Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo provided the springboard for numerous swashbucklers from studios looking to utilize a name that would be familiar to the ticket-buying public, yet inexpensive because it was in the public domain. Producer Edward Small almost cornered the market in American adaptations of Monte Cristo characters and themes, starting with the The Count of Monte Cristo in 1934, starring Robert Donat as the heroic nobleman Edmond Dantes. During Small's long producing career he covered similar ground in The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) and The Return of Monte Cristo (1946), both starring Louis Hayward. Columbia Pictures' Mask of the Avenger (1951) continued the tradition. While the romantic leads (John Derek and, in her film debut, Jody Lawrance) turn in serviceable performances, Anthony Quinn shines in a cultured, villainous role. The production values are high for an early 1950s Columbia film, and the Technicolor photography (by Charles Lawton, Jr.) is often eye-popping. The script contains some standard daring-do, but also allows for a very skilled heroic assist from the usually helpless female captive in the final reel.

I leave my blade to the people of Casamare. If it ever be drawn again – may the cause be justice!

Mask of the Avenger opens with these words, etched in the base of a statue of The Count of Monte Cristo – the base also enshrines the sword of the hallowed nobleman. The statue is in the city of Casamare, in Italy – which in 1848 is in the midst of a war with Austria. The corrupt military governor of Casamare, Viovanni Larocca (Anthony Quinn) has been looting the city's art collection, diverting funds to a Swiss account. He goes to the castle of Count Dimorna (Wilton Graff), who confronts Larocca with evidence of his theft. Larocca shoots the Count in cold blood and puts the gun in his hand, telling others that he was working with the Austrians and committed suicide when his "treason" was discovered. Captain Renato Dimorna (John Derek) returns from battle to find his father dead, the townspeople shunning him, and Larocca and his men occupying his father's castle. Renato pretends to accept Larocca's story, and also feigns a serious leg injury; while confined to his room, he uses his knowledge of the castle's secret passages to ride in the night to gather information on Larocca's lies and avenge his father's death. He is aided by sweetheart Maria D'Orsini (Jody Lawrance), her friend Rollo D'Anterras (Eugene Iglesias), and Jacopo (Dickie LeRoy), a local boy. Renato also masks his identity during his nighttime rides, and uses the sword of the Count of Monte Cristo in his campaign for justice.

Bosley Crowther in The New York Times called the film a "lush Technicolored action picture," in the spirit of previous Count of Monte Cristo movies: "There are night-riding, ambuscades, sword fighting and scaling castle walls, and there is also a beauteous lady who does a little night-riding herself. She is played by Jody Lawrance, and of her the best that we can say is that she wears her nineteenth-century Levis in fashionable dude-ranch style. However, Anthony Quinn is full of evil as the villainous military boss and Arnold Moss is the picture of dark deception as the boss' right-hand worm." Crowther also acknowledges the throwaway nature of the film: "We won't say that Mask of the Avenger is anybody's Gone with the Wind (1939), but as a fast, flashy costumed horse-opera, it is energetic, funny and without harm."

Columbia Pictures raided the Dumas bibliography again the following year with The Brigand (1952), reuniting director Phil Karlson, female lead Jody Lawrance, and featuring another memorable villainous performance from Anthony Quinn. (The swashbuckling lead in this film was handled by Anthony Dexter, Columbia's discovery who previously played the title role in their biopic Valentino - 1951). In between these two Columbia releases, Quinn appeared in support of his acting hero Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! (1952), for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar®. Quinn would not work again with John Derek until almost 40 years later, co-starring with Derek's then-wife Bo Derek in Ghosts Can't Do It (1990). This cinematic disaster was written, directed, shot and edited by Mr. Derek.

Producer: Hunt Stromberg
Director: Phil Karlson
Screenplay: Ralph Bettison, Jesse Lasky, Jr., Philip MacDonald
Story: George Bruce, from the novel by Alexandre Dumas
Music: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Cinematography: Charles Lawton, Jr.
Editing: Jerome Thoms
Art Direction: Harold MacArthur
Cast: John Derek (Capt. Renato Dimorna), Anthony Quinn (Viovanni Larocca), Jody Lawrance (Maria d'Orsini), Arnold Moss (Colardi), Eugene Iglesias (Rollo D'Anterras), Dickie Leroy (Jacopo), Harry Cording (Zio), Ian Wolfe (Signor Donner).
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by John M. Miller