Dude! How do you eat?!
The silent The Man In The Iron Mask (1929) is the sequel to The Three Musketeers (1921), and, much like its predecessor, it’s paired, at least in this print, with depressingly inappropriate music.
However, the story is far more exciting, as the Queen, who we’ve already met, inadvertently bears twins, rather than just a single heir. As the second boy is born several hours late, with hardly anyone to witness it, Cardinal Richelieu decides that, in the best interests of France, the infant boy should be exiled without the knowledge of even his existence to be known to anyone. To that end, D’Artagnan’s love, Constance, present at the birth, will be exiled to the Mantes convent.
But Milady deWinter, now a virtual free agent after having failed the Cardinal in the previous story, happens to be in charge of the conveyance to Mantes, and spends her time on the way and then at the convent worming information out of Constance.
During all this, the Musketeers have heard that something is going on, and fly to Mantes as well. They arrive just moments too late to save Constance, as Milady shoves a knife in her, but they capture deWinter and discover she’s already a criminal; they promise her a visit to an executioner, and no more is she seen.
Sadly, the original three Musketeers find themselves beset by overwhelming odds, and end up staring down the barrels of, ah, muskets. Richelieu, though, sees D’Artagnan as useful to France, and makes a deal: if the three originals separate to the corners of the kingdom, and D’Artagnan stays in France in service to the King, they may live. They sadly agree.
Twenty five years later, the first boy is now a preening peacock on the throne of France, and the second boy was snatched from his exile by Rochefort, from the first story. A sneaky plan is hatched: assassinate the greatest blade in the kingdom, D’Artagnan, and switch the two now-young men. The second Louis, quite sullen, will then be beholden to the plotters, and they’ll reap great profits from manipulating him.
Well, as you may have guessed, plans go awry, and the kidnapped king, snapped into a modest iron mask, has sent a message to D’Artagnan, who survived the assassination attempt while appearing to have fallen to it. Summoning his old companions, he assaults the prison holding the King, and when his companions arrive, an uneven battle turns in their favor, but at a cost; their flight back to Paris cost even more, as old friends fall to vengeful blades.
After some fighting, the original boy is restored and France is saved (whew!), and D’Artagnan goes staggering off, duty fulfilled.
There’s a surprising lack of dialog-boards in this movie; the viewer must pay attention and attempt to guess at the dialog, and while this can off-putting, it can also draw the audience in.
The willingness to kill off characters is also interesting. It’s too bad no attempt is made to portray how Constance’s death affected D’Artagnan over the next twenty-odd years, as that could enhanced his standing in the story. Incidentally, the makeup applied to Douglas Fairbanks, who portrays both the young and the old D’Artagnan, is most convincing. Well done.
I also thought it interesting that neither of the twins was positively portrayed; quite frankly, tossing both of them into the river and putting D’Artagnan on the throne might have served France better. It’s a lesson, inadvertent or not, in the futility of absolute monarchy.
And it’s entertaining. Settle in and see how movies were enjoyed ninety years ago. Eat some popcorn. And stare intently.
