The Man in the Iron Mask
                   
Director: James Whale
Year:  1939
Rating: 7.0
This well-known story receives a topnotch production in this 1939 film directed by James Whale and produced by Edward Small. Though in black and white it looks sumptuous throughout. It isn't quite the exciting adventure story one might expect with the Musketeers on hand but it is more of a romance with palace intrigue interrupting true love. It has a solid cast but far from a group of A listers.



Whale had wanted Small to get Douglas Fairbanks Jr (his father had been in the silent version in the same role) as The Man in the Iron Mask but Small was grooming Hayward to become a star. Hayward is fine but Fairbanks would certainly have been a better choice in this role. Hayward had been the first actor to play the Saint in 1938 but his face just has no character - boyish and pudding like. He did have a decent career but is basically forgotten today though he did marry Ida Lupino so definite points for that. Joan Bennett is probably the biggest star in the film having been a popular actress for years but it is hard to think of many films that she was in. Playing D'Artagnan is one of my favorite actors from that period - Warren William but he specialized basically in B film series - Perry Mason, Philo Vance and The Lone Wolf. Alan Hale who seemed to show up in every Errol Flynn (he would have been a good choice too) film plays Porthos and as a bit of trivia his son (the skipper from Gilligan's Island) played this role in a later version (The Fifth Musketeer).



This film sadly turned out to be Whale's last hurrah. He had come over from England where he had been a theater director and signed with Universal in 1931 to direct Waterloo Bridge. After this Universal said he could choose any of a number of potential film projects on hand. He picked Frankenstein and picked Karloff. He had worked with Colin Clive back in England. It was a huge success obviously and he went on to direct a few other horror films for Universal - The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein - that helped keep Universal afloat during the early years of the Depression.



After Bride though he demanded to make something other than a horror flick. At the same time the son of the founder of Universal Carl Laemmle Jr wanted Universal, which specialized primarily in low budget films, to start making big movies to compete with MGM. So Whale took on the musical Showboat and was by all accounts over his head. It went so far over budget that Universal was in danger of going bankrupt and the money men in New York took over the studio and booted the Laemmle's out of the company. They also had little interest in Whale and he was slowly pushed out. Small was an independent producer though in business with Universal and he hired Whale - but The Man in the Iron Mask was pretty much it. Whale retired two years later and never worked again. The film Gods and Monsters is a fascinating film of his last years. There are two brief moments in this film that brought back echos of Whale's horror films - one when the iron mask is placed on Philipe and he sits on his "throne" in the jail cell looking horrifying and later with the mask on Louis and he falls to the ground whimpering "I am the King". Whale had some more great horror films in him I bet.