Funny how foreign screenwriters treat French history ; to secure a happy end , the Cardinal De Richelieu falls into disgrace just at the right time :it never happened , he ruled till his very death ,but when the Parisian learned his decease ,they lit bonfires in the streets since he was hated ; the duché de Foix did not exist anymore ,it was actually a comté which Henry the Fourth ,Louis The thirteenth 's father incorporated into the Crown lands ; the nobles were never hanged, noblesse oblige ,they were beheaded! And Catholic Spain was not exactly the right place for protestants like the Duke of Foix ,although the king declared war on that country (for a question of lands).
What is true is that Richelieu fought both the nobles (to pave a reliable way to the absolute monarchy ) and the protestants (siege of La Rochelle in "les trois mousquetaires ") ;the duels were forbidden because the nobles were the combatants and the army suffered for that loss.
Forget history and you get an entertaining swashbuckler ; Conrad Veidt is a dashing hero ,noble and generous,chivalrous , and Brent is a good foil to him , with plans which make sense, notably the one which would allow his master "to live happily ever after" .Raymond Massey is a cruel cynical Richelieu whose last order is at once predictable and implausible ,but what does it matter? Gorgeous Annabella (a very popular star in the thirties in her native France where she worked with Marcel Carné , René Clair and Abel Gance) did deserve that .Genius Victor Sjötröm was the ghost of himself ,he who gave such masterpieces as "the wind", but his movie is pleasant.
What is true is that Richelieu fought both the nobles (to pave a reliable way to the absolute monarchy ) and the protestants (siege of La Rochelle in "les trois mousquetaires ") ;the duels were forbidden because the nobles were the combatants and the army suffered for that loss.
Forget history and you get an entertaining swashbuckler ; Conrad Veidt is a dashing hero ,noble and generous,chivalrous , and Brent is a good foil to him , with plans which make sense, notably the one which would allow his master "to live happily ever after" .Raymond Massey is a cruel cynical Richelieu whose last order is at once predictable and implausible ,but what does it matter? Gorgeous Annabella (a very popular star in the thirties in her native France where she worked with Marcel Carné , René Clair and Abel Gance) did deserve that .Genius Victor Sjötröm was the ghost of himself ,he who gave such masterpieces as "the wind", but his movie is pleasant.