The Count of Monte Cristo is a 12-part 1964 BBC miniseries based on the classic novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas. It stars Alan Badel in the title role.
Edmond Dantes is a naive and amiable young sailor enjoying an upturn in his fortunes. He has just been promoted to captain, and is set to marry his pretty fiancee Mercedes. However, his successes arouse the jealousy of others, principally his love rival Fernand (Philip Madoc) and shipping clerk Danglars (Morris Perry), who anonymously denounce him as a spy for Napoléon Bonaparte. Edmond is arrested and brought before a prosecutor, Villefort (Michael Gough), who realises Dantes is innocent but for self-serving reasons still orders him incarcerated in the Hellhole Prison Chateau d'If.
While in prison, Dantes befriends an elderly inmate named Abbe Faria, an educated man who makes Dantes his pupil and helps him discover the truth of his imprisonment. Before dying, Faria also tells Dantes of a vast treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. Dantes finally escapes, finds the treasure, and transforms himself into the mysterious and fabulously wealthy Count of Monte Cristo. Finding that his betrayers have all prospered in his absence, the Count sets about exacting a cruel and painful revenge on them.
Tropes in this version of the story include:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- The Count's revenge caused a lot of Aesop Collateral Damage in the novel; this adaptation omits most of it, making him a more straightforwardly heroic figure.
- In the novel, Caderousse is corrupted by the diamond Edmond gives him as a reward for his friendship, becomes a murderer and thief, and comes to a bad end; in this adaptation, he disappears from the story immediately after receiving the diamond, leaving the implication that none of his subsequent misadventures occurred in this version.
- Another character who becomes better simply by having less to do is Villefort's second wife. In this adaptation, she's mostly a non-entity, apart from a passing reference to her being envious of her stepdaughter that doesn't lead to anything. In the novel, she's a full-on Evil Stepmother with her own villainous subplot.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: When Edmond returns from his 14 years imprisonment, he learns that Mercedes, believing him to be dead, has married Fernand and had a son.
- Adaptation Deviation: This version is largely faithful to the book, though given the source novel is a 1000+ page Doorstopper, some plot lines and characters are inevitably omitted, notably the one involving Mme de Villefort poisoning her relatives.
- Adapted Out:
- In the book, Edmond has an elderly father who dies while he's in prison. There is no mention of the elder Dantes in this adaptation.
- Villefort's father Noirtier and his young son Edouard are both omitted.
- Maximilien Morrel's sister is mentioned but doesn't appear onscreen. Her husband is not mentioned at all.
- Albert's friend Franz is omitted, along with his role in the Roman adventure and the subplot about his family's history with Villefort's family.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Averted. Unlike many adaptations, the novel's original ending is retained and Dantes doesn't get back with Mercedes.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Averted; this TV miniseries from the 1960s is rather surprisingly among the very few adaptations that keeps the subtext between Eugenie and Louise intact.
- Affably Evil: Benedetto is a charming young man, and a vicious murderer and thief.
- Age-Gap Romance: Edmond and Haydée start a romantic relationship; this version is vague about just how much younger she is, but it's enough that he addresses her as "child" and she, when declaring that she loves him, finds it necessary to specify that she doesn't mean like a father.
- The Alcatraz: The Chateau d'If is reputed to be inescapable, but Dantes manages it.
- Ambition Is Evil: Ambition is a common motivation for the villains. Two of the three main contributors to the downfall of Dantès, Danglars and Villefort, are motivated by concerns for the advancement of their careers; the third, Fernand, has a different motivation for his hatred of Dantès but goes on to cheat and betray his way up the social ladder.
- Anonymous Benefactor: Dantes is this to the Morrel family, bailing out the family business when it's on the point of ruin but insisting that the Morrels not be told who did it.
- Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: The Count of Monte Cristo never worries about the expense of anything he does, spending millions on a house without a second thought and casually carrying a million-franc note in his wallet.
- Arranged Marriage:
- The engagement between Albert de Morcerf and Eugenie Danglars, which neither of them wants, has been arranged to affirm the alliance between their fathers.
- After Danglars decides to cut his ties with Morcerf, he instead engages Eugenie to Andrea Cavalcanti, which she's no happier about.
- At the Opera Tonight: Monte Cristo is at the opera when Albert confronts him and challenges him to a duel. Monte Cristo complains about his timing, and Albert points out that he's been taking care to be unavailable and this is the first chance Albert has had to talk to him.
- Bastard Bastard: Benedetto is the product of an extramarital affair and seems to be evil since birth.
- Beautiful Slave Girl: Haydee, who was enslaved as a child and later bought by the Count.
