This has all the ingredients of being a
classic adventurous swashbuckler film of the likes of the Three Musketeers,
Zorro and Robin Hood, but it somehow misses the mark. It just feels forced
at times as if it is following a patented formula. It has a solid leading
cast with Louis Heyward, Joan Bennett and George Sanders who are your basic
damsel in distress, hero and villain but there is more chemistry between
the hero and the villain than there is between the hero and the damsel -
which is probably not a good thing.
This is produced by Edward Small who seemed
intent on making Louis Heyward a star. He starred him in The Man in the Iron
Mask (also with Joan Bennett) in the previous year and was to cast him again
a few years later in The Return of Monte Cristo - and though Heyward was
popular enough at the time it doesn't really carry through nearly 80 years
later. He feels like a lighter version of Errol Flynn - all the same attempts
at charm and flash - but Flynn had so much more natural charisma than Heyward.
In the Kingdom of Lichtenberg Joan Bennett
is the Grand Duchess Zona but the real power resides in the cruel hands of
the military leader General Gurko Lanen (Sanders) which is a great name for
a villain. Sanders with hair shaved into Prussian style is all spit, polish
and ambition. He wants the Duchess as more than just a stepping stone to
ultimate power - he actually adores her which is what makes his character
more than just a standard bad guy. Whenever Sanders is in the film it jumps
up in interest 50%. Zona tries to escape to France which is where our hero
comes in as he tries to help her. He is the son of Monte Cristo who left
his son quite well off financially and apparently taught him some swordsmanship
as well.
He plays that old tried and true trick
of pretending to be fey and cowardly to infiltrate the castle and gain the
confidence of Gurko - and then as The Torch he covers his face with a mask
and gets down to hero business. Interestingly, the man who helps him is played
by Clayton Moore who made a career out of wearing a mask. It is decent enough
but the romance never sizzles except when Sanders stares into Bennett's eyes
and professes his love for her. Compared to him, the Son feels like a boy
in training wheels.
