One of the hallmarks of Dore Schary's regime at MGM was colour remakes of older films (eg Quo Vadis, King Solomon's Mines) but they really hit a home run with this delightful swashbuckler, one of the best every in the genre.Stewart Granger was never better in the title role, a ne'er-do-well bastard living in France during the reign of Louis XVI who is happy to sponge off his allowance and bang an actress (Eleanor Parker); his cruisy life is thrown into turmoil when said allowance is cut off and his childhood friend (Richard Anderson - who gets a big close up when we first see him hinting that MGM wanted to give him the big build up, something that never happened) is killed in a duel for his pro-revolutionary writings by aristocratic hitman Mel Ferrer - so Granger goes looking for revenge.
Most swashbuckler plots involved the restoration or the defence of the monarchy; here Granger is a pro-revolutionary hero fighting the aristocrats (though to be fair Granger is mostly apathetic politically, his motivation is personal -it's just he is co-opted by the revolutionary movement to be kind of duelling hitman). Scaramouche is a bit of a scoundrel and a scamp who earns a living as an actor - it's the sort of role Errol Flynn would have been perfect for in his hey day (actually many of the parts seem modelled on Warners types - with Ferrer as a Basil Rathbone type, Janet Leigh as Olivia de Havilland, Eleanor Parker as Ann Sheridan).
But to be fair all the actors MGM have cast rise to the occasion: Granger is animated and lively, Ferrer very good (he's not an all-out villain -being genuinely attached to Janet Leigh, which is presumably part of thereason why he's allowed to live), and Janet Leigh is sweet and sparky as the ingenue.
The show is stolen, though, by Eleanor Parker as the temperamental stage diva - incredibly sexy, all flaming long red hair and tights, she's also brave, smart, loyal and genuinely loves Scaramouche - so it's a real shock when he runs off to marry Janet Leigh at the end. I mean, Leigh's pretty but Eleanor Parker is a real woman. But Leigh is also a sweet virgin - that's Eisenhower America for you. (And because Parker loves Granger it's really sad - though it does mean we get a lovely closing gag.) I sort of reconciled it to myself by figuring you'd be better off financially marrying someone like Leigh -and as if Granger and Parker aren't going to have an affair down the track.
Marvellous sword fighting - though I think it was a mistake to have Granger and Ferrer fight three times. And Granger should have killed Henry Wilcoxon. One other thing (which always bothers me about anything set in pre-revolutionary France): aren't most of these characters going to be dead in a few years via the Guillotine or Napoleon?
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