Scaramouche (1952 film)

Scaramouche is a 1952 American adventure film based on the 1921 novel of the same name, written by Rafael Sabatini. The film was directed by George Sidney, and featured actors Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh, and Mel Ferrer in leading roles.

Plot

The action takes place in France in 1788. André-Louis Moreau, from the village of Gavrillac, is a man of unknown parents who was sponsored by the Lord of Gavrillac, Quintin de Kercadiou. This young man, lawyer and representative of his godfather in the States of Brittany, of great intelligence, wishes to avenge the death of his friend Philippe de Vilmorin at the hands of the Lord of La Tour d'Azyr, for defending a peasant unjustly murdered.

Thus, the young André, despite not sharing the same principles as his friend (principles based on the revolution, which will later explode under the noses of the French rulers), is dedicated to fanning the flame of revolution in the town to get his revenge. After going to Rennes to demand justice for the death of his best friend and being heard by the whole world (and ignored by the king's attorney) he cannot return since the Lord of La Tour d'Azyr demands revenge against whom he has offended his honor by publicly defining him as a murderer on several occasions.

His cousin Aline helps him run away and that's where his whole adventure begins: he joins a traveling theater company where he starts out as an apprentice and where he ends up being the great Scaramouche; after creating a stir in his last performance by inflaming the spirits against the nobility and his estate, he escapes and manages to become the assistant of a fencing teacher who slowly trains him, inheriting his trade after his death; he continues to frequent literary casinos to keep in touch with the bourgeoisie, who inform him of how the revolution is going until, finally, the French Revolution breaks out with the storming of the Bastille by the populace.

When such a thing happens, Andre-Louis worries greatly for his family (his godfather and his cousin Aline), as he fears for their lives. And here he will have knowledge of his true origin, which he will have to face and make a tough decision, totally contrary to his initial intentions.

Eleanor Parker and Stewart Granger in Scaramouche.

Janet Leigh and Stewart Granger in Scaramouche.

What has been narrated so far belongs to the book by Rafael Sabatini but not to the film by George Sidney since there are great differences with the book. For example, Andre Moreau is not a lawyer but a young man without a trade who has been raised as a son by the Duke of Valmorin, from which arises a quasi-brotherly friendship with the son of this duke named Philipe de Valmorin.

Despite his noble origins, the latter has embraced the cause of the French Revolution by writing pamphlets under the pseudonym Marcus Brutus, reaching such notoriety that even one of his pamphlets proclaiming liberty, equality, fraternity reaches clandestinely and defiantly into the room of Queen Marie Antoinette herself.

It is she who suggests to her cousin the Marquis Noel de Maynes, a great swordsman, that he no longer have duels with the nobles but rather fight the revolution with his sword. It is simply fate that crosses the paths of the protagonists; Thus Andre Moreau, in his eagerness to help Philippe de Valmorin escape, ends up meeting, thanks to a broken carriage on a muddy road, the love of his life, the noble Aline de Gavrilac -despite the fact that Andre Moreau already had a girlfriend in the company Monsieur Binnet's circus named Eleanor- and after Andre declared his love to Aline de Gavrilac.

He meets Philippe de Valmorin again at an inn, in which bad luck makes them both come across the fearsome and cruel swordsman Marquis Noel de Maynes there, it is where he discovers Philippe as the revolutionary, rebel and promoter of freedom, equality and fraternity, Marcus Brutus and knowing of his far superiority with the sword, challenges him to a duel to kill him intentionally, Philippe, a man of honor, accepts the duel, tells his friend Andre that he will not dishonor the his father's sword and fights a duel with the Marquis de Maynes, in the courtyard of the inn, who, due to his great technical superiority, speed, skill and experience, ends him slowly and with suffering before the eyes and impotence of Andre Moreau, threatened by another sword from an officer so as not to intervene in the duel, who after seeing how his friend is assassinated by the Marquis de Maynes, takes Philippe's sword and swears to avenge his death in a new duel, although finally before superiority and speed of the Marquis of Maynes, who is about to kill him, manages to take a loaded pistol from a horse's saddle and thus manages to avoid being run through, while threatening the Marquis of Maynes with the pistol, telling him that he is not going to kill him with a bullet - then he can do it and he doesn't - but with Philippe's sword and in the same way that the Marquis killed his friend.

Having said this, Andre Moreau flees mounted on the horse and in his flight from the pursuit of the men of the Marquis de Maynes, he takes refuge under a bridge and then in the theater of his lover Leonor, where to avoid being arrested he disguises himself of one of the acting characters of the theater company named "Scaramouche". This trick by Andre Moreau, who is now branded as a revolutionary and traitor to the crown, allows him not to be arrested and to live under this cover, while he begins to learn fencing with an instructor - who is also a revolutionary - who he is chosen by Andre for being the same instructor as the Marquis of Maynes many years ago. In this way Andre Moreau "Scaramouche" he will train and learn fencing at a very high level, training every day, in order to avenge the death of his friend Philippe de Valmorin, inviting the Marquis de Maynes to a duel, first defeating his officers present in the new Parliament, one by one, in sword duels at dawn.

This quest for revenge will bring the film an unexpected ending, they meet in the theater and face off in a spectacular duel of swords, in front of all the nobility of the city, the Marquis of Maynes is wounded and defeated, but Andre Moreau does not kill him, he leaves him alive to humiliate him, and then they reveal that he is his brother.

Cast

• Stewart Granger: like André Moreau.
• Eleanor Parker: like Leonore.
• Mel Ferrer: like Noel, Marquis de Maynes.
• Janet Leigh: like Aline de Gavrillac de Bourbon.
• Henry Wilcoxon: like Chevalier de Chabrillaine.
• Nina Foch: like Marie Antoinette.
• Richard Anderson: like Philippe de Valmorin.
• Robert Coote: like Gaston Binet.
• Lewis Stone: like Georges de Valmorin.
• Elisabeth Risdon: like Isabelle of Valmorin.
• Howard Freeman: like Michael Vanneau.
• Curtis Cooksey: like Lawyer Fabian.
• John Dehner: Like Doutreval of Dijon.
• John Litel: like Dr. Dubuque

Comments

Although it has major differences from the novel, it is a movie with hilarious scenes (especially between André and Leonore). It is one of Stewart Granger's most acclaimed films for his performance, natural and carefree, which makes this film unforgettable. Stewart Granger also acted in King Solomon's Mines (1950), The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), Beau Brummell (1954).

Curiosities

• This movie is a remake with variations of the 1923 version directed by Rex Ingram and with Ramón Novarro as the main actor.

• Lewis Stone who personified Georges de Valmorin in this version represented the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr in the 1923 version.

• He postulated to the role of Andre Moreau the actor Fernando Lamas and Maynes Ricardo Montalbán.

• One of the best swordsman duels filmed without doubles (Granger and Ferrer), which lasts almost 7 minutes (filmed several days and with an accident of Stewart Granger, who fell from the box in the fight).

• This film had a sad end, the death of the Marquis de Maynes at the hands of the sickened people, despite Andre's help, but finally the director decided to cut it, leaving a final comedy to the rest of the film. From this end there are only photographs, which are available on the Internet.