I should have expected that any film adaptation of a book of that girth and complexity would be almost imcomprehensible and paint everything in broad strokes, but this ITV production was pretty heavy on that score. Nonetheless, it manages to give a strong impression of Dumas' masterwork, and has all kinds of splendid costumes and some fine swordplay. Richard Chamberlain is sort-of well cast as our hero, Edmond Dantes, who get ripped away from his happy sailor's life and girlfriend and dad in Marseilles and tossed into prison for fourteen years, emerging with a chip on his shoulder, a taste for revenge, a treasure map, and a fine head of silver hair. His nemeses are variously played by Tony Curtis (sporting a truly weird wilver skunk stripe in his hair), Louis Jourdan (who goes insane like Joan frickin' Crawford, that is to say, like a champ), Alessio Orlano (who?), and a scene-chewing Donald Pleasance. Dantes' forsaken angel/whore girlfriend Mercedes gets a lovely treatment from TV movie goddess Kate Nelligan. And if I'm not mistaken, the Comte's Nubian gal-pal is played by one of the most stunning women I've ever seen - Isabelle deValvert, who was never in anything else, which would explain why I've never seen this hottie before.
Basically, the Count of Monte Cristo is a bad-ass, and he walks around in a great voluminous black cape, dispensing subversive justice to all the folks who did him wrong. And then he still fails to get the girl. What a bummer! Not especially recommended unless you're interested in checking out the costumes and Isabelle. I had to watch it in three parts because it's fairly boring and I kept falling asleep.
Side note: Ben Affleck is a total failed Richard Chamberlain cloning experiment.