THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK

US, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
Richard Chamberlain, Patrick Mc Goohan, Louis Jourdan, Jenny Agutter, Ian Holm, Ralph Richardson, Vivien Merchant, Brenda Bruce, Esmond Knight, Godfrey Quigley, Denis Lawson, Hugh Fraser.
Directed by Mike Newell.

This version of The Man in the Iron Mask was made for television. It is spectacular in its presentation – though subjugated to the limits of television production. It also has a star cast with Richard Chamberlain acting as Louis XIV and his twin brother Philippe. Patrick McGoohan? is the adviser to the king. Louis Jourdan is D'Artagnan and the film presents the three and four Musketeers in their old age. The strong supporting cast includes Jenny Agutter, Ian Holm and Ralph Richardson as the adviser to the king, Colbert.

The film is more of a surface version, focusing on characters and action, rather than an exploration of themes and characters in depth.

It was directed by Mike Newell who began his career in British television in the early 1960s, directing such programs as Coronation Street. He moved into making films in 1980, including the New Zealand film, Bad Blood. From the 80s onwards he made a number of significant films including Dance With A Stranger, The Good Father, Enchanted April, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pushing Tin, Mona Lisa Smile, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Love in the Time of Cholera.

1. The popularity of this classic story? The cinema tradition? the classic of the thirties? The continued popularity of Alexandre Dumas' work? History, costume action melodrama? The value of a cinema remake?

2. Audience response to history, action, politics, intrigue?

3. The production values: French location photography, decor, buildings, musical score, the cast?

4. The plausibility of the plot: imagination about French history, Dumas' writing and his interpretation of events, sensationalising them? Life at the Court of Louis XIV? Intrigue, French national identity, crises? The historical judgments on Louis XIV? The plausibility of twins and the substitution of the king? Dumas' themes of mistaken identity, concealment, prison, escape, vengeance? The romantic background of such stories?

5. The ironies of the title - Philippe and his imprisonment, his release, Louis XIV becoming the prisoner? The focus on the mask, its being forged in the fire, its being put on Philippe? D'Artagnan and his use of it to elude Fouqet? The finale with Louis in the mask?

6. Louis XIV and his image at the opening of the film: fop, tantrums, playing games, his attitudes towards his mother, rudeness towards his wife, the infatuation with Louise, his relationship with women in the court? The scenes alone with Louise? His delaying his officials? His decision about Philippe and his imprisonment? His premonitions as he looked in mirrors about another image of himself, confrontation? His visits to Louise? The ballet sequence? His humiliating his wife with her baldness? The final confrontation with Philippe? His declaration of the truth and his not being believed? His reliance on Fouqet? The ultimate punishment? was it merited? The ugly ending with his going mad?

7. The contrast with Philippe at the opening of the film? his kidnapping, imprisonment in the Bastille, the encounter with Louise and her father? The anguish and puzzle about his imprisonment? The confrontation with Fouqet, the transferring to the island, his attempt to escape? The making of the mask and his imprisonment? his nightmares? The escape, the riding and the fight with Fouqet's men? D'Artagnan and his telling him only the partial truth? The training: dancing, fencing, the history of the monarchs of France? His love for Louise and her telling him the truth? His decisions about trust? The romantic background? Louise and the rose? The confrontation with Louis? His harsh treatment of Louis? His respect for the Queen Mother, the dance with Louis XIV's wife and their roundabout diplomacy and discussion about the future?

8. The quality of Richard Chamberlain's performance and the contrasts with his interpretation of Louis and of Philippe?

9. Fouqet as villain - his place in the court, the ministry, arrogance, cruelty, his hold over Louise and the imprisonment of her father, his advice to the King, the imprisonment of Philippe, the chase, Colbert outwitting him, the fighting with D'Artagnan on the cliffside, the build-up to his entertainment, the portrait, the ruse of the sash, his being beaten? His assistants and their subservience and violence?

10. The contrast with Colbert and D'Artagnan - their place in the court, their concern about France, their plot, the kidnapping of Philippe, rescuing him from the island? The timing, the training? The build-up to the final ball? Colbert's confrontation with Fouqet?

11. Louise as heroine - her visit to her father, the seeing of Philippe and falling in love with him, the honours at the court and her trying to avoid Louis? The criticism of the Queen? The encounters with Louis and her sustaining her honour? The visit to Philippe, the rose and the ballet?

12. The Queen Mother and her place in the court, Louis' wife and her humiliation? The final ball sequence and the Queen withdrawing? Philippe dancing with Louise? An explanation of what happened in history in terms of Louis' wife and mistresses?

13. The presentation of court life, manners at the palace, entertainments, sport, ballet, fencing, etc.?

14. The adventure aspects of the film - the initial kidnapping, the imprisonment, rescue, D'Artagnan and his fighting, his drowning and the mask?

15. The dramatics of the final confrontation of the two kings?

16. Themes of political intrigue, interpretations of history, the fascination of another age? The perennial values of right and wrong, justice, heroes and heroines?