Scaramouche, the gallant marquis

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Movie
German title Scaramouche, the gallant marquis
Original title Scaramouche
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 115 minutes
Rod
Director George Sidney
script Ronald Millar
production Carey Wilson / MGM
music Victor Young
camera Charles Rosher
cut James E. Newcom
occupation

Scaramouche, the gallant Marquis (Original title: Scaramouche ) is an American coat-and-sword film directed by George Sidney from 1952 and starring Stewart Granger . A novel by Rafael Sabatini served as a template . The film was shown in the GDR under the title Scaramouche - The Man with the Mask (here, curiously enough, uncut, as the Warner video with the Napoleon scene without dialogue at the finale was broadcast, while West and all-German broadcasts only use the shortened theatrical version to this day) .

action

The French nobleman André Moreau, the illegitimate son of a country nobleman, learns one day that his father wants to cut the source of money with which he has previously supported him. He gets the notary who handled the payments to give the man's name and goes on a trip to the provinces. He first meets the young noblewoman Aline de Gavrillac, with whom he falls in love, but she shares the name of the man whom the notary told him and who has since passed away; and believing that she was his sister, André reluctantly distances himself from her.

On his trip to the Gavrillacs estate, André helps his best friend and foster brother Philippe, a republican and under the pseudonym "Marcus Brutus", the disseminator of revolutionary writings , with which he made many enemies , especially among the nobility and the queen . During their journey, the two meet the noble Marquis de Maynes, a cousin and favorite of the Queen, and Philippe is recognized by him as Marcus Brutus, provoked into a degendual duel and is downright executed. The inexperienced Moreau manages to escape, but he first has to hide in a group of jugglers , including his rather stormy ex-lover Lenore, and take fencing lessons in order to be able to compete against de Maynes. To do this, he regularly sneaks into Castle de Maynes, where he takes fencing lessons from Doutreval, the personal teacher of the Marquis and, like Philippe, a secret Republican.

In the juggler's group, Moreau appears in the role of the masked actor Scaramouche after the old actor has surrendered to the drink. He meets de Maynes at his castle for the second time, but is subject to the still better fencer and only survives through a daring escape and with the help of Doutreval, who refers him to his old teacher. Finally Moreau moves with the troops to Paris and perfects his fencing skills there with Doutreval's former teacher Perigore.

The French National Assembly meets in Paris , where aristocratic members repeatedly challenge republican-minded MPs to a duel. At the instigation of republican circles, Moreau is seconded to the National Assembly for the 3rd estate, competes against various noble opponents and defeats one after the other. His attempt to challenge de Maynes to a duel, but fails because of Aline (now the Marquis's fiancée) and Leonore, who keep the two away from each other in order to prevent the feared death of Andrés, whom they both love. Then one evening de Maynes visits the theater where Moreau appears as Scaramouche, and so he finally finds the opportunity to fight de Maynes. André defeats him after a lengthy fencing duel, but then doesn't bring himself to kill him too. And then Moreau learns from Philippe's father that de Maynes is his half-brother; the Count of Gavrillac had taken on the identity of Andrés father to cover up the misstep of his best friend. After Lenore, who has now realized that she can never really love André, gives him her blessing, André and Aline finally marry, while Lenore is content with a certain Corsican officer .

Production notes

The highlight of the 18th century, playing ahead of the French Revolution Films is the nearly 10 minute long sword - duel between André Moreau and the Marquis de Maynes in the packed theater. The duel is particularly intense because it is not accompanied by music in the film . It is still considered the best fencing scene in film history today. The two opponents turned out to be so well-versed that it was possible to shoot sharp weapons, at least partially clearly visible.

The young Janet Leigh plays a young noblewoman and Eleanor Parker the talented and sociable juggler.

Reviews

"Moving, varied and exquisitely equipped entertainment, which at times also takes on subtle contours," was the lexicon of international film . The television magazine Prisma counted the novel adaptation as "one of the best coat and sword films of all time" and praised it as "wonderful and extremely elaborate production". So "[an] excellent equipment, the skilful staging and the unrealistic Technicolor colors [...] would [ensure] the best adventure entertainment".

"Sometimes sliding into antics, sometimes striking outlines that have a background," says 6000 films .

Award

German version

The German dubbed version was created in 1953 in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin .

role actor Voice actor
André Moreau Stewart Granger Axel Monjé
Lenore Eleanor Parker Edith Schneider
Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon Janet Leigh Margot Leonard
Noel, Marquis de Maynes Mel Ferrer Hans Nielsen
Doutreval John Dehner Erik Ode

Literature template

Rafael Sabatini's novel Scaramouche , published in 1921, used the screenplay as a template , for which the authorized translation of the same name by Curt Thesing was published by Grethlein & Co. in Leipzig in 1928 .

  • Rafael Sabatini: Scaramouche. Signet Classics, 2001, ISBN 0451527976 (English edition)
  • Rafael Sabatini: Scaramouche. Droemer Knaur, 1983, ISBN 3426007363 (German edition)

Further films

The novel has already been filmed several times since the silent film days, more or less true to the book:

DVD release

  • Scaramouche - The Man in the Mask. Warner Home Video, 2006.

Soundtrack

  • Victor Young : Scaramouche. Original soundtrack. Membrane / Mousiki Akti, Hamburg and Athens 2004, sound carrier no. 221855-207. Original recording of the film music under the direction of the composer (mono and stereo).
  • Victor Young: Scaramouche (1952). Reconstructed Suite . On: Captain Blood . Marco Polo / HNH, Unterhaching and Munich 1995, sound carrier no. 8.223607, digital new recording of excerpts from the film music by the Brandenburg Philharmonic Potsdam under the direction of Richard Kaufman from 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scaramouche, the gallant marquis. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Scaramouche, the gallant marquis on prisma.de
  3. ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958. Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 370.
  4. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam: Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with her German voice actors. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 315.
  5. ↑ Scaramouche, the gallant marquis. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous file , accessed on April 2, 2017 .