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The Count of Monte Cristo

Play trailer Poster for The Count of Monte Cristo 1934 1h 53m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
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88% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 78% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
In the midst of the tumultuous Napoleonic era, Frenchman Edmond Dantes (Robert Donat) is charged with a trumped-up crime and sent to prison. But after years of confinement, he escapes, and in the process secures a vast fortune hidden away on the island of Monte Cristo, off the Italian coast. Rebranding himself as a man of nobility and means, Edmond aims to settle scores with traitorous former friend Mondego (Sidney Blackmer) and the others who took his freedom and his fiancée (Elissa Landi).
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The Count of Monte Cristo

Critics Reviews

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Otis Ferguson The New Republic 01/23/2024
The picture would have been stronger if both the story and the whole company had been better: as it is, I cannot think of faults without remembering that while the thing was going forward I was sitting up in my seat hoping for him to soak them plenty. Go to Full Review
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins 07/26/2020
7/10
Unfortunately, many of the finer degrees of avengement aren't translated to the screen with the finesse or components necessary to create cinematic splendor. Go to Full Review
Ann Ross Maclean's Magazine 08/01/2019
The Dumas story very much as Dumas wrote it: which leaves nothing to complain about. Go to Full Review
Charles Davy The Spectator 10/04/2018
This is a picture for those whom like their full money's worth of solid entertainment. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Parallax View 02/19/2012
... slow and static and creaky, stopping dead for monologues and exposition to explain what the film can't afford to show. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/29/2005
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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Scott R @ScottR Oct 5 NYT 1000 list. Saw this after reading the book and wanting to find a faithful adaptation of it and this came very close. It still did not quite measure up to what it could have been. SLC DVD. See more David S Mar 17 Gets the job done given the year it was made when telling this classic tale. See more Tim M Feb 11 The first sound adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's seminal novel, The Count of Monte Cristo pulls off the transition with the story's inherent intellectualism and verve. See more john g 06/12/2022 excellent entertainment - Donat does a great job See more william d @acsdoug 04/12/2021 I think Robert Donat is an outstanding actor, but I must admit he seems a bit off his game here. Still, this is a decent retelling of the Dumas classic, and Donat on a bad day is still better than most actors' best. See more 05/07/2020 It’s hard not to get excited about any version of The Count of Monte Cristo. It is a classic novel for a reason, because this might be one of the most satisfying revenge stories of all time. After watching friends and enemies bring Dantes down despite the fact that he did nothing wrong, you want to see all of them taught a lesson. Robert Donat does a good job of playing the character differently prior to his imprisonment with a certain innocence, and then switching to bold confidence after his escape. He also looked different, so I can commend the makeup and hair people for pulling that off, and forgive them for how humorously bad his beard looked when he was in prison. I will say, I wanted something more from the entire time in prison. Perhaps a better montage establishing how he was learning so much, and still had the time to dig his escape route would have helped. I think this classic version of Dumas’ novel suffers a bit for me because I enjoyed the 2002 version so much, and did find myself comparing the two occasionally. There are some tweaks made in that adaptation which change the story slightly, and I thought they worked quite well. Also, with a more modern style of film-making they were able to add more action and exciting effects that simply weren’t possible in the 1930s. That doesn’t change the fact that the story was still effective in this version. In fact, purists who want a fully accurate presentation of the story would probably prefer this film. While I might not lean towards watching Rowland V. Lee’s The Count of Monte Cristo, it is a solid film and I wouldn’t mind watching it again. See more Read all reviews
The Count of Monte Cristo

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Movie Info

Synopsis In the midst of the tumultuous Napoleonic era, Frenchman Edmond Dantes (Robert Donat) is charged with a trumped-up crime and sent to prison. But after years of confinement, he escapes, and in the process secures a vast fortune hidden away on the island of Monte Cristo, off the Italian coast. Rebranding himself as a man of nobility and means, Edmond aims to settle scores with traitorous former friend Mondego (Sidney Blackmer) and the others who took his freedom and his fiancée (Elissa Landi).
Director
Rowland V. Lee
Producer
Edward Small
Production Co
Edward Small Productions
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 29, 1934, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 17, 2020
Runtime
1h 53m
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