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Monte Cristo
Also known as [The Count of Monte Cristo]
(1912) United States of America
B&W : Three reels
Directed by Colin Campbell
Cast: Hobart Bosworth [Edmond Dantes], William T. Santschi (Tom Santschi) [Danglers], Herbert Rawlinson [Caderouse], Eugenie Besserer [Mercedes], Robert Chandler (James Robert Chandler) [Captain LeClerc], George Hernandez [Napoleon], Nicholas Cogley (Nick Cogley) [Morrell], William Hutchinson (William Hutchison) [M. Dantes], Roy Watson [Villefort], Frank Clark [Nortier], Fred Huntly (Fred Huntley) [Abbe Faria], Bessie Eyton [Haidee], Lillian Hayward [Carconte], Al E. Garcia (Allan Garcia) [Fernand], William Duncan, Alvin Wyckoff
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Scenario by Colin Campbell, from the novel Le comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo) by Alexandre Dumas (père). Cinematography by [?] Francis Boggs? Presented by The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated. / Released 14 October 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / A remake of Selig’s Monte Cristo (1908). Selig brought this film to market before the Famous Players version, The Count of Monte Cristo (1913). Famous Players brought suit against Selig and won, forcing the destruction of the negative and all circulating prints of this film.
Drama: Historical.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Part One. The first reel opens with the departure of the ship Pharaon from Marseilles, with Dantes and Danglars, the man who later incomes his deadly rival, as supercargo. During the voyage the captain dies. At the moment of his death he gives the charge of the ship to Dantes, and also entrusts to him the secret message to Napoleon, with the imperial ring which will admit him to private audience with the illustrious exile. Dantes succeeds in his mission to Napoleon, and sails back to France with a communication from Napoleon to Noirtier, who dispatched the original missive. On arrival at Marseilles, Danglars tries to get the command of the Pharaon away from Dantes, but Morrel, the ship owner, is well satisfied with Dantes, and gives him his captain’s papers. Dantes, after an affectionate reunion with his old father, visits his sweetheart, Mercedes. Fernand, a fiery young fisherman, who has been trying to win her for himself, is much incensed at Dantes’ return. He discovers Danglars’ enmity for Dantes, and conspires with him and several habitues of the Reserve Inn to bring trumped up charges against Dantes. Their nefarious scheme succeeds so well that Dantes is torn from a jolly prenuptial feast by the magistrate's guards and hustled from the distracted Mercedes’ side to a dungeon in the Chateau D’If, in Marseilles harbor. Part Two. The second reel depicts the awful years spent in the dungeon by Dantes. He grows grizzled, ragged and unkempt in the solitude. He manages finally to get into communication, through a secret passage, with a fellow prisoner, an old Abbe, who is being persecuted by political and religious enemies. The Abbe is an eccentric person, whose one thought in life is the recovery of immense buried riches, the key to the finding of which he holds in the form of an old chart. Finally the Abbe comes to die, and entrusts the chart to Dantes. After the discovery of the Abbe’s corpse by the guards, and while the latter have gone out to fetch shots with which to weight the sack in which they have wrapped the Abbe preparatory to casting him into the sea, Dantes manages to drag the corpse into his own cell and substitute himself for the remains. He is cast from the parapet of the castle in the sack which is supposed to contain the dead body. He has supplied himself with a knife beforehand, and as the sack sinks Dantes rips it open and swims to an isolated rock, from the top of which he shouts, in his exultation over the escape: “The World is Mine!” Part Three. The third reel opens with the rescue of Dantes from the rock by a smuggler’s schooner. During the cruise of the schooner, Dantes induces the captain to put him ashore on the isle of Monte Cristo, the spot named in the Abbe’s chart as the depository of the hidden treasure. He discovers the exact cave and unearths the treasure. He makes his way to the mainland and lives in luxury among the Arabs, falling in love with the beautiful slave girl, Haidee. Captain Albert, of the French army, gets into difficulties during an attack upon his troops by the Arabs and Dantes, by his daring, saves his life. Albert, on taking his departure from Dantes’ tent, thanks him profusely and invites him in Paris. Dantes, who has seen something familiar in the captain’s face, starts when he reads his card, but promises, without comment, to attend the reception at Albert’s. Dantes, in disguise, and known as the Count of Monte Cristo, visits Paris with Haidee. There he comes face to face with his old sweetheart, Mercedes, who has married his enemy, Fernand. Mercedes informs him that the young captain, Albert, is his own son. The final scene is a desperate duel between Dantes and Fernand, in which Fernand is killed.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Authors: Alexandre Dumas - Boats - Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821) - USA: California - Water
Listing updated: 4 June 2024.
References: AFI-F1 n. F1.0810; Blum-Silent pp. 31, 35; Lahue-Selig pp. 110-117; Niver-Early p. 67; Robinson-Palace pp. 144, 146; Tarbox-Lost pp. 103, 107; Weaver-Twenty p. 50 : Website-IMDb.
Home video: DVD.
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