How many books have been inspired Dumas's book? From Lew Wallace's ""Ben Hur " to King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank redemption " ,to name but two ;and countless films , in every country of the world. America even made an "update" of the story in "the wife of Monte Cristo' .
France registered the same desire and it transferred the beginning of the story into the trouble times of the Occupation (And a story of resistant fighters even more implausible than most of those made in the years after the WW2); the screenplay is particularly poor , making the film look like a bad comic strip ;it's all the more disappointing since great actors (Pierre Brasseur,Michel Auclair , Raymond Pellegrin) are featured ;as for the female parts ,they include Truffaut's protégée ,Claude Jade, in the inept part of the damsel in distress and gorgeous Anny Duperrey (credible as a young girl ,but ludicrous as a mother ,in spite of the make up); also handicapped by a drab lead ,an obscure actor called Paul Barge ,who does not possess an ounce of charisma. The action spreads over 20 years and includes ,as its highlight , a rally (Monte Carlo?) with a car the brakes of which have been sabotaged by the bad guys.
