The Abbreviated Monte Cristo

Section Five: Monte Cristo at the Movies, Part 2 (1960-present) Movies are an entirely different medium, compared to books. Most of the time, movies are 2-3 hours, and with a story as complex as The Count of Monte Cristo , some things are bound to be left out. Movies cost a lot of money to produce, and they need to please audiences and make money . I get it. There are times when I approve of cinematic changes. For example, Man in the Iron Mask , where book-Aramis becomes a complete d-bag driven by greed for power. He lures poor Philippe into a plot against Louis XIV (and later abandons him), lies to his musketeer friends, and causes the death of the overly- trusting Porthos. Talk about bummer ending- one that's bound to cause an anti-musketeer backlash! So the cinematic re-writes made sense: adding a thrilling rescue of Philippe and downplaying Aramis' heel-turn.  So, back to Monte Cristo at the Movies... there's certain movie-only tr

Section Five: Monte Cristo at the Movies, Part 1 (1918-1959) Movies are an entirely different medium, compared to books. Most of the time, movies are 2-3 hours, and with a story as complex as The Count of Monte Cristo , some things are bound to be left out. Movies cost a lot of money to produce, and they need to please audiences and make money . I get it. There are times when I approve of cinematic changes. For example, Man in the Iron Mask , where book-Aramis becomes a complete d-bag driven by greed for power. He lures poor Philippe into a plot against Louis XIV (and later abandons him), lies to his musketeer friends, and causes the death of the overly- trusting Porthos. Talk about bummer ending- one that's bound to cause an anti-musketeer backlash! So the cinematic re-writes made sense: adding a thrilling rescue of Philippe and downplaying Aramis' heel-turn.  So, back to Monte Cristo at the Movies... there's certain movie-o