The iron mask (1929)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The iron mask |
| Original title | The Iron Mask |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1929 |
| length | 87, 95, 97 (English versions) 104 (German version) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Allan Dwan |
| script |
Elton Thomas Lotta Woods (adaptation) Jack Cunningham (anonymous) Allan Dwan (anonymous) based on two novels by Alexandre Dumas |
| production | Douglas Fairbanks for United Artists , Los Angeles |
| music | Hugo Riesenfeld |
| camera |
Henry Sharp Warren Lynch |
| cut | William Nolan |
| occupation | |
| |
The Iron Mask is an American costume and adventure film from 1929 with Douglas Fairbanks in the lead role. Directed by Allan Dwan . The film is based on the novel Le Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas .
action
Cardinal Richelieu entrusts the aging D'Artagnan to guard the young Dauphin while the other three musketeers return to their estates. After the death of his father, King Louis XIII, the royal boy ascends the French throne as Louis XIV. Richelieu made D'Artagnan promise on his deathbed that he would always protect the young monarch. The fourth musketeer does not know that the cardinal has hidden an important detail from him: Louis XIV has a twin brother named Philippe. In the meantime, he was kidnapped by the villainous de Rochefort and brought up in distant Spain in his spirit, only to one day put him on the throne instead of Louis.
One day de Rochefort sees the time for the exchange come. He smuggled the brother into the royal palace, kidnapped the monarch and arrested him in a remote fortress. Despite the similarity between the two twins, both D'Artagnan and the mother of both sons see through de Rochefort's rogue. In order to restore the real king to his rightful office, D'Artagnan rounds up his three musketeer friends, and all four set off to free Louis from de Rochefort's clutches. While storming the fortress, he dies, but three of the musketeers also fall. Philippe is sentenced to life in prison for betraying his brother and France, but shortly before he is able to stab D'Artagnan in a fatal stab.
Production notes
The film was shot in the second half of 1928. The world premiere was on February 21, 1929. In Germany, it started just a few weeks later, in March 1929. In 1930, a version with spoken scenes, music and noises was used in Germany as a so-called pin-tone film. The outdoor locations were all in California: Big Sur, Monterey Peninsula and Point Lobos.
The film was a sequel to Fairbanks' The Three Musketeers from 1921. Some of the then starring actors (Marguerite De La Motte, Lon Poff, Léon Bary and Nigel De Brulier) repeated their roles in The Iron Mask . Fairbanks died here for the first and only time in his career at the end of the film death.
The film structures were designed by William Cameron Menzies , five more largely unnamed set designers and outfitters were also involved in the work.
Reviews
In March 1930, the film was presented in the Österreichische Film-Zeitung as the first sound film by Douglas Fairbanks: "The work was preceded by the reputation of being the best, most interesting and most effective Fairbanks film that has ever been seen; this can only be Both as a film itself, which not only works through the adventurousness, the spirit and humor of its material, the unbelievably splendid setting, in short through its extraordinary format, as well as with regard to the game by Douglas Fairbanks, who has the opportunity here As a brilliant sensational actor, but above all as a really brilliant actor, to stand out as a grandiose artist, "The Iron Mask" is a unique listing. "
The Movie & Video Guide wrote: “Lavish originally silent swashbuckler had talkie sequences. Final scenes are especially poignant as this was Doug's farewell to the swashbuckling genre. "
Halliwell's Film Guide characterized the film as follows: "Spirited star rendition of Dumas, the last big silent costume drama of the twenties".
The lexicon of international films wrote: “Effective adaptation of two adventure novels by Alexandre Dumas, whose initially cheerful tone is increasingly characterized by melancholy. Silent film in a version underlaid with speeches, sound effects and music, which was also released in the cinemas and at the time marked one of the interfaces of the transition from silent to sound film. "
Web links
- The iron mask in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Illustrated Film-Kurier No. 1122
- ↑ "The Iron Mask". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , March 15, 1930, p. 14 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 647. Translation: “Elaborate coat-and-sword silent film, which originally had speaking sections. The closing scenes are particularly poignant as it marked Doug's departure from this genre of film. "
- ↑ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 522. Translation: "Clever star interpretation of Dumas, the last great silent costume drama of the twenties."
- ^ The Iron Mask in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on December 2, 2013.