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THECOUNTOFMONTECRISTOisoneofAlexandreDumaspère'smostsuccessfulnovels,alongwithTHETHREEMUSKETEERS.EugeneO'Neill'sfather,JamesO'Neill,madeacareeroftherolefordecades,committinganabbreviatedversionofittothescreenin1913.Indeed,theIMDblistsmorethanthirtyscreenadaptationsofthework.Themostsuccessfulversionwas,Ifeel,the1975versionstarringRichardChamberlain.YetalloftheversionsIhaveseen--aboutadozenofthem--struggletosimplytellthetale,letaloneinfusethestorywiththedepthandbreadthofDumas'novel,whichrunstoathousandpagesinfulltranslation,anovelwhichencompassesissuesofmorality,godliness,theVampireTheaterofPariswhichflourishedforhalfacenturyinFrance--andtheultimatefutilityofvengeance.<br/> Therefore,itisashocktoseethismovie,recentlyrestoredandissuedonDVDbyFlickerAlley,directedbylittle-rememberedEmmettJ.Flynninatwo-DVDsetwiththerecentlyrediscoveredBARDELYSTHEMAGNIFICENT.Thisisawonderfulretellingofthestory,withfineperformancesinwhatwasheraldedas'anall-starcast'.Thescriptiscarefullywrittentocoverthescenesnotshownonthescreen.Iftheprintseems,attimes,tobeabitwashedout,thisapparentfailurecanbelaidonthefilmstockoftheera:theorthochromaticfilmthathadbeenastandardoftheindustryforalmostthirtyyearswouldbesupersededwithinacoupleofyearsbyfaster,panchromaticstockthatcouldfilmbluesmoreeffectively.<br/> Ifthestoryseemsabitrushedandmorestraightforwardinitstellingthanseemsproper:alas,that'swhathappenswhenyoutrytogetsoalongstoryintoatwo-hourpicture,folks,anddirectorFlynndoesahighlycompetentjob,giventheAugeantask.<br/> OtherreviewersfortheIMDbhavewrittenthatJohnGilbertdoesnotreallyseemtobeJohnGilbertinthispicture.Trueenough,butheisnotbusybeingJohnGilbertthestar,butanactorplayingtheCountofMonteCristo,bornEdmondDantesinthefertilemindofDumas.Althoughthemodernfilm-goermayhavesomeissueswiththeconventionsofamoviemadealmostninetyyearsago,thosewhoenjoysilentfilmswillfindlittlereasontoregretthetimetheyspendwatchingthisversion.
