Le Cavalier au masque

As reviewer Mario Grauci points out, the screenplay for this historical drama bears a striking resemblance to that of "The Scarlet Pimpernel", released in 1934,and 1982. The protagonist, ably played by Tony Curtis, does at times wear a purple mask, though through most of the film, he doesn't. Instead he plays his unmasked self, as Rene de Traviere, or an imposter of himself as The Purple Mask. In all of these guises, he is a legendary foe of the Napoleon-led republic, hoping to restore the monarchy 10 years after the height of the Reign of Terror. Napoleon's henchmen are still ferreting out nobilities of the old monarchy. The P.M. is part of a Parisian cell of anti-republicans. Another of them is Laurette de Latour, played by cute Collen Miller. She much admires the work of The Purple Mask, but doesn't realize until near the end that he is also Rene, with whom she has had an up and down relationship. (It's hard to believe that people familiar with both the Purple Mask and Rene don't readily recognize them as the same person, with just a minimal mask to fool them.

In the bargaining with Napoleon, at the end, these 2 are allowed to emigrate to England, though Rene doesn't promise he won't be back some day. They were saved from an imminent execution by a group of compatriots, who had entered the barracks housing the royal guards, at night, bound them, dressing themselves in their uniforms, and marching out as a unit when time for the executions. They brandished their rifles, taking the Minister of Police captive, as well as the famous swordsman: Brisquet, after he lost an impromptu rapier duel with Tony.

The entry of the compatriots into the dormitory involved descending from an entrance into the underground sewer system, and traversing it until they reached the exit under the guard house, which they were able to pry open. How did they know when they were at the sewer entrance under the barracks? Also, they might have been gassed by toxic sulfurous emissions.

This film was shot in Technicolor. However, the copy I saw at YouTube didn't have vibrant colors , like it should have had. This reduced my enjoyment of the film. The main reason for seeing this film is to experience the stars. They are at their peak of beauty. That's not to say the story isn't somewhat interesting. Tony, especially, made a good account of himself: in debonair looks, acting and speaking . His fencing looked quite professional: a good replacement for Errol Flynn. He makes money for the rebels, by kidnaping important people in the republic and ransoming them. He uses most of the money to buy the freedom of royalist rebels and fund other rebel activities

It is set in 1803 , Reign of terror is over , France is governed by Napoleon as first Consul , there the royalist Purple Mask attacks revolutionary soldiers . As Napoleon orders detain the known highwayman Purple Mask who abducts officers for ransom and undercover he hides into a women's clothing house run by Angela Lansbury and inhabitated by lovely models as Laurette , gorgeous daughter of the pursued Duc De Latour : Paul Cavanagh . Tony Curtis is a supposed dandy foppish of the French court who assumes the identity of Purple Mask in order to outwit the French Republicans led by Napoleon, Robert Cornthwaite , who still uses the guillotine against members of the old nobility , and to aid innocent aristocrats after the French Revolution .Meanwhile , Curtis falls in love for the damsel in distress , Colleen Miller .

A simple and known plot , as a wealthy foppish dancer , Tony Curtis , is not the fool he seems , but he results to be an expert swordsman who fights enemy and saves unfortunate people are about to be beheaded. A nice and brilliant picture that packs a colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Irving Glassberg , Universal International regular. As well as thrilling and evocative musical score by uncredited Hans J Salter and Herman Stein .This adventure movie contains swashbuckling , full of exploits , thrills , noisy action and a lot of fencing . At the end takes place the ultimate and impressive fencing duel between the dancing master Curtis and the cunning Dan O'Herlihy that is the highlight of the film . The fim mixes Scarlet Pimpernel created by Baroness Dorczy and Zorro by Johnson McCulley taking parts here and there . Tony Curtis is pretty good as Scarlet Pimpernel-lookalike in this stirring tale with a literacy and polish that places it several grades above such early swashbucklers and adventures movies also starred by Curtis as Taras Bulba , The Black Shield of Falworth , The prince who was thief and Son of Ali Baba . The motion picture will appeal to Tony Curtis fans who enjoys himself as a kind of Napoleonic Scarlet Pimpernel . Support cast is fine , such as the incombustible Angela Lansbury , Gene Barry , Allison Hayes , John Hoyt , Paul Cavanagh, George Dolenz and Robert Cornthwaite as an astute Napoleon .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Bruce Humberstone who worked on several silent movies and he was able to make all kinds of genres without problems . He is known for making a lot of Charlie Chan /Warner Oland films as Charlie Chan at the opera , Chan at the race track, Charlie Chan in Honolulu , Charlie Chan at the Olympics . He directed Westerns as Ten wanted men, Lucky Cisco Kid ; Musical : Iceland, Hello Frisco; Comedy :Wonder man , Tall dark and handsome ; Noir film as Hot Spot and Aventure : Tarzan and Lost safari, Tarzan and the trappers, Tarzan fights for his life , King of the jungle and this The Purple Masked.Rating: 6/10 . Decent and acceptable picture

This is yet another vintage Hollywood costumed adventure romp, a "Scarlet Pimpernel" clone that proves to be a modest but lively swashbuckler with Tony Curtis cutting a dashing figure as the titular masked avenger (who, predictably, utilizes a foppish countenance as cover). Though awarding the film per se no stars at all, the late eminent British critic Leslie Halliwell nevertheless recommended Curtis' contribution here when denoting the more noteworthy genre exponents in his "Filmgoer's Companion" (an informative and vastly entertaining tome which I used to consume in my younger days but, having now been overtaken somewhat by up-to-date information which can be gathered more readily via the Internet, I do miss leafing through)!

