"The Man in the Iron Mask", from the pen of Alexandre Dumas is a rousing adventure featuring treachery, double crossing with swash buckling aplenty thrown in.In the mid 16th century, twin sons are born to King Louis XIII (Albert Dekker) of France. Only one can be heir to the throne. The birth of the second twin is to be kept a secret. Only the king, the mid wife, doctor and faithful servant Colbert (Walter Kingsfprd) are in on the secret. But alas Cardinal's messenger, the ambitious Fouquet (Joseph Schildkraut) overhears the secret while in hiding. The King calls for his loyal guard D'Artagnon (Warren William) and charges him with the raising of the second twin named Phillippe.Fast forward twenty years and Twin no. 1 has become King Louis XIV (Louis Hayward) who has been over taxing the people while conducting a reign of terror. Phillippe (also Hayward) has become the swash buckling adopted son of D'Artagnon and the Three Musketeers, Porthos (Alan Hale), Aramis (Miles Mander) and Athos (Bert Roach).Louis is to marry Spanish princess Maria Theresa (Joan Bennett) for political purposes. Meanwhile Louis has a mistress Mlle. de la Valliere (Marion Martin) on the side. Phillipe and the Musketeers are arrested by the King's guards (Harry Woods, Peter Cushing). They are brought before the King where Louis and Phillippe discover that they are twin brothers a fact that is verified by their mother Queen Anne (Doris Kenyon).Louis meanwhile has learned of plot to assassinate him while attending a religious ceremony at the Cathedral. Louis decides to send Phillippe in his place while the Musketeers remain imprisoned. Phillippe meets Maria Theresa and she is smitten with his kindness and attitude toward the people unaware the he is not the King. When she again meets with Louis, she is confused by his sudden return to ruthlessness. At one point she decides to return to Spain but Fouquet murders her courier and she is forced to remain.Louis sees that his brother is a threat to the throne and decides to have him executed. Colbert, convinces him that he cannot do so because of tradition and their likeness. With Foubert's help. Louis devises an iron mask to be placed on Phillippe's head with the hope that his growing beard will eventually choke him. He is then cast into the Bastille on a life sentence.Meantime, the Musketeers manage to escape from the Bastille and set about to free Phillippe. In a touch of irony they manage to exchange Louis for Phillippe with Louis being placed in the iron mask. However, Fouquet learns of this and sends his guard (under Lane Chandler), to free Louis. Princess Maria Theresa meanwhile has learned of the true identity of Phillippe and pledges him her love.In a showdown with Louis and Fouquet, Phillippe and the musketeers are forced to engage in a battle to the death with superior forces and.........................................................This film was one of many versions of the Dumas story. It had been filmed as "The Iron Mask" in 1929 as Douglas Fairbanks final silent. Louis Hayward is surprisingly adept in the dual role of the twins. Joseph Schildkraut makes a slimy hissable villain. Joan Bennett looks beautiful as the heroine but has little else to do. Warren William while no Fairbanks, acquits himself well as D'Artagnon. The other Musketeers are largely in the background.Watch for veteran silent villain Montagu Love as the Spanish Ambassador and horror veteran Dwight Frye as Fouquet's valet.

Boris Karloff found this to be true in 1935's "The Black Room", but his set of twins were not sons of the King of France. When King Louis XIII's wife gives birth to two sons (why is it never a daughter?), one is not presented to the people, but gets to be raised by D'Artagnan, one of the three musketeers. When the king dies, the son he raised ascends the throne as Louis XIV (named "the Great" in history books), and the remaining son, Philippe, becomes a rebel after his father is outcast from the court. Louis XIV is presented as an evil fop (although history doesn't record him this way) who doesn't care abut the people. If the future Marie Antoinette said "Let Them Eat Cake", this version of the greatest Bourbon King of France wouldn't care if they starved.When Spanish Princess Marie Terese (Joan Bennett) arrives as Louis's future Queen, she is revolted by his inhumanity. When the King discovers he is the intended target of an assassination plot, Marie Terese is taken with Philippe (who has assumed the King's place after being arrested) for his caring, believing her initial impression of the king was a misunderstanding. Of course, the king discovers the truth about his look-alike, and thus comes in the Iron Mask.This lavish historical drama may not represent France's greatest era of the monarchy, but it is an entertaining and impressive vision of that time. Hayward, in a double role, sneers as the evil King Louis XIV but gets to be noble and even imitate his twin as the decent Philippe. Would you believe the usually more modern, hard as nails Marion Martin as the Madame DuBarry type mistress? I didn't at first, but she tones down her usual streetwise manner in that part. As for Bennett, I feared she might be wasted as the hapless heroine, but she actually gets to do more rather than simply look pretty and fret over being rescued. Warren William is excellent as D'Artagnon, and Joseph Schildkraut gives an outstanding performance as the villainous Fouquet. Under the stunning direction of James Whale, the film is a visual treat, much like his glorious movie version of "Show Boat" with a touch of his past horror film glories thrown in. This film only goes into swashbuckling action a few times, but it never lacks in entertainment.

The 1939 version of THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK was one of my first costume swashbucklers. I was lucky enough to see it at a screening at school and loved every minute, whether it was the swordplay, the action or even the chilling moments that featured Louis Hayward as either the evil...and most definitely unbalanced...King Louis XIV or his twin brother Philippe, trapped in that nightmarish iron mask.But more importantly, it gave me a group of unusual heroes in D'Artagnon and the Musketeers in an era when most youngsters' heroes were cowboys riding the TV range. A wonderful group with Warren William holding every scene he is in as the aging but still courageous and adventure-loving D'Artagnon. It wasn't until a few years later that I saw Errol Flynn's ROBIN HOOD and recognized Alan Hale as my first movie Porthos.It's sad that James Whale directed movies no more after this one, but what he left us is one of the best of the classic costume adventures that is still a joy to watch and a wonderful journey to the legend of the men whose battle cