The Count of Monte-Cristo

Edmond Dantès is a young sailor about to be made captain and to marry his fiancée. Three men do not want that: a shipmate who wants his post, a friend who wants his fiancée, and a prosecutor who stays silent so that his father's name will not come out. A letter is used as the pretext and Dantès is arrested on his wedding day and shut in the fortress on the island. Years pass. In his cell he meets an old priest who teaches him to read, and languages, and history, and tells him where a treasure lies. David Greene directs. Richard Chamberlain plays Dantès, with Tony Curtis, Trevor Howard, Louis Jourdan and Donald Pleasence in the cast. The source is Alexandre Dumas's novel. This version was made for television and became one of the best known adaptations of the book. The narrative compresses the long second half of the novel; the revenge, which runs over years in the book, is reduced to a few scenes. The idea is not treasure but identity: when Dantès returns he stops being himself and takes his revenge as another man. Richard Chamberlain was the known face of television adaptations in that period and this is among his most remembered parts. The means are limited; exteriors and crowd scenes are restricted and the period is drawn at television scale. Who it is for: viewers who like adaptations of classic novels and seventies television production. Who it is not for: the novel is cut down, the pacing is irregular, and the ending resolves too neatly against the book.