Louis Hayward made a large number of second-tier swashbucklers during this career; this was probably is sole first-rate one (although Son of Monte Cristo was pretty fun). He’s very good in a challenging role and it’s a handsome production with a strong story. The supporting cast is good too, including Warren William and Alan Hale as former musketeers and Joan Bennett as the love interest.
Producer Edward Small was presumably inspired by the success of Prisoner of Zenda, with which this shares similarities: a good commoner swaps places with his evil lookalike, and falls in love with the evil lookalike’s betrothed, the villain has a nasty sidekick, there is lots of talk of loyalty and duty.
There is a surprising lack of action – there's only really a decent amount at the end. The director was James Whale; this was his last significant credit in what is an atypical genre for his career (although the dungeon scenes and the big shadows in the palace could have easily slotted into his Universal films). The deaths of the musketeers at the end are dealt with kind of perfunctorily – only two of them get closeup!
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