This film and BARDELEYS THE MAGNIFICENT are two silent classics made by John Gilbert that have just been released together by Flicker Alley. Up until recently, these two films were assumed lost to the ravages of time--decomposed like so many nitrate prints from the silent and early sound era. However, recently, excellent copies of each have been found and reassembled.
These new versions are far from perfect--with BARDELEYS, scenes are missing and had to be completed using a combination of movie stills and intertitle cards to make up for the loss. But, considering that these only make up small portions of the film, this is forgivable and the films are still very watchable--much like the restoration completed on LOST HORIZON (1937). Sometimes such a repair job can work well, as in the cases of these two films, and in others, such as London AFTER MIDNIGHT, are too degraded that the restoration amounts to nothing more than a slide show.
As for MONTE CRISTO, up until very, very recently, it did only exist with portions missing as well. However, somehow Flicker Alley managed to find the missing scenes and patch it together. The print, while a bit degraded (with lines running through it in places), is complete!
This film was made by Fox Studios relatively early in John Gilbert's career. Because of this, the usual suave and well-coiffed Gilbert isn't in this film. Instead, he is a curly-haired sailer when the film begins--and a pretty ordinary guy. He's the first mate on a ship whose captain is dying. In a last order before expiring, the Captain asks the mate to take a message to Napoleon, who is in his final exile. However, Gilbert's arch-rival learns of this mission and betrays him to the government. On his wedding day, Gilbert is hauled off to court and freely admits to the judge that he was carrying a message to and from Napoleon and gives him Napoleon's letter. In the letter, it reveals that the judge's own father is a traitor to the present government, so he sends Gilbert off to rot in prison in order to save his father from prosecution. In essence, Gilbert was foolish to follow his dying captain's orders but didn't try to hide his actions and fully cooperated with the court--for this, he was sent to a horrid prison and left there to die.
In this hellish prison, eventually another prisoner tunnels to Gilbert's cell. Together, they form a fast friendship, but their escape tunneling comes to naught. Eventually, when this old friend is about to die, he reveals that there is a huge treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. When he old man dies, Gilbert substitutes himself in the body bag and it's thrown into the sea. Gilbert manages to escape, finds the treasure and returns back home--bent on revenge on the men who betrayed him. Considering it has been about 15 years and he is now incredibly wealthy, no one suspects who he really is. There's so much more to the intricate story than this, but you'll just have to see it for yourself to find out how the complicated plot for revenge is completed.
There is a lot to like about this film. The biggest plus is that it stuck much closer to Dumas' story than the later sound versions I saw (such as the Richard Chamberlain and the James Caviezel ones). In addition, Fox Studios really pulled out the stops--using very nice sets, costumes and the like--it is really an A-quality production. Overall, a film that is actually better than BARDELEYS--though it, too, is tremendous and go to prove that silent films can still be entertaining and great film--even 80-plus years later.
These new versions are far from perfect--with BARDELEYS, scenes are missing and had to be completed using a combination of movie stills and intertitle cards to make up for the loss. But, considering that these only make up small portions of the film, this is forgivable and the films are still very watchable--much like the restoration completed on LOST HORIZON (1937). Sometimes such a repair job can work well, as in the cases of these two films, and in others, such as London AFTER MIDNIGHT, are too degraded that the restoration amounts to nothing more than a slide show.
As for MONTE CRISTO, up until very, very recently, it did only exist with portions missing as well. However, somehow Flicker Alley managed to find the missing scenes and patch it together. The print, while a bit degraded (with lines running through it in places), is complete!
This film was made by Fox Studios relatively early in John Gilbert's career. Because of this, the usual suave and well-coiffed Gilbert isn't in this film. Instead, he is a curly-haired sailer when the film begins--and a pretty ordinary guy. He's the first mate on a ship whose captain is dying. In a last order before expiring, the Captain asks the mate to take a message to Napoleon, who is in his final exile. However, Gilbert's arch-rival learns of this mission and betrays him to the government. On his wedding day, Gilbert is hauled off to court and freely admits to the judge that he was carrying a message to and from Napoleon and gives him Napoleon's letter. In the letter, it reveals that the judge's own father is a traitor to the present government, so he sends Gilbert off to rot in prison in order to save his father from prosecution. In essence, Gilbert was foolish to follow his dying captain's orders but didn't try to hide his actions and fully cooperated with the court--for this, he was sent to a horrid prison and left there to die.
In this hellish prison, eventually another prisoner tunnels to Gilbert's cell. Together, they form a fast friendship, but their escape tunneling comes to naught. Eventually, when this old friend is about to die, he reveals that there is a huge treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. When he old man dies, Gilbert substitutes himself in the body bag and it's thrown into the sea. Gilbert manages to escape, finds the treasure and returns back home--bent on revenge on the men who betrayed him. Considering it has been about 15 years and he is now incredibly wealthy, no one suspects who he really is. There's so much more to the intricate story than this, but you'll just have to see it for yourself to find out how the complicated plot for revenge is completed.
There is a lot to like about this film. The biggest plus is that it stuck much closer to Dumas' story than the later sound versions I saw (such as the Richard Chamberlain and the James Caviezel ones). In addition, Fox Studios really pulled out the stops--using very nice sets, costumes and the like--it is really an A-quality production. Overall, a film that is actually better than BARDELEYS--though it, too, is tremendous and go to prove that silent films can still be entertaining and great film--even 80-plus years later.