Thirteen years after making this film, in which he played the villainous ruler of a fictional country called "Lichtenburg" (an obvious combination of the real-life small countries Lichtenstein and Luxemburg), George Sanders played a sympathetic role in the musical film Appelez-moi madame (1953), also set in Lichtenburg.
Louis Hayward and George Sanders played the role of Simon Templar, a.k.a. The Saint, in different films.
Le fils de Monte-Cristo (1940) takes the same name as the unofficial sequel novel to The Count of Monte Cristo, namely The Son of Monte Cristo, written by Jules Lermina in 1881. It is available via Project Gutenberg on their webpage. Using elements from several romantic swashbucklers of the time such as Le prisonnier de Zenda (1937) and Le signe de Zorro (1940) the production also mirrors the situation of Continental Europe in 1939-1940.
Jules Lermina (1839-1915) was a French writer. He began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support. He wrote two sequels to the popular classic The Count of Monte-Cristo: Le Fils de Monte-Cristo (1881) (that in English was divided in two books --- The Wife of Monte Cristo and The Son of Monte Cristo) --- and Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885); and Les Mystères de New York [The Mysteries of New York] (1874), also written under the pseudonym of William Cobb.
Jules Lermina (1839-1915) was a French writer. He began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support. He wrote two sequels to the popular classic The Count of Monte-Cristo: Le Fils de Monte-Cristo (1881) (that in English was divided in two books --- The Wife of Monte Cristo and The Son of Monte Cristo) --- and Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885); and Les Mystères de New York [The Mysteries of New York] (1874), also written under the pseudonym of William Cobb.
At the 1942 Academy Awards®, Le fils de Monte-Cristo (1940) was nominated for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (John DuCasse Schulze and Edward G. Boyle) but the pair lost to Qu'elle était verte ma vallée (1941).
This Edward Small production uses the same sets and many of the same cast and production crew as his previous year's production of L'homme au masque de fer (1939). Hayward returned to star in Small's Le retour de Monte-Cristo (1946).