Cardinal Richelieu
Director: Rowland V. Lee
Year: 1935
Rating:
6.5
I put forth this film as evidence that we have
declined in knowledge over the past 90-years. It is hard for me to imagine
a present-day audience being interested in or understanding a film about Cardinal
Richelieu who lived some four-hundred years ago in a country across the ocean.
A narrative that is full of palace intrigue and brings in plot points that
involve the influence of the Vatican, the Protestant wars, the rivalries
of Spain and England and the attempt to centralize power in France. I spend
enough time on social media to know that education isn't what it used to
be.
We are so used to seeing Cardinal Richelieu
portrayed as the conniving villain in all the Three Musketeer films that it
is interesting to see him shown in a better light. Yes, ruthless as ever,
Machiavellian in his attempts to stay in power and a step ahead of everyone
else. He had to be because many were trying to force him out of power. In
this film he is doing all this for one reason and one reason only. For France.
This is from Fox and is oddly a very patriotic film for France. I would understand
it if it was made a few years later but why in 1935. At the end of the film,
it reminded me of that scene in Casablanca when they sing the Marseille. Except
here it is in a church with a choir. The life of Richelieu was a fascinating
one. He was from a lowly noble family of little matter and slowly and deliberately
rose from one position to another till he was perhaps the most powerful man
in France with enormous influence of Louis XIII.
At the time, though there was a King France
had numerous other centers of power that were in the hands of the nobles with
their huge estates and private armies. With England, Spain and Austria a
constant danger, Richelieu wanted to take power out of the noble's hands and
put it all in the King's. The film begins with a group of nobles - headed
by Douglass Dumbrille - to conspire to get the King (Edward Arnold) to fire
Richelieu. The Cardinal shows up just in time to stop it but the enmity between
the nobles and him continues. The nobles have the Queen Mother on their side
and she is part of the conspiracy (historically true).
Director Rowland Lee brings in a little
unneeded romance as well but since it is Maureen O'Sullivan I fully approve.
Richelieu is the guardian of Maureen O'Sullivan who is in love with a Count
(Cesar Romero) - who happens to be one of the plotters but becomes loyal to
the Cardinal. Dumbrille's character is an able adversary for the Cardinal
and their intrigue goes back and forth. History has shown Richelieu to be
right - nationalism was taking form all over the world as countries were forced
to internally consolidate. The Nation State was becoming a reality. In the
true history, Richelieu left a lot of dead bodies behind him in his desire
to unite the country, but his cruelty is basically ignored in the film.
Richelieu is portrayed by George Arliss,
a name that will generally only get a puzzled look these days. But back in
the first third of the last century he was considered one the great actors
of the time, both on stage and in films. He didn't have the looks for being
a romantic figure or a hero but he was an actor's actor. Often playing in
bio-picts. He also starred in Disraeli, Voltaire, The House of Rothschild,
the Duke of Wellington in The Iron Duke, King Phillip in The King's Vacation
and Alexander Hamilton.
