How many books have been inspired Dumas's book? From Lew Wallace's ""Ben Hur " to King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank redemption " ,to name but two ;and countless films , in every country of the world. America even made an "update" of the story in "the wife of Monte Cristo' .
France registered the same desire and it transferred the beginning of the story into the trouble times of the Occupation (And a story of resistant fighters even more implausible than most of those made in the years after the WW2); the screenplay is particularly poor , making the film look like a bad comic strip ;it's all the more disappointing since great actors (Pierre Brasseur,Michel Auclair , Raymond Pellegrin) are featured ;as for the female parts ,they include Truffaut's protégée ,Claude Jade, in the inept part of the damsel in distress and gorgeous Anny Duperrey (credible as a young girl ,but ludicrous as a mother ,in spite of the make up); also handicapped by a drab lead ,an obscure actor called Paul Barge ,who does not possess an ounce of charisma. The action spreads over 20 years and includes ,as its highlight , a rally (Monte Carlo?) with a car the brakes of which have been sabotaged by the bad guys.
France registered the same desire and it transferred the beginning of the story into the trouble times of the Occupation (And a story of resistant fighters even more implausible than most of those made in the years after the WW2); the screenplay is particularly poor , making the film look like a bad comic strip ;it's all the more disappointing since great actors (Pierre Brasseur,Michel Auclair , Raymond Pellegrin) are featured ;as for the female parts ,they include Truffaut's protégée ,Claude Jade, in the inept part of the damsel in distress and gorgeous Anny Duperrey (credible as a young girl ,but ludicrous as a mother ,in spite of the make up); also handicapped by a drab lead ,an obscure actor called Paul Barge ,who does not possess an ounce of charisma. The action spreads over 20 years and includes ,as its highlight , a rally (Monte Carlo?) with a car the brakes of which have been sabotaged by the bad guys.