Vendetta

I saw the movie as a youngster and many times again as an adult. It was Great. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. played well in both roles as the twin brothers. Ruth Warrick was absolutely gorgeous as Countess Gravini. Akim Tamiroff was perfect as Baron Colonna and John Emery as his Cousin,Tomasso. J. Carrol Naish was wonderful as always as the caretaker of Brother Lucien, the almost bad brother. The old time actor H.B. Warner was excellent as the doctor who separates the twins at birth, and takes care of them as adults. The action was good and comical at times. The ending sword play was just fine and ended in a good conclusion. I highly recommend this movie.

Two babies are born connected together in this film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' story. But in order for them to live a fulfilling and healthy life, their father asks the attending doctor to separate them. They survive the operation and are taken away from the family estate, during a revolt in which the babies' parents are killed. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. plays the twins and gives good, fleshed out performances as both brothers, as he tries to avenge his parents' death. Ruth Warrick, from All My Children and Citizen Kane, is very lovely as the love interest, who coincidentally is the object of desire of the bad guy, Akim Tamiroff, who killed Doug's parents. Despite Doug carrying the film and pulling off credible performances, it's really Akim as the villain who steals the spotlight from him, as he gives a very compelling and three-dimensional performance, making the character seem even more real to the viewer than anyone else. With the imagination and creativity of Alexandre Dumas, this is one film to discover today.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. are "The Corsican Brothers" in this 1941 film also starring Ruth Warrick, H.B. Warner, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Wilcoxin and Gloria Holden. Based on the Dumas novel, it's the story of Siamese twins born to the Franchi family (incorrectly pronounced frahnchee instead of frahnkey throughout the movie) just as the Baron Colonna arrives to wipe out the family and take over Corsica. He believes the twins perished in the fire that destroyed their home and the rest of their family; however, the doctor who delivered them (Warner) escapes with them. He is able to separate them, and it is decided that for their own safety, he will raise one, Lucien, and the other boy, Mario, will be raised in Paris. Lucien, however, is the empathic twin, experiencing all of his brother's emotions before he even learns he has one. They meet when they are 21 and vow to get revenge on Baron Colonna (Tamiroff).

This is a very good movie, but the beginning scenes at Colonna's house contain some of the worst acting ever put on film. Apparently the guests at Colonna's house were extras found wandering the set that day and were given lines. Pretty appalling.

Fortunately, the rest of the film isn't like that. It's fast-moving, exciting, and brilliantly acted by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who should today be regarded as a much bigger star. Unfortunately, unlike his father, he was working at a time when there was just too much competition, and, like Brian Aherne, he just didn't get to appear in enough of the films remembered today. Handsome, athletic, with magnificent acting technique, Fairbanks creates two completely different characters in Mario and Lucien and has, of course, genetic ability with a sword. Whenever one reads about swordfights, the Tyrone Power-Basil Rathbone swordfight at the end of "The Mark of Zorro" is said to be the best. It's dear to my heart also, but Fairbanks and Tamiroff do a bang-up swordfight in this film. Tamiroff is a real buffoon as the villain - it's a great characterization - he doesn't seem to know he's an idiot. Ruth Warrick, Phoebe Tyler of "All My Children" is lovely as Isabelle, the object of Mario, Lucien and the Baron's affections.

Very enjoyable, if a little awkwardly filmed with dated effects.

Vendetta, the vicious tribal feuding which ravages the great families of Corsica. The Baron Calonne has ended the Franzi dynasty and made himself supreme.

Or so he thinks..... unbeknownst to him, infant twin sons of the noble line of Franzi did not perish in the inferno he visited on their family. One, was taken to Paris and raised as an aristocrat, the other lived in the Corsican woods as a bandit.

What might have been a predictable revenge saga is given an enterprising twist by the device of making the twins Siamese at birth. Surgically separated as their family is massacred and their home destroyed, they are parted and raised along different paths. Mario grows up to be a cultured and wealthy Parisian, Lucien however is raised in the Corsican woods by outlaws, and it is Lucien who retains a "sixth sense" link with his twin. He feels the pain of his brother and also the pleasure. When Mario fell in love with and fought a duel for a beautiful Countess, Lucien was present in spirit.

The paths of the brothers reconverge at their 21st birthday where they are reunited by the doctor who saved them and told of their destiny.......

Douglas Fairbanks Jr is excellent in the roles of Lucien and Mario. The special effects are limited to crude superimpositions and backprojections but he overcomes their lack of effect by the simple expedient of acting. Lucien is shorter, darker and cunning. Mario is tall, suave and clever. The countess who plays their love interest and who will eventually come between them is not so impressive. A soft focus stereotype in silly skirts simpering through the forest like an umbrella on legs.

The scene is completed by the villain, the evil Baron. What a character ! Short, greasy, and swarthy, complete with twirly moustache he is a worthy adversary for the heroic twins. If trains had been invented, the countess would surely have ended her days tied to some tracks.

The swordplay is frantic, buckles are swashed, the plot is satisfying and Fairbanks is a star twice over. If you can overlook the (awful) technical shortcomings and you like your heroes handsome but flawed and your baddies to twirl their moustaches and get their come-uppances, watch the Corsican Brothers.

Based on the famous Alexander Dumas novel of the same name, Siamese twins, Mario and Lucian Franzi are separated at birth by surgery and adopted by different parents. Lucian is raised in Corsica as a bandit, while Mario grows up in Paris as a suave gallant, but Lucian has a special psychic ability to feel his brother's feelings, though he is not even aware of his existence. At age 21, they are reunited in Corsica by their foster-parents and are informed that their parents were murdered by Count Colorra who has become the ruler of Corsica by killing off all his enemies through vendettas. In typical Sicilian fashion, the bandit brothers swear vengeance and start their campaign by attacking Colorra's interests. Mario becomes romantically involved with Countess Isabelle Gravini who is under pressure from Colorra to marry him and saves her from Colorra's clutches. Lucian who also falls in love with Isabelle,becomes jealous of his brother and abandons him when Colorra captures Mario. How Lucian escapes and gets his girl constitutes the final part of the movie.

The highlight of this movie is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, who stars in the title roles with great gusto and suavity. He is great in roles in like this, much better than his father was. However, to swashbuckling buffs, the swordfights in this film are, perhaps, only of middling quality. While Fairbanks carries the film on his broad shoulders, his co-star Ruth Warrick is not impressive. And Basil Rathbone would have been a great choice to play the villain Colorra rather than Akim Tamiroff who comes across more as a buffoon than as a sinister Sicilian cutthroat.

In summary, "The Corsican Brothers" is a pleasant, highly watchable movie, with just the right amount of violence to make it exciting. However, the director Gregory Ratoff should have portrayed the unsavory institution of vendetta which blighted so many families in the isle of Sicily, in a less approving light.

Reviewed by Sundar Narayan