- Benevolent Boss: Monsieur Morrel to the young Edmond Dantès. When Edmond was framed for Bonapartist collaboration and imprisoned in the hellish Chateau D'If, Morrel was the only person who tried to save him, though it was extremely politically dangerous to do so. Edmond rewards this compassion with Undying Loyalty to Morrel's family when his fortunes change.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Edmond was a guy who had everything going for him, then lost everything thanks to being screwed over by those he thought were his friends. What ensues is a gigantic Batman Gambit to take revenge on every last one of them.
- Bewildering Punishment: Edmond is not told why he was arrested.
- Bittersweet Ending: Edmond completes his revenge, but remains haunted by his past experiences. His new understanding with Haydee offers the chance of building a new life, but he seems uncertain whether he will be happy.
- Blackmail Backfire: Major Cavalcanti tries to blackmail Benedetto into keeping him around. It results in Benedetto killing him.
- Bodybag Trick: How Dantes escapes from the Chateau d'If.
- Break the Haughty: The goal of the Count's revenge plans. Morcerf is proud of his social standing and reputation as an honorable man, Villefort of his cleverness and reputation as a punisher of evildoers, and Danglars of his wealth and reutation as a clever operator — and the Counts strips all of that away.
- Canon Foreigner: Mr. Thomson, of the bank of Thomson and French, appears in several scenes and is depicted as an acquaintance of the Morrels. The bank and its role in the plot are from the novel, but none of the senior partners appeared as characters.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: A recurring theme in Fernard's career. Besides falsely denouncing Edmond as a spy in order to steal his fiancee, he deserted the French for the British at Waterloo, fought for the French against his native Spanish and betrayed his patron Ali Pasha to the Turks.
- Conspicuous Consumption: The Count excels at this, from casually paying 3 million Francs for a house to ludicrously overpaying for Mme Danglars' horses, then fitting them with diamond encrusted harnesses.
- Death by Adaptation: Major Cavalcanti is murdered by Benedetto, whereas in the book he just returns to Italy and isn't heard from again.
- Decomposite Character:
- Mr. Thomson is an Englishman from the bank of Thomson and French who appears in several episodes acting on behalf of Edmond; the things he does were done in the original novel (in which he does not appear) by Edmond himself, impersonating an Englishman from the bank of Thomson and French.
- In a process of decomposition and recomposition, part of Caderousse's role in the plot is taken from him and given instead to the false Major Cavalcanti.
- Dramatic Drop: Downplayed example: Edmond knocks his drink over in surprise when he learns that Mercedes has married Fernand.
- Dramatic Irony: After murdering his fake father, Major Cavalcanti, Benedetto attempts to cover up the crime by burying the body in the garden of the house Monte Cristo has lent him — which, unknown to Benedetto, is the same garden where Benedetto's real father attempted to bury him years before.
- Driven to Suicide:
- M. Morrel, facing the ruin of his business, intends to commit suicide to clear his family's honor; he is saved at the last moment by Mr. Thomson arriving with the news that an Anonymous Benefactor has paid off all his debts.
- Fernand shoots himself when the Count's machinations leave him disgraced.
- Duel to the Death: Twice subverted. Albert challenges the Count to one for betraying his father, until Mercedes intervenes. Fernand himself then challenges the Count, but flees when he realises who the Count really is.
- Every Man Has His Price: This is the Count's standard MO. It almost fails him when he encounters a scrupulously honest telegraph operator.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Count de Morcerf is a respected public figure with a beautiful wife, military commission, vast fortune, and noble title — each of which he earned by screwing someone else over.
- Flashback: There's one of Bertuccio discovering Villefort and Mme Danglars' illegitimate child.
- Foreshadowing: After Albert chooses not to duel Monte Cristo, Fernand challenges Monte Cristo himself, declaring that any man who stands before his enemy with a weapon in hand and chooses not to strike is a coward. Minutes later, faced with the same revelation that changed Albert's mind, Fernand — standing before his enemy with a weapon in hand — turns and walks away without another word.
- Glove Slap: Downplayed. Albert, glove in hand, confronts Monte Cristo to challenge him to a duel. Monte Cristo taunts him into losing his temper, and his seconds hold him back. Monte Cristo takes the glove from his hand and says they'll take the challenge as read.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Danglars and Fernand plot Edmond's downfall all because they are jealous of his pretty fiancée and his recent promotion.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Dantès is arrested on suspicion of being involved in a Bonapartist conspiracy; Villefort questions him and learns that Dantès is innocent of anything beyond agreeing to carry a letter for a friend, and knows nothing about the contents of the letter nor anything about its intended recipient beyond his name and address. Villefort asks Dantès if he's told anybody else the name and address, and Dantès assures him that he hasn't, at which point Villefort immediately takes steps to have him silenced because the letter's intended recepient in Villefort's father.
- Hellhole Prison: The Chateau d'If.
- High-Class Glass: Lucien Debray wears a monocle in some scenes.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Haydee is the daughter of the historical Ali Tebelin
and Kyra Vassiliki. - Historical Domain Character: Louis XVIII appears in one scene, being informed of the plot to return Napoleon to power.
