Scaramouche
Adventure • Romance
Theatrical Release (US)
~ The Company that made "Quo Vadis" brings the world another spectacular romantic triumph! ~
Overview:
In 18th-century France, a young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.
Director:
George Sidney
Status:
Released
Language:
English
Buget:
$3,005,000.00
Revenue:
$6,746,000.00
Key words:
Cast
Stewart Granger
~ as ~
Andre Moreau
Eleanor Parker
Lenore
Janet Leigh
Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon
Mel Ferrer
Noel, Marquis de Maynes
Henry Wilcoxon
Chevalier de Chabrillaine
Nina Foch
Marie Antoinette
Richard Anderson
Philippe de Valmorin (Marcus Brutus)
Robert Coote
Gaston Binet
Lewis Stone
Georges de Valmorin
Elisabeth Risdon
Isabelle de Valmorin
John Chard
Written 5 year(s) ago
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Will you do the fandango with that trusty blade sir?
"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad"
Scaramouche is a romantic revenge adventure brought to us by MGM. It's based on the 1921 novel Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. The story was also filmed as a silent film in 1923 that starred Ramon Novarro. Directed by George Sidney (Anchors Aweigh/Kiss Me Kate), it stars Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh, Mel Ferrer and John Dehner. It's produced by Carey Wilson from a screenplay by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel. The original music score was composed by Victor Young and the cinematography by Charles Rosher.
Do you want your buckle swashed? Would you like to be whisked away on an adventure with beautiful women and handsome men at every turn? All played out in sumptuous Technicolor? Where the sets and costumes are of a very high quality and the choreography of the sword play is as good as it gets? If yes then Scaramouche is the film for you. A classic swashbuckler in the truest sense of the saying.
The makers have simplified Sabatini's novel to make the film family friendly, the script is literate and witty, while the cast attack the material with gleeful relish. Particularly Granger, who smirks his way thru the piece with debonair ease; and Mel Ferrer who delivers one of the finest villains the genre has thrown up. At the core of the film is the longest filmed ever sword duel at six and a half minutes, every second of which is vibrant, bold, and yes, damn sexy too. Sidney's direction is very astute because the pace never sags and there's just enough characterisation to make us root for the hero and to boo the villain. Whilst the piece rightly in its approach work never resorts to being a boorish history lesson. Even the love triangle {poor Stewart has both the sensual Parker and the sweet Leigh lusting after him!} never cloys the story, and in fact gives the film a solid centre as the outer edges merge into its adventure based being.
Not as famous as some of Errol Flynn or Tyrone Powers' sword play movies, but it should be because it's a rapier ripper of a movie. 8/10
