Alexander Dumas was the great soap opera manufacturer of the 19th century for pulp fiction novels, and this film actually succeeds in transmitting the 14th century soap opera element to the screen making it surprisingly boring and ridiculous for all its elaborate costumes (all wrong) and romantic schmalz music, which tries to save the film but doesn't. I have often been disappointed by Abel Gance's film before, but this one struck the very bottom. Pierre Brasseur is magnificently overacting as usual in pompous eloquence and dashing theatrical exaggerations, while the others are typical soap opera figures, like 14th century barbie dolls. Alexander Dumas usually had a knack for rewriting history to make it more sensually interesting and populistic, he was never afraid of getting all the facts wrong, which he generally did, and here he distorts everything indeed, romanticising rather sinister cruel events and intrigues of medieval politics. It's not a bad film, the masses liked this kind of swashbuckling balderdash of cheap superficiality, there will always be audiences for affected romantic drivel like "Angelique" and Dumas' cloak-and-dagger novels of gory intrigues, but this film will reach no higher than a possible status as a pastime just to get it over with. I will probably never watch any more films by Abel Gance - they all made me yawn and sleep, unless they angered me enough to keep me fuming.
Review of La tour de Nesle
