The Iron Mask
(1929)
95 mins | Romance | 9 March 1929
Director:
Allan DwanWriter:
Elton ThomasCinematographer:
Henry SharpProduction Designer:
Maurice LeloirProduction Company:
The Elton Corp.According to a production directory in the 8 December 1928 Exhibitors Herald-Moving Picture World, work began on The Iron Mask on 29 August 1928.
The opening title card states: "Douglas Fairbanks presents The Iron Mask by Elton Thomas, Based on The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, and the Memoirs of D'Artagnan, Richelieu and DeRochefort." Elton Thomas was a pseudonym frequently used by Fairbanks. His other onscreen credit is in the cast of characters, where Fairbanks is listed last.
Just after the opening credits, Fairbanks steps out from a tableau that is presented as a book illustration from The Iron Mask and speaks directly to the camera, reciting lines from the Dumas novel, ending with the familiar, "All for one and one for all." After his brief speech, Fairbanks returns to the tableau and the action begins. The actor also addresses the audience during a break in the story, before the action jumps approximately twenty years. The second speech again ends with: "All for one and one for all."
The film is a sequel to Fairbanks's 1921 picture, The Three Musketeers (see entry).
The print viewed was a DVD of a restoration of a Museum of Modern Art print, with a new score by composer Carl Davis. Another version of the film that remains in circulation on DVD is a 1952 re-issue with a different score and sound effects added. In that version, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. spoke the words recited by his father in the 1929 release, plus provided a running, voice-over narration of the story ...
According to a production directory in the 8 December 1928 Exhibitors Herald-Moving Picture World, work began on The Iron Mask on 29 August 1928.
The opening title card states: "Douglas Fairbanks presents The Iron Mask by Elton Thomas, Based on The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, and the Memoirs of D'Artagnan, Richelieu and DeRochefort." Elton Thomas was a pseudonym frequently used by Fairbanks. His other onscreen credit is in the cast of characters, where Fairbanks is listed last.
Just after the opening credits, Fairbanks steps out from a tableau that is presented as a book illustration from The Iron Mask and speaks directly to the camera, reciting lines from the Dumas novel, ending with the familiar, "All for one and one for all." After his brief speech, Fairbanks returns to the tableau and the action begins. The actor also addresses the audience during a break in the story, before the action jumps approximately twenty years. The second speech again ends with: "All for one and one for all."
The film is a sequel to Fairbanks's 1921 picture, The Three Musketeers (see entry).
The print viewed was a DVD of a restoration of a Museum of Modern Art print, with a new score by composer Carl Davis. Another version of the film that remains in circulation on DVD is a 1952 re-issue with a different score and sound effects added. In that version, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. spoke the words recited by his father in the 1929 release, plus provided a running, voice-over narration of the story written by Richard Llewelyn.
There have been many other filmed versions of Alexandre Dumas' story. For additional information on other versions, please consult the entry below for the 1939, Edward Small production of The Man in the Iron Mask, directed by James Whale and starring Louis Hayward and Joan Bennett.
Anne of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII, gives birth to twins, and Cardinal Richelieu, learning of the double birth, smuggles the unwanted twin into Spain. Constance, a seamstress present at the birth, is kidnaped by Rochefort, and D'Artagnan, her lover, hastens to the rescue. Constance is killed, however, and D'Artagnan is ordered to guard the little prince. Rochefort kidnaps the second twin and rears him as the pretender to the throne. Richelieu then separates D'Artagnan from his faithful friends, the three musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who are each sent to different parts of France. Years pass. Rochefort smuggles the pretender into the royal palace and imprisons Louis XIV in a distant fortress. D'Artagnan rescues the king at the cost of not only his own life but the lives of his reunited comrades, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Louis XIV is reinstated and orders the pretender to spend the remainder of his life in an iron mask. As the mortally wounded D'Artagnan walks into the Palace garden, he thinks of Constance and his three friends, whom he joins in ...
Anne of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII, gives birth to twins, and Cardinal Richelieu, learning of the double birth, smuggles the unwanted twin into Spain. Constance, a seamstress present at the birth, is kidnaped by Rochefort, and D'Artagnan, her lover, hastens to the rescue. Constance is killed, however, and D'Artagnan is ordered to guard the little prince. Rochefort kidnaps the second twin and rears him as the pretender to the throne. Richelieu then separates D'Artagnan from his faithful friends, the three musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who are each sent to different parts of France. Years pass. Rochefort smuggles the pretender into the royal palace and imprisons Louis XIV in a distant fortress. D'Artagnan rescues the king at the cost of not only his own life but the lives of his reunited comrades, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Louis XIV is reinstated and orders the pretender to spend the remainder of his life in an iron mask. As the mortally wounded D'Artagnan walks into the Palace garden, he thinks of Constance and his three friends, whom he joins in death.
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