The Iron Mask

The Iron Mask is a 1929 American part-talkie adventure film directed by Allan Dwan. It is an adaptation of the last section of the 1847-1850 novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of the Man in the Iron Mask. Cast Douglas Fairbanks – D'Artagnan Belle Bennett – The Queen Mother Marguerite De La Motte – Constance Bonacieux Dorothy Revier – Milady de Winter Vera Lewis – Madame Peronne Rolfe Sedan – Louis XIII William Bakewell – Louis XIV/Twin Brother Gordon Thorpe – Young Prince/Twin Brother Nigel De Brulier – Cardinal Richelieu Ullrich Haupt – Count De Rochefort Lon Poff – Father Joseph: the Queen's Confessor Charles Stevens – Planchet: D'Artagnan's Servant Henry Otto – the King's Valet Leon Bary – Athos Tiny Sandford – Porthos (*Stanley J. Sandford) Gino Corrado – Aramis Production background The 1929 part-talkie version, titled The Iron Mask, was the first talking picture starring Douglas Fairbanks, though until recently it was usually shown in a silent version. The film stars Fairbanks as d'Artagnan, Marguerite De La Motte as his beloved Constance (who is killed early in the film to protect the secret that the King has a twin brother), Nigel De Brulier as the scheming Cardinal Richelieu, and Ullrich Haupt as the evil Count De Rochefort. William Bakewell appeared as the royal twins. Fairbanks lavished resources on his final silent film, with the knowledge he was bidding farewell to his beloved genre. This marks the only time where Fairbanks's character dies at the end of the film, with the closing scene depicting the once-again youthful Musketeers all reunited in death, moving on (as the final title says) to find "greater adventure beyond".