- Homoerotic Subtext: The nature of Eugenie's relationship with her very close friend Louise is implied about as strongly as a mainstream drama on the BBC in 1964 could get away with, including a scene where they're lying together on Eugenie's bed in a state of undress discussing their distaste for the prospect of marrying men.
- Hopeless Suitor: Fernand to Mercedes, until he gets rid of Dantes.
- Hope Spot: Villefort is set to release Dantes, until he realises the intended recipient of the letter given to Dantes by Napoleon was Villefort's own father Noirtier.
- Last Request: Captain Leclere, as he lies dying, charges his first mate, Dantès, with delivering a message that Leclere had been on his way to deliver. Dantès, of course, feels duty-bound to carry out his captain's last request, and that's where all the trouble starts.
- Leonine Contract: The Roman bandits take Danglars prisoner and deprive him of any food except for what he buys from them at astronomical prices. This was, of course, masterminded by the Count as a means of separating Danglars from his ill-gotten wealth.
- Made a Slave: Haydée, though she was treated considerably better than most. If anything she's the one insisting the Count owns her, when he mostly sees her as a daughter and an instrumental pawn in his revenge against Morcerf. It takes a while for him to accept she sees him as something other than a father-figure.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Edmond is thrown into a Hellhole Prison, without trial, for something he didn't do, on the say so of a single corrupt magistrate. It's little wonder he's out for revenge when he finally escapes.
- Mock Millionaire: As part of his scheme, the Count helps a couple of career criminals to pretend to be wealthy Italian aristocrats.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Albert's adventures in Rome and the Count rescuing him from Luigi Vampa happen off screen. Albert just recounts them later.
- The Old Convict: Abbe Faria. He teaches Dantès everything he will need to know for his new life on the outside, tells him where a fortune is hidden, and his death provides Dantès with his means of escape.
- P.O.V. Cam: When a mysterious veiled woman arrives to testify at Morcerf's trial, there is a shot from her POV, looking at the panel of judges through the veil.
- Rags to Riches: Dantès goes from humble sailor and convict to one of the richest men in the world, thanks to him finding the treasure of Spada. Fernand and Danglars respectively start out as a fisherman and a clerk and become two of the richest and most prominent men in France via underhanded means.
- Relationship Compression: In the novel, Maximilien and Valentine are already in love before the Count comes to Paris. In this adaptation, they meet for the first time while both are visiting the Count's Paris residence.
- Remove The Rival: What Mondego did to Dantès and kick start the plot.
- Revenge: This becomes Edmond's raison d'etre in the second half of the story.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Edmond Dantès, Determinator or not, wouldn't have gotten far into his elaborate schemes for revenge without his millions of francs.
- Shed the Family Name: Villefort, a Royalist, changed his name to disassociate himself from his Bonapartist father, Noirtier.
- The Speechless: The Count's servant Ali never speaks, because he had his tongue removed by his former owner before he was rescued from slavery by the Count.
- Surprise Incest: Narrowly avoided: Eugenie and Andrea/Benedetto are half siblings, sharing the same mother, and they very nearly get married. This is never mentioned, though, and since he is unaware of that side of his heritage and she skips town before knowing his true identity, it's unlikely they'll ever find out.
- That Man Is Dead: When Mercédès addresses the Count as "Edmond", he tells her that he no longer knows anyone with that name.
- Time Skip: In episodes 3 and 4, the story passes rapidly over the decades of Edmond's imprisonment. Edmond, Mercedes, the conspirators, and Morrel senior appear on both sides of the time skip, played by the same actors; the men are made up to look younger or older as appropriate, while Mercedes in her first post-time-skip scene gets a lampshade hanging about how gracefully she's aged.
- Undisclosed Funds: It's never said just how much the Monte Cristo treasure hoard is worth. The initial valuation provided by Thomson and French is 150 million francs — which is explicitly said to be an absolute minimum based only on the stuff they could value quickly, like the gold bars, and not including any of the jewels that needed to be assessed by experts. That's already a lot, and it's only a fraction of the undisclosed full value.
- Villainous Breakdown: Villefort has a complete breakdown and goes insane at the end, after realising he's been defeated by Edmond.
- Villain with Good Publicity: All of the Count's enemies have risen to high status in Parisian society and are well-respected with good reputations among their peers.
- What Year Is This?: Edmond asks Jacopo after escaping from the Chateau d'If. It's easy to lose track of time over fourteen years of imprisonment.
- Wicked Cultured:
- Benedetto, a young career criminal who has no trouble posing as a cultured aristocrat.
- The Count himself has impeccable taste and if not an outright villain, is a ruthless Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- You Killed My Father: Fernand betrayed and murdered Haydee's father.
