Sorry, this movie sucks

One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is a nice introduction to the Dumas story. Chamberlain is very convincing count. The greatest strength are the scenes at the Château D'if and the relationship of Edmund Dantes with the old priest who saves him. This is really quite gut wrenching. I know it's not the responsibility of the writers to explain everything historically, but it would have been good to have a bit of the Bonapartist issues and the turmoil in France. Once Dantes finds the fortune and begins his quest for revenge, things get so short on detail, but that is the price of a two hour effort with commercials thrown in. Chamberlain makes a good swashbuckler. Louis Jordan and Tony Curtis do quite a bit of overacting, but that's OK. It's a big book and others have tried to put the story on screen, but this has always been fun for me.

Strange, almost all reviewers are highly positive about this movie. Is it because it's from 1975 and has Chamberlain and Curtis in it and therefore forgive the by times very bad acting and childish ways of storytelling? Maybe it's because some people get sentimental about this film because they have read the book? (I have not read the book, but I don't think that's a problem, film makers never presume that the viewers have read the book). Or is it because I am subconsciously irritated about the fact that English-speaking actors try to behave as their French counterparts?

There is obviously a 119 minutes (TV-) version of this movie, but I only know the shorter (theatrical) version. The longer version is probably better than the short one. It really suffers from being so short. The novel is very long, especially the part that deals with Edmond's revenge. Here, there are about 50 minutes for the first part (up till Edmond finds the treasure) and another 50 minutes for the second part (Edmond's revenge). This is much too short because too much of Edmond's revenge is left out.However, I liked this adaptation. I liked the acting, especially Chamberlain is very good. Trevor Howard (Abbé Faria) is also good. I especially liked the scene where he shows Edmond - by means of logical deduction - who betrayed him. Carlo Puri is very good as Benedetto (a.k.a. Faustino). My favourite scene is the end of the court scene when de Villefort moves over to him (Benedetto) and they look into each other's eyes, shattered.Although it's too short the script writers managed to keep the core of the story, and the story stays coherent. As to the plot changes: Caderousse has only a small part, the story of Caderousse and the diamond is left out. The sequence in which Edmond deals with his enemies has been changed. Even the way in which he deals with some of them is different - for example, there is a long sabre duel between Edmond and Mondego. Edmond doesn't show any real mercy to his enemies, whereas in the novel he shows some mercy to Danglars. Even the ending is a bit more drastic, Haydee is nowhere to be seen. At least they did not change it completely (as was done with some other adaptations, where the ending is changed to a happy ending). Some of the lengthy (sometimes too lengthy) subplots of the novel have been left out completely, e.g. the episode in Rome (with Edmond, Albert and Frantz d'Epinay), Maximilien Morrel's love story, how Edmond rewards Maximilien's father for the help he has given Edmond's father, and Madame de Villefort's poisonings.In my opinion, this movie really deserves 8 out of 10 points. Perhaps the longer version even deserves one point more. If you're interested in a long movie version of the story, try the version with Depardieu in the title role (it's actually a mini-series). It isn't perfect - for example, they changed the ending too much - but all in all, it is closer to the novel than this version.

This is one of the greatest films based on novels i have ever seen. and if it involves Richard chamberlain, it's always worth the watch.After his captain dies at sea, Edmond Dantes carries this letter from his captain and returns home to marry his girlfriend. but since this takes place in the 1800's, there are bonapartists, followers of Napoleon Bonaparte. And if you were a follower in those days, you were screwed, one way or another. Anyways, this letter Dantes holds, is what gets him thrown in prison, because it has something to do with his father being a bonapartist. so, Dantes is thrown in prison. after 14 years, he escapes and plots revenge. but will his plan succeed? After i saw this movie, i felt awesome. it's a 70's movie which was really good. normally 70's movies are badly set and yada yada. but if you want a decent movie on the count of Monte christo, rent this, or borrow it from my grandma.This takes the 8/10 ranking because it's awesome