I’m filling up my summer viewing with swashbucklers, because on a hot day, there’s nothing quite like breezy adventures full of banter and swordplay. 1939’s The Man in the Iron Mask provides that and more.
King Louis XIII fathers twin heirs, and to nip the obvious civil war potential in the bud, he keeps the second-born, Philippe, a secret, entrusting him to the ever-faithful d’Artagnan (Warren William), who—aided by his fellow musketeers—gives the boy an idyllic upbringing in the countryside and raise him into a fine young man.
But Louis XIV (Louis Hayward), gaining command of an entire country as a child, is petulant, self-indulgent, and cruel. When his heavy-handed taxes, all on necessities or the simplest of pleasures, stir up resistance from our mostly-retired musketeers, Louis finally meets his mysterious double (Hayward again)—and when he can no longer treat him as a shiny novelty exclusively his to toy with, he condemns Philippe to the Bastille to rule over a mockery of a one-room “kingdom,” crowned with an iron mask meant to obscure his identity forever.
A lot of double-role movies hinge on the lead’s dual performance. Hayward is completely solid, and he handles the split well: his Philippe has a likable freshness, and his sincerity and decency don’t erode his sense of fun; his Louis is frightening in an all-too-grounded way, a spoiled edgelord youth whose power allows him to pull the life from men as well as the wings off flies. But this is all a well-executed version of what you would expect, more or less, instead of enough to make the film into the classic it is.
The Man in the Iron Mask also dutifully finishes off the legend of our favorite musketeers, complete with a glimpse of them all in heaven1, but its handling of all musketeer-related material is, while not bad, fairly cursory. They mostly exist to explain, motivate, and rescue Philippe.
If this were all the movie had to offer, it would still be a fine exemplar of the genre that I liked very much, but where it becomes special is simple: James Whale.
I tend to associate Whale with Gothics like Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man; he puts his tongue in his cheek with The Old Dark House, sure, but it’s still striking and effective when it’s in eerie mode. And as light and fleet as The Man in the Iron Mask can be, Whale knows exactly how and when to turn it into a horror movie. Philippe’s almost animal-like agony in the mask is unforgettable, especially when he sits in the faux-throne and grasps helplessly at a “face” he can no longer feel. (It’s some of Hayward’s finest physical acting, too: you can see the rigidity of Philippe trying in vain to keep himself under control.) It’s as claustrophobic a scene as anyone has ever filmed, tight on a man trapped with his own breath propelled back against him, the shot drowning in black as if he’s boxed in by darkness.
Whale’s Frankenstein films had already made him an expert in conveying the humanity of creatures with distorted faces, and he makes a similarly sympathetic “monster” of the imprisoned Philippe. The mask is designed in a few bold, vivid strokes, choosing a cartoon-like smoothness and simplicity of expression over the 1998 version’s more closely molded piece. Leonardo DiCaprio got visible lips and eyes; Hayward has nothing but narrow black slits. He’s not the one who can say, “I wear the mask; it does not wear me.” Whale lets him wear it and become it, even if only for a stretch of days.
DiCaprio’s Philippe spends six years in the mask, but after a few weeks with the musketeers, I feel like he’ll be fine, give or take some social awkwardness. As bright and hopeful an ending as Whale gives us, I still end up worried about Hayward’s Philippe. Maybe get this guy someone to talk to.
The Man in the Iron Mask is streaming on Kanopy and Tubi.
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Lauren James
Lauren James is a writer who wears many different hats (and pen names). She lives in Connecticut with her wife and two cats.
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Anthologized
"I mean, sir, in the eyes of God."
Anthologized
The glasses-break heard 'round the world.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
Justified, Season Six, Episode Six, “Alive Day”
“The thing about people thinkin’ you’re dumb is people give you the benefit of the doubt.”
“That marshall guy said he got two hundred and fifty five, but I’d take that with a grain of salt given he was a SEAL.”
So much for Choo-Choo. Both the writing and actor Duke David Roberts sell that Choo-Choo is specifically mentally impaired, and not in any general sense but in that he can put two and two together, but two and six will take him a bit longer. I enjoy that he is fully aware of his limitations and rides them out. His final words to Raylan were deeply moving. They say there’s a difference between intelligence and wisdom and Choo-Choo found it.
This also works at giving us some closure on the way to closure on Raylan – Justified doesn’t always do that, where single episodes can give us the satisfaction of a whole story while the main story churns along in the background.
Biggest Laugh: “Didn’t you tell me you’d never be one of those old lawmen who spent his golden years obsessed with his old cases?” / “Alright, first of all, let’s watch it with the ‘golden years’ shit.”
Biggest Non-Art Laugh:“You just come up with that?” / “Read it somewhere.” / “Well do me a favour and say it again slower so I can write it down somewhere.”
Top Ownage: “That’s a damn shame.”
Roberts is so heartbreaking as Choo Choo – like I said, he takes a character who is at first kind of funny (or Raylan’s understandably confused reactions are funny, as he realizes this guy cannot grasp what he’s asking), and makes him sad as hell.
If he’s a last word on the Justified dumbass, he’s a potent one – you can be one of those, with no brains and no money, and still die beautifully.
