The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)

The Man in the Iron Mask is set in 17th Century France & starts in Burgundy where musketeer D'Artagnan (Louis Jourdan) captures a man named Philipe (Richard Chamberlain) & sends him to be imprisoned in the Bastille prison in Paris with orders no-one else sees or speaks with him. While at the prison visiting her father a young woman named Louise (Jenny Agutter) is accompanied by a high ranking minister named Fouquet (Patrick McGoohan) who recognises the man Philipe as an exact double for King Louis XIV (Richard Chamberlain), visiting Philipe later Fouquet sees a birth mark exactly the same as one on King Louis & is convinced that Philipe is in fact the identical twin brother of King Louis who was meant to have died at birth but somehow lives unaware of who he is, reporting back to King Louis a plan is hatched to send Philipe to an island fortress prison Pignerol & encase him in an iron mask so no-one ever sees his face but D'Artagnan & minister Duval (Ian Holm) plan to rescue Philipe & use him to overthrow King Louis & save France...This British & American co-production was directed by the prolific Mike Newell who has gone to direct recent Hollywood fare such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) & Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) & is a fairly lavishly produced & colourful adaptation of Alexandre Dumas père novel The Man in the Iron Mask which was his final book to feature the Three Muskateers. I must admit right now that I have never read the book so cannot compare the two although I am sure they are fairly similar & share the same basic plot, The man in the Iron mask isn't usually the type of film that I watch but it was shown on afternoon telly over here so I decided to give it a go. I must admit that I was expecting a bit more action here, a few more sword fights & chases & was a bit surprised at how talky this is. That's not to say it's a bad film by any means, it held my interest & I liked the story which is told efficiently & effectively enough but I was sat there waiting for The Man in the Iron Mask to spring into life & it never did. The switch at the end as Philipe takes the place of his brother is nothing more than a con trick while Philipe being released from his iron masked imprisonment is also very straight forward apart from a brief horse chase & sword fight. The plot is solid enough, there's the expected treason, lies, political skulduggery, mistrust, the odd plot twist, love triangles & romance as the future of France is on the line & I enjoyed the story but there have been various adaptations of the novel & it's a well known story so maybe there won't be many surprises here. I did like the rather ironic & downbeat ending as King Louis gets his comeuppance in a rather unpleasant way, the only problem is I wasn't totally convinced by the reasons given by King Louis in the first place as to not just kill Philipe outright but if he had there wouldn't have been a story, would there? Also, if Philipe was living in France in Burgundy why had no-one ever recognised him before as looking exactly like King Louis? Not my type of film really but I still enjoyed it for what it was although it probably helps that I have never seen any other adaptation of the novel before, not even the Leonardo DiCaprio one from 1998.Although apparently made for telly by the British production company ITC this actually looks very nice & I am surprised it never got a theatrical release in either the UK or US. The sets, locations & costumes are all very impressive & colourful & give a real air of authenticity to the film, the iron mask itself is a fearsome looking prop with it being soldered onto Philipe's head a particularly good moment. Like I said earlier there's really not that much action in this which is surprising, I would have though there would have been more sword fights & shoot-outs & stunt work but I was obviously wrong. Just don't expect much action that's all I am saying, this is more of a plot driven adaptation than elaborate stunt work.I would have thought The Man in the Iron Mask had a reasonable budget as it's actually filmed in France including Fouquet's actual Cháteau Vaux-le-Vicomte, the Palace of Fontainebleau and the Cháteau de La Houssaye & it show's with some great location work. There's a top cast here including Richard Chamberlain in dual roles, Jenny Agutter, Ian Holm, Patrick McGoohan, Ralph Richardson & Louis Jourdan who is the only French actor here despite the entire film taking place in France with French character's.The Man in the Iron Mask has been adapted to the silver screen no less than a dozen times & this is the only one I have seen thus far so cannot really compare it to any other version but I liked it for what it was, a solid historic political thriller with a hint of adventure. Perfect to waste a couple of hours one lazy afternoon but not really any sort of classic in my eyes.

While watching this film it's hard at times to remember this was only meant to be a TV production. This must be the most lavish and successful television movie made in the 70's that I have seen. I saw it first time as a child and was much fascinated. Now almost two decades later I still love to see it again on DVD. Here Alexandre Dumas' classic story has received an equally classic adaption.Richard Chamberlain in the double role of the royal twin brothers has often been compared favorable to Errol Flynn and I quite agree. It's not just the mustache but the swashbuckling and charisma also, not forgetting that he is a truly fine actor. Here it shows especially well because the whole cast is absolutely loaded with talent and presence; Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Louis Jourdan, Jenny Agutter and one of my favorite British actors, Patrick McGoohan as the most sinister minister. Mike Newell's directing combined with obviously a very healthy budget, handsome shooting and locations has worked wonders. The film does not only look wonderful, it also have a wonderful feeling in it. As a piece of classic romantic adventure stories in film from the last three decades I consider this one of the best.

I had never read Dumas' novel, or made it through any filmed versions before, so only had the vaguest notion of what the story was about. What a sumptuous production it is. The scenes of the Sun Kings' soirées at his châteaux were splendidly staged and, one can only hope, historically accurate. Could he really have been so rude to his wife in public? It was so outrageous that 'you couldn't make it up'! So it must be true! The main attraction was of course McGoohan and he did not disappoint. I knew things were going to be good when he made no attempt at one of those dodgy accents he is prone to. His clipped, calculating tones were brilliant as the scheming Fouquet. For me, the first half of the production was by far superior. The scene between Richard Chamberlain and McGoohan in the coach was superb and only topped by the sequence of Chamberlain being fitted with his mask as McGoohan regards him like a cat does, its victimised mouse.I'm probably wrong but I also felt McGoohan must have had a hand in the terrific sequence of Chamberlain thrashing about in his cell, trying to reason why he was being picked on. The anguish of his Kafkaesque imprisonment was superbly executed and that shot of the departing boat through the squares of the barred window…..I expected to see McGoohan's stern face approaching at light speed with a clanging crash at any second! Lew Grade and Patrick McGoohan – funny how good they were together. It would be nice to think they did meet during the course of the filming process, even if Mr. McGoohan had to get out of bed at 5am to get to Lord Grade's office in time for his 6am appointment!

This and The Count of Monte Cristo were both made for television in the late 1970s and starred the talented Richard Chamberlain. Yet, because they were originally made for TV, they seem to have vanished and I haven't seen either on TV since the early 1980s (though I did copy them to now worn out videotapes). It's a real shame, as they were first-rate and every bit as good as any Hollywood production--maybe better.The Man in the Iron Mask was the better of the two stories, but both are about as good Alexander Dumas stories as you can find. This is due to the overall package--exceptional music, acting, writing and pacing. I simply don't know how you could have made them much better.