The Iron Mask - Starring Douglas Fairbanks
1929 Version of the Alexandre Dumas Musketeer Story
Nov 5, 2009
Douglas Fairbanks bids farewell to the swashbuckling movie with this adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s ‘The Man in the Iron Mask.’ Having already played D’Artagnan before in The Three Musketeers (Fred Niblo 1921) it was a fitting way for Fairbanks to bow out as the ageing Musketeer defending his King. This time Robin Hood (1922) director Allan Dwan takes the helm.
Douglas Fairbanks Talks in The Iron Mask
Initially The Iron Mask was supposed to include sequences in which Fairbanks addressed the audience, but these were removed due to concerns about the sound quality. However a restored version is available with these scenes in place. Fairbanks introduces the film with a rousing “one for all and all for one” speech. Sadly there is a voice-over in place which is actually quite distracting, when the images onscreen are enough.
Twin Brothers in The Iron Mask
A royal birth is imminent. The Musketeers are a bit older now, but still carousing and fighting with the Cardinal’s guards. D’Artagnan’s lover Constance (Marguerite De La Motte) helps the midwife with the birth. Twins are born. Aware of the repercussions Cardinal Richelieu (Nigel De Brulier) has one child exiled to Spain. The cunning Count de Rochefort (Ullrich Haupt) kidnaps Constance with the help of Miladay De Winter (Dorothy Revier) to uncover the secret.
During the Musketeers rescue De Winter murders Constance. Enraged they have her put to death. The Cardinal’s troops arrest the Musketeers but are prevented from executing them by D’Artagnan. They are however disbanded and barred from Paris forever. D’Artagnan though is rewarded for his bravery with a job protecting the future King.
20 Years Later D’Artagnan Retires
De Rochefort found the boy and trained him to impersonate the King. Unlike Dumas’s story and all subsequent versions of ‘The Man in the Iron Mask,‘ this film presents the twin raised in poverty as being a villain. Louis XIV (William Bakewell) is beyond reproach and the voice-over condemns the Pretender for his malicious character, an aberration that weakens Dumas’s story of a wronged outsider and doffs its cap to a monarchy undeserving of respect.
De Rochefort waits for D’Artagnan to retire before putting his plan into action. The King is abducted and locked away, his face hidden by an iron mask. The Pretender is put in charge of the country and carries out De Rochefort’s orders. D’Artagnan suspects something is wrong though and sets out on one last adventure.
The Iron Mask is a Fitting Farewell for Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks says goodbye to the swashbuckler genre with style. The Iron Mask is a much leaner and more exciting film than Robin Hood, the previous collaboration between Fairbanks and Allan Dwan. The voice-over version is best avoided, except for the sequences where Fairbanks directly addresses the audience and the moving finale, with a touch of the religious in the closing credits as they assert against a skyward background ‘The Beginning,’ instead of ‘The End.’
- The Iron Mask
- Starring Douglas Fairbanks
- Written by Douglas Fairbanks, based on a story by Alexandre Dumas
- Directed by Allan Dwan
- Year of Release 1929
- Running time 95 mins
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