Anyway, though the narrative pretty much follows the traditional pattern – with The Purple Mask even taking time out for romance (with unknown but adequate Colleen Miller) amid his action-packed and danger-fraught exploits – it's given a considerable boost by once again providing (as did BOTANY BAY [1953]: see my review elsewhere) a formidable antagonist for the hero in Dan O'Herlihy who, like him, is not above using deceptive cunning in carrying out his task and eventually engages Curtis in a fencing duel by the shadow of the guillotine! Also on hand in the villainous stakes are John Hoyt as the incompetent Chief Of Police, Gene Barry as a Captain Of The Guards (who is also conveniently enamored of the leading lady) and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, Robert Cornthwaite (best-known for playing the misguided scientist in Howard Hawks' THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD [1951]) as Napoleon Bonaparte! Therefore, this was O'Herlihy's first on screen encounter with Napoleon since he would later also appear in the Russian epic WATERLOO (1971; with Rod Steiger); on the other hand, O'Herlihy had also just come from playing a monarch himself and an ally of Tony Curtis in their previous (and superior) collaboration, THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (1954).

Incidentally, the script makes a passing but interesting reference to France's then-First Consul's own bid for power: while he seemed to side with the Revolutionaries, Napoleon secretly harbored a wish for Royalist restoration (which would eventually occur, albeit briefly, in 1804 – a year after the events depicted in the film – with himself as Emperor). Finally, THE PURPLE MASK – along with another popular Universal swashbuckler, the Rock Hudson vehicle CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT (1955), which I had tried to acquire recently but ended up with only 20 minutes of playable film! – is conspicuous by its absence on DVD; consequently, I had to make do in this case with an edition culled from a panned-and-scanned TV screening which, bafflingly, ran for a mere 75 minutes: the movie's full-length is given in various sources as 82 (which, even making allowances for PAL speed-up, would still leave some 4 minutes unaccounted for!).

This is a sort of "Zorro" meets the "Scarlet Pimpernel" - a colourful, swashbuckling offering from Bruce Humberstone that allows our hero Tony Curtis to pretty much run riot! He is the flamboyant, debonaire Royalist determined to rescue his friends, ransom the agents of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and engage in a bit of flirting with the daughter "Laurette" (Coleen Miller) of the plotting, ambitious "Duc de Latour" (Paul Cavanagh). It's all a bit theatrical, but has a great cast including Gene Barry, Dan O'Herlihy and Angela Lansbury to help keep it rollicking along in a fun, enjoyable fashion. The script, such as it is, isn't up to very much but that's made up for by the overall joie-de-vivre of the whole escapade and I quite enjoyed it.

Have a real fondness for swashbuckling/adventure/historical films, some of which being part of my childhood and still hold up well today, so that was one of my reasons for seeing 'The Purple Mask'. The other being that it was part of my initially accidental quest (having seen many of his films popping up in my recommended for you section) to see more Tony Curtis films, he was not the greatest of actors at this point but he was always a very likeable actor and improved all the time.

'The Purple Mask' is not one of his best films or best performances, everybody else involved have similarly done better. That being said, 'The Purple Mask' is still lots of fun, and achieves in its goal at being an entertaining and amiable film that doesn't take itself too seriously or try to be anymore than it needs to be. Not one of my favourite films by all means but it is a very hard film to dislike.

It may be nonsense in some of the story and it may be a touch talky at times.

Angela Lansbury also has next to nothing to do in a thankless role and it did come over that she had not wanted to do the film (apparently that was actually the case too), a waste of a great actress.

However, Curtis goes for it and is athletic and has boundless energy, he carries 'The Purple Mask' very well regardless of him not being completely fitting in the setting. Coleen Miller is very charming, Gene Barry is his reliable self and the villains are appropriately antagonistic. John Hoyt is a standout and Robert Cornthwaite was a surprising choice for Napoleon but coming off reasonably well. The chemistry is great.

Visually, 'The Purple Mask' looks great, sumptuously designed and costumed with lots of vibrant colour and the photography is suitably lavish. The score is suitably lively and the direction assured. The short length and fast pace thankfully works in 'The Purple Mask's favour. The story has a lot of energy and charm, even with the silliness, and the script doesn't get too camp.

On the whole, lots of fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox