Sous la robe rouge

Victor Sjöström's last movie as a director, is a mixed result of a try at a prestige movie to celebrate Denham Studio's opening, what with a script co-written by Lajos Biros and camera-work by James Wong Howe. Raymond Massey is Cardinal Richelieu. To thwart an uprising by Hugenots, he reprieves Conrad Veidt from hanging and sends him to capture Wyndham Goldie, the leader of the Protestants. Veidt is a rogue, but when he falls in love with Goldie's sister, Annabella....

It all starts out very well, given strong compositions and a typically Sjöström-like storm raging as he slips the leash of his watchdog, Romney Brent, recovers the diamonds and offers to duel the soldiers sent to arrest anyone they can. By the end of the movie, alas, the director is overwhelmed by the rigors of dramatic form and having Mr. Brent as his dialogue director. Sjöström retired from directing movies, although he would distinguish them as an actor for the next twenty years.

For the first half, it's a great movie. Too bad it couldn't finish that way.

This 1937 film was the third version of a rather creaky Victorian era play Under The Red Robe written by Edward E. Rose and debuting on Broadway in 1896. This British production is the only sound version and given the material is rather arcane we're not likely to see another version made.

The Red Robe of the title refers to the vestments of Cardinal Richelieu, minister to King Louis XIII in 17th century France and first statesman of Europe. The man who said on his deathbed that he had no enemies save those of the state is played with a combination of subtlety and fanaticism by Raymond Massey, two qualities normally not compatible.

Massey has a mission and it requires a guy who can think fast on his feet and be both a courtier and a duelist. He's got such a man in Conrad Veidt. But Veidt is under a death sentence for violating the Cardinal's edict against dueling.

But if Veidt brings in the leader of the Huguenot Protestants who hops back and forth over the Pyrenees to Spain stirring up revolt, he can get the sentence commuted. To aid and assist Veidt, Massey assigns his man Romney Brent.

One small complication Veidt falls for Annabella whom he thinks is the Countess. A real mess all around.

The cast does well by the material, but it's ancient and dated and some of the motivations are a bit hard to follow. The play was written in a far more romantic era and was old fashioned when it got to the screen in 1937 let alone seeing it now.

But as a curiosity it might be worth a look.

"Under the Red Robe" was directed by Swedish director Victor Sjöström and it is set in 17th century France. Cardinal Richelieu (Raymond Massey) is scheming and doing what he thinks is necessary to create a strong central government...no matter the cost. This means creating unity...and stamping out anything that isn't. In this story, he is out to wipe out the French Protestants in order for unity's sake. But this means capturing a popular Protestant duke...and he enlists the help of his favorite spy and schemer, Gil de Berault (Conrad Veidt). Berault is to infiltrate the Duke's home, gain their confidence and thereby learn where the man is hiding. Unfortunately for Berault, romance gets in the way.

While I liked this film, I'm not sure many will. After all, the story lacks action and is very talky....not bad, just talky. But for me, the story is interesting but more importantly the acting is very good and I am prepared to cut the slowness of the film some slack.

I say "unearthed" because the film seems to have been buried -- the condition of the print is pretty bad, and the soundtrack is so worn that half the subtitles say, "Inaudible". Apparently this is an orphaned film, in the public domain, without a decent print to remaster. Considering that many fine films have disappeared, we are lucky that this one survived at all. Lucky, because we see here what made this movie's era "Golden". Even routine costume dramas/comedies such as this one were blessed with fine production values, interesting scripts, and great directors and actors.

You can't have everything, and I wanted to see more of the deliciously ruthless Raymond Massey, who got second billing as Cardinal Richelieu but only a few minutes of screen time. A great discovery for me was Romney Brent. I looked him up, and most of his career was on the stage, so to see this delightful character player on the screen is a real treat. Annabella's heavy accent is hard to decipher, but she's so lovely, who cares, especially when she's framed by Victor Sjöstrōm, who brought us Garbo.

The sets are impressive, and the story is an interesting piece of historical fiction. There really is a Château Foix (subtitles call it "Fiox"), which did have a connection to Richelieu. If you're a movie lover, then look past the poor print and be grateful for this unearthed gem.

Victor Sjostrom's final directorial effort is made in England by the resourceful silent film taskmaster, and he is aided by a competent cast, magnificent score (Arthur Benjamin) and a clever scenario (Arthur Wimperis) in this engrossing historic drama which deals with the efforts of Cardinal Richelieu (Raymond Massey) to quell rebellious Huguenots in 17th century southeastern France. To achieve his purposes, Richelieu employs the services of Gil de Berault (Conrad Veidt), a dashing swordsman, to serve as a spy for Catholic King Louis XIII, assigning the duellist to travel to Foix in order to infiltrate the castle of the Huguenot leader, the Duke of Foix, wherein Berault falls in love with Lady Marguerite (Annabella), the Duke's sister, and where many adventures take place during the course of this romantic, witty and exciting film.