The Man in the Iron Mask
                                  
Director: Mike Newell
Year:  1977
Rating: 6.0

This is a well produced TV film that feels a little shallow compared to the 1938 version but actually has a better cast and is faster paced without as much time being spent on romance. Richard Chamberlain plays The Man in the Iron Mask with Louis Jourdan as D'Artagnan, Patrick McGoohan as the villainous Fouquet, Ralph Richardson as Colbert and Jenny Agutter as the love interest. It differs quite a bit from the earlier film - in that one The Man in the Iron Mask was raised by D'Artagnan while in this one he is not; the love interest in the first film is the daughter of the Spanish King (Joan Bennett) while in this one the King is already married to that woman but wants an affair with Jenny; in the first film all four Musketeers are present but here only D'Artagnan is - but the main plot point is the same in both. Louis XIII has two twin sons born to him and one is sent off and brought up not knowing who he is as to save France from Civil War. D'Artagnan and Colbert (a true historical figure) plot to replace the evil King with his noble brother and this is successful.



The interesting thing though is that this is not what happens in Dumas's novel. Dumas had a fascinating life and was an incredibly prolific writer with many books to his credit, but his most known today are The Count of Monte Cristo and of course the various adventures of the Musketeers. The Musketeer books are called The D'Artagnan Romances which were a serial that were eventually collected into three novels - The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years and Ten Years After. This is an enormously lengthy work written from 1844 to 1850 and The Man in the Iron Mask is only part of Ten Years After.



In Dumas's book the Musketeer Aramis feels that Louis XIV is a weak King and manages to replace him with his twin brother Philippe who had been in jail with his iron mask all of his life. D'Artignan learns of the plot and helps in returning Louis to the throne with Aramis and Porthos running for their lives. During these three novels the Musketeers often found themselves on different sides of a power play. Of historical interest is that in fact there was a real person who was imprisoned for 34 years and no one knew his identity and was forced to wear a mask. Rumors abounded that he was the illegitimate brother of Louis XIV but no one knew for sure. He died in 1703. But this is clearly where Dumas got the idea.