Sleep, My Love – Claudette Colbert wakes up on a train for Boston from Grand Central, but she fell asleep at home on Sutton Place! Is her sleepwalking turning into something worse, or is phliandering hubby Don Ameche gaslighting her? Fortunately, on her trip back to NYC, Claudette meets Bob Cummings, who both falls for her and senses something is fishy. Directed by Douglas Sirk, who doesn’t do very much that stands out in his melodrama with with pretensions of noir, but it’s entertaining enough, with a game cast (especially Ameche and the rather stunning Hazel Brooks as the other woman, who seems to favor negligees and showing her legs). A few plot holes come and go, but nothing to undermine the story. And rather interesting for the time, Keye Luke plays Cummings’s best friend, a Chinese character not played for laughs with no accent, almost no hint of stereotype and even a sex life with his new bride.
Elementary, “The View from Olympus” – The title refers to the operating system for a lift share firm called Zooss, and that OS ties deeply in the mystery of why a lift share driver was murdered. But it also provides the episode’s best moment, as Sherlock discovers that if he watches the cars come and go at high speed, he can get a view of the lives and troubles of the people in those cars. Which ties to the second plot, as a friend with benefits asks him to donate sperm to him, and he considers just what it means to be him, and if he wants to burden a child with his flaws and obsessions. Overall a pleasing episode that also looks back on what Holmes calls “the livery wars of 2015,” when Uber and Lyft started to steal the market from yellow cabs. Oh, and it’s still cold in NYC but this time Sherlock has a skicap.
I’d like to see more of Sirk’s melodramas (love Written On The Wind) as his noir period seems like a director not sure what his best mode is yet.
THUNDER ON THE HILL is a pretty solid gothic whodunnit, although a bit thick-headed in its handling of mental disabilities, but, yeah, SHOCKPROOF and LURED are pretty unfocused in terms of tone and internal narrative logic.
I think that the creative strengths of Sirk’s run from 1952 through 1959 (when he retired) can be equally attributed to the production units that were still operating at Universal. The complexity of his mis-en-scene and camera movements display a personality that isn’t always present in his more mercenary output, and the taste of his main producers, casts, writers and crew during that time lend a distinctiveness to his output, and a channeling of material his way that suited his particular flare. Without these contingencies, I doubt that he would have been singled out by critics and future filmmakers for his approach to the melodrama.
Tales From The Crypt, “Top Billing” – Hilariously nasty with Jon Lovitz as a washed-up New York actor competing with a significantly more handsome old rival (Tron AKA Bruce Boxleitner) for the same part in Hamlet; this turns murderous of course. The final twist is not only funny but also adds an extra dimension to the show biz satire. Lovitz isn’t really a better actor than Boxleitner per se, he just works harder in a business that is more interested in talent and, well, “the look” than persistently learning your lines. This might be (literally) insane, but this isn’t logic, it’s art.
The Birdcage – Warts and all given it is from 1995, this is still such a funny and surprisingly sweet movie. Full of great Elaine May lines too, many from Nathan Lane – “Gum helps me think.” “Sweetie, you’re wasting your gum.” “No, no, I just never realized John Wayne walked like that.” “Can you…cook?”/”Your father seems to think I can.” As a non-sports fan I heavily identify with Lane’s extremely “listened to musicals” response to “How do you feel about the Dolphins this year?” (“How do you think I feel? Betrayed? Bewildered?”)
World Cup – I thought it’d take an impressive performance to beat France this year and Spain went above and beyond that, they completely nullified and dominated France, and made it look easy. A daunting task awaits whoever wins tonight’s match.
Seinfeld, S8 “The Susie” – some more classic George behaviour here, hiding from the woman he’s dating for several days to prevent her breaking up with him (until she finds an unconventional way out). Elaine’s mistaken-identity story was great fun too. Another one where the amped-up zaniness works because it all fits together so perfectly.
Year of the Month update!
This July, we’re opening up submissions for your writing on any of these movies, albums, books, etc. from 1979.
TBD: James Williams: Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Jul. 10th: Gillian Nelson: Unidentified Flying Oddball
Jul. 17th: Gillian Nelson: Understanding Alcohol Use and Abuse
Jul. 19th: Tristan J. Nankervis: Guards! Guards!
Jul. 21st: Lauren James: Flowers in the Attic
Jul. 24th: Gillian Nelson: Don Bluth
Jul. 28th: John Bruni: All That Jazz
Jul. 29th: Lauren James: Ghost Story
Jul. 31st: Gillian Nelson: Big Thunder Mountain
And for August, send us your pieces on any of these movies, albums, books, etc. from 2001!
TBD: James Williams: Millennium Actress
Aug. 2nd: Tristan J. Nankervis: Ocean’s Eleven
Aug. 7th: Gillian Nelson: Recess: School’s Out!
Aug. 14th: Gillian Nelson: The Princess Diaries
Aug. 16th: Tristan J. Nankervis: Mulholland Drive
Aug. 21st: Gillian Nelson: Disney’s California Adventure
Aug. 27th: Cori Domschot: The Mummy Returns
Aug. 28th: Gillian Nelson: Walt Disney Treasures