Scaramouche
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Movie Reviews of Scaramouche
Movie Review: The most lavish of all movie duels!
Summary: 4 Stars
Two of the best swashbuckling pictures were made by a director best known for musicals, George Sidney, with "The 3 Musketeers," and "Scaramouche" from Rafael Sabatini... Both films had a quick rhythm and a light grace that is almost choreographic...
The 1952 version has our hero André Moreau (Stewart Granger) as a lighthearted adventurer of unknown parentage... Is he the son of the Count of Gavrillac? Is Aline De Gavrillac his sister?
Aline (Janet Leigh) is impressed and confused by André's behavior in the coach romancing her... At the same time she is courted by Noel, Marquis De Maynes (Mel Ferrer) a bachelor and a protégé of an angry queen... Marie Antoinette (Nina Foch) known as the first swordsman in France...
After his best friend, Philippe De Valmorin (Richard Anderson) is slain by Marquis De Maynes, André Moreau escapes holding the ultimate swordsman at pistol point and making an important vow: "Yes, you're going to die, but not by a bullet. You're going to die as he died by the sword.")
Now a traitor and a refugee, Moreau flees his enemies and join Binet's charming troupe of traveling players which Lenore is a member... Lenore (Eleanor Parker) is a graceful woman madly in love with him... Discovering his talents for acting, he adopts a drunkard's role playing the masked clown Scaramouche...
Gaining fame as an actor in La Crosse, Moreau seeks out "skill for his right arm" from a master swordsman, the great Doutreval of Doujon (John Dehner) who agrees to take him as a pupil...
When Doutreval is discovered by the marquis giving fencing lessons to Moreau, he arranges for Scaramouche to receive expertise in fencing from Perigore of Paris (Richard Hale), the old master of all swordsmen...
In the meantime, Moreau is presented with an opportunity to foil his enemy's plans, this time as a new deputy in the National Assembly... André agrees, but mostly in order to come face to face with Marquis De Maynes.
De Maynes' fate steps in one day attending the theater with Aline his fiancée... Seeing him, Scaramouche whips off his mask and picks up his light, straight thin sword... It was the beginning of an unexpected climax, a surprising conclusion...
The colorful duel is among the few classics in Swordsplay... A delight for the eyes!
It begins in the floor corridor, behind the boxes of an elegant theater, then continues through the golden separate compartments and upon the narrow red ledges, with Granger swinging out over the auditorium on a strong yellow sash cord... He then leads Ferrer back through the boxes, down the rich corridor to the grand stairway and into the entrance hall... From there, inside the theater, over the red seats, between the astonishing audience, and upon the stage, far from the players...
Stewart Granger has made a strong contribution to a number of highly entertaining films that remain likable... He may not have been a swashbuckler of Errol Flynn' standards, but he wields a nice sword in "The Prisoner of Zenda," "Beau Brummel," and especially, in "Scaramouche"... His successive efforts as an adventurer, poet, player, lover and buffoon lead his enemies to call him the clownish fellow, a nobleman wanted for treason against the Crown of France, a rare talent with the sword, a deputy who have no interest in politics whatsoever...
Mel Ferrer is rarely thought of as a swashbuckler... His handling of the blade and his graceful movement distinguish him as one of the most accomplished actors with the sword... He is cast as the chivalrous villain who makes his blade a tool for butchery...
The ravishing redhead, Eeanor Parker, considers Scaramouche a liar, a cheat and a fraud. Also an impostor. But she ought to be burned at the stake for loving him...
Janet Leigh, projecting sweetness and light, is a nice pretty girl who wants to be loved...
"Scaramouche" pushes the frontiers of Technicolor photography to their limits of excellence... The sets and costumes are captured in great style... Marvelous sequences of brightly uniformed cavalrymen pursuing André Moreau through woods, across streams, bridges and richly green grassland...
The film, an exciting adventure story with outstanding action scenes, is first-rate class entertainment for the whole family...
Movie Review: An improvement on Sabatini's novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, Andre Moreau (Stewart Granger), a man of uncertain parentage, is forced to join an acting troupe in order to hide after antagonizing the Marquis de Maynes (Mel Ferrer). However, even while in hiding, Moreau plots ways of extracting revenge on de Maynes for the murder of his best friend.
Based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini, writer Ronald Millar takes the central ideas behind the novel and actually manages to improve on it. Although considered by many to be a classic, the novel "Scaramouche" is episodic and at times gets mired down by the characters making revolutionary speeches that rapidly become tiresome. The movie "Scaramouche" solves these problems by trimming down the history and rearranging the events of the novel to make them flow better. The result is a light-hearted, light-weight piece of fluff with some pretty impressive swordfights sprinkled throughout. The final swordfight, set in a theatre, is one of my favourite movie swordfights of all time. The ending is a bit abrupt (and doesn't make all that much sense, if you think about it for more than a few seconds), and the beginning contains a bit more set-up than would normally be desired, but overall it's an entertaining and fast-paced movie that has held up pretty well to the passage of time.
Movie Review: "As Quick with His Sword as His Tongue."
Summary: 4 Stars
The underrated star Stewart Granger enjoys what may be his finest hour in this unique, swashbuckling, comic romance. He rattles off reams of comic patter as effortlessly as he bandies his epee. He also has some physical comedy turns as well, and here as elsewhere he's always lively yet subtle. Would he'd starred in features MGM gave to less talented stars. ("Cough. Robert Taylor! Cough.")
If the film (story?) has a flaw it's that the audience is ultimately expected to jettison our affection for the effervescent Eleanor Parker in favor of Janet Leigh, lovely though not at her most engaging.
Justly revered for it's swordplay, this gorgeous, colorful production deserves greater appreciation.
Movie Review: Great entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
A gorgeous swashbuckler film in technicolor. Splendid sets, beautiful scenery. Technically perfect. The cast is excellent. Granger fits his role perfectly. The story is not so well developed, a little loose and childish. Makes a wonderful film for the young ones: It has enough action, duels, comedy and romance to keep their attention.
However, one would have wished they had thought more on the adults too.
Movie Review: Tastes change with time
Summary: 4 Stars
Remember seeing it when I was a kid. It was terrific. Now that I've seen it again,it's too long and kind of silly in spots. But the swordfight at the end is well worth wading through the rest of the movie.