Mar 18th   
The Count of Monte Cristo***   
(US 1934)       
Reliance. 114m. bw

A sailor is framed for assisting an ally of Napoleon's and is left for dead in prison, but escapes to discover a fortune, and claims his revenge.
Romanticised but also visually memorable adventure with some bleak frankness in its prison scenes as well as a heavily spiritual influence. Its star's only venture into Hollywood, but a good one

Written by: Philip Dunne, Rowland V. Lee, Dan Tothero, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Producer: Edward Small.
Director: Rowland V. Lee.
Starring: Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Raymond Walburn, O.P. Heggie, Douglas Walton, Irene Hervey, Georgia Caine, Lawrence Grant, Holmes Herbert.
Photography: J. Peverell Marley.
Music: Alfred Newman.