The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)

The Son of Monte Cristo is a 1940 American black-and-white film produced by Edward Small, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, and George Sanders. The Small production uses the same sets, and many of the same cast and production crew as his previous year's production of The Man in the Iron Mask.

The film takes the same name as the unofficial sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo, namely The Son of Monte Cristo, written by Jules Lermina in 1881.
Using elements from several romantic swashbuckler's of the time such as The Prisoner of Zenda and The Mark of Zorro the production also mirrors the situation of Continental Europe in 1939-1940.

Synopsis

In 1865, the proletarian General Gurko Lanen becomes the behind the scenes dictator of the Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg located in the Balkans. Gurko suppresses the clergy and the free press and imprisons the Prime Minister Baron Von Neuhoff. The rightful ruler of the Grand Duchy the Grand Duchess Zona, hopes to get aid from Napoleon III of France and makes her escape pursued by a troop of Hussars loyal to Gurko. She is rescued by the visiting Count of Monte Cristo in the area on a hunting trip. The Count escorts her to a neutral country, but Gurko's Hussars violate international neutrality to return the Grand Duchess and her lady-in-waiting back to Lichtenburg.

Actors