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This page lists adaptations or works inspired by the 19th century revenge novel The Count of Monte Cristo.
Original work
- The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-1846), novel by French author Alexandre Dumas.
Adaptations and derivative works
Anime & Manga- Gankutsuou (2004 anime series)
- Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo (2017)
Films — Live-Action
- The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 1908) — Starring Hobart Bosworth.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 1913) — Starring James O'Neill.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 1918) — Starring Léon Mathot.
- Monte Cristo (USA, 1922) — Starring John Gilbert.
- Monte Cristo (France, 1929) — Starring Jean Angelo.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 1934) — Starring Robert Donat.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Mexico, 1942) — Starring Arturo de Córdova.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (France/Italy, 1943) — Starring Pierre Richard-Willm.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Argentina/Mexico, 1953) — Starring Jorge Mistral.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 1954) — Starring Jean Marais.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 1961) — Starring Louis Jourdan.
- The Return of Monte Cristo (France, 1968) — Starring Paul Barge. Set in the 20th century.
- The Prisoner of Château d'If (USSR, 1988) — Starring Viktor Avilov.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 2002) — Starring Jim Caviezel.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 2024) — Starring Pierre Niney.
Literature
- The Vampire Count of Monte Cristo (2013) — Book from the "classic literature + monsters" mash-up trend
Live-Action TV
- The Count of Monte Cristo (UK, 1964) — BBC series starring Alan Badel.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 1975) — TV film starring Richard Chamberlain.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 1998) — Miniseries starring Gérard Depardieu.
- Ezel (Turkey, 2009)
- Revenge (USA, 2011) — Primetime Soap Opera.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Italy, 2024) — Miniseries starring Sam Claflin.
Western Animation
- The Count of Monte Cristo (USA, 1973) — Hanna-Barbera TV film.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Australia, 1997)
Tropes found in the adaptations and derivative works:
- The Ace: In the 1973 animated series, the Count was able to do things like: flying a balloon, paint art forgeries in a week to unmask a real forger, fool a villain into thinking he was a giant, stop the Tower of Pisa from being blown up, etc.
- Actionized Adaptation: The original book has very few action scenes, with two duels interrupted before they can begin via apology or a Breaking Speech. A number of film adaptations add some sword fights and non-duel gunplay, such as the 2002 and 2024 films.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Gérard de Villefort has his first name changed in some adaptations, such as "Henri" in the 1961 film and "J.F." in the 2002 film.
- Mercedes Herrera has her surname changed sometimes meanwhile, such as "Igualada" in the 1998 miniseries.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the original book, Caderousse, Danglars and Mondego are the ones who actively frame Dantès for treason. Villefort only "joins" the plot afterwards when he interrogates and jails Dantès for his own political gain. He doesn't interact with the rest of the conspirators until much later in the story. In some adaptations that remove Caderousse, Villefort replaces him as an active conspirator in the plot to frame Dantès.
- Adapted Out: Caderousse is omitted from many adaptations. His secondary role in the plot (drunkenly encouraging Mondego and Danglars to carry out the plot, then doing nothing to save Dantès from arrest even though he knows the truth) and his implied motive (his being jealous of Dantès's prosperity, which he shares with Danglars) arguably make him redundant in a Compressed Adaptation. One exception is the 1998 miniseries, where he has a Pet the Dog trait, that is, unwittingly saving the life of Villefort's illegitimate baby son with Hermine Danglars. The baby was believed to be dead at birth and got Buried Alive (Caderousse thought the buried chest was a treasure).
- Adaptational Sexuality:
- With Eugenie and Louise being one of the first, if not the very first, sympathetic gay couples in mainstream fiction, it's really a shame how their romance hardly ever makes it into adaptations.
- In the 1988 Soviet adaptation, Eugenie is straight and elopes with Luigi Vampa rather than with Louise. It serves as an additional lovely surprise for her father when he is in Vampa's captivity.
- Ascended Extra: Jacopo, who obeys the Count's instructions without question in the book, becomes The Watson in some adaptations like the 1973 animated series.
- Canon Foreigner: Some versions will add a lover for the Edmond/Count while he's plotting his revenge, such as Camille de La Richardais in the 1998 miniseries.
- Compressed Adaptation: One of the four conspirators is typically removed from adaptations, though the 1975 Richard Chamberlain version manages to squeeze in all of them.
- Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: The book ends with the Count in a relationship with his slave/adoptive daughter Haydée (to be fair, she's a slave In Name Only, and she was the one doing all the work to get him to notice her). As this still smacks of Wife Husbandry to modern audiences, most adaptations will have him end up back with Mercédès instead of Mercédès joining a convent, and Haydée sometimes ends up with Franz d'Epinay, who otherwise disappears from the book long before the end.
- Death by Adaptation: Danglars, frequently. In the 1975 TV version, for instance, he gets Fernand's death so that Fernand can go out in a fight scene with Edmond.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the 1998 miniseries, Caderousse is killed by the illegitimate son of Villefort and Hermine Danglars, Toussaint (whom he found, raised as a thief and made an accomplice) instead of being killed by his unrelated thief accomplice from the novel, named Andrea Cavalcanti.
- Gender Flip:
- The Korean soap opera Cruel Temptation features a female protagonist, who survives her own murder by her husband and his dominative mistress.
- The Brazilian telenovela Avenida Brasil, whose protagonist Rita/Nina returns to have revenge on her Wicked Stepmother Carmen/Carminha.
- In the Musical, Vampa is female . . . and a pirate queen.
- Genre Shift: The book is a historical epic and psychological revenge thriller, but adaptations tend to go the route of an action-heavy Roaring Rampage of Revenge Swashbuckler.
- Lighter and Softer: The 1973 series, which makes the Count into The Ace and his group into a Robin Hood-like group. Sorta justified, as it's geared towards a younger audience than usual.
- Lost in Imitation: Many English-language adaptations tend to go the Roaring Rampage of Revenge Swashbuckler route, which wasn't how Dumas wrote the novel, and thus in many English-speaking audiences the story is assumed to be this. This usually isn't the case with French adaptations meanwhile, which tend to be Truer to the Text.
- Majority-Share Dictator: In the 1998 miniseries, the Count buys fifty-one percent of Danglars's bank's shares so he can issue himself infinite letters of credit.
- Race Lift: In the Soviet adaptation, Ali becomes a Chinese man called Li (probably due to Real Life Writes the Plot, as an Asian actor was much easier to find for a Soviet director).
- Setting Update:
- The Korean soap opera Cruel Temptation is set in the present day.
- The Brazilian telenovela Avenida Brasil, whose protagonist Rita/Nina returns to have revenge on her Wicked Stepmother Carmen/Carminha after she dumped her off in a landfill so she wouldn't get in her way.
- The Argentinian Soap Opera Montecristo also gives the book a Setting Update, with the lawyer Santiago going through similar ordeals to Dantès, becoming Alejandro Dumas as a result.
