There're several movies dealing with the life of Louis Mandrin,the beloved brigand ,some kind of Robin Hood ,who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
Actually ,Mandrin was fighting against the farmers general who grew richer,in the name of the king(then Louis the Fifteenth) ,and lived off the people:hence his popularity among the humble people and Voltaire's admiration (the writer appears in the movie). The 1947 version was divided into two "époques" (parts ) and thus had the audience come back to see the whole.
And Voltaire made a brief appearance in the 1963 version too; this remake was probably made to capitalize on the success of Philippe de Broca's "Cartouche " (1962) ; but whereas the latter was exciting ,with a dashing dynamic hero (Jean-Paul Belmondo ) ,had an action-packed screenplay and a wonderful finale , Le Chanois ,then the bete noire of the Nouvelle Vague -who made good movies in the past such as "l'école buissonnière though "- desperately tried to imitate Christian-Jaque's "Fanfan La tulipe " ,and was not able to make up his mind: a tongue in chick comedy or a dramatic adventure movie?: he fails on all both counts, his actor lacks charisma (George Rivière is neither Belmondo nor Jean Marais ),the film is labored and poorly written ("Fanfan La Tulipe was written by Henri Jeanson).
Mandrin's execution (the wheel,an atrocious torture against which Voltaire fought)is not shown in the movie;it was in the 1947 effort :his courage (not a single cry) was no legend:it was fact. The color remake took the easy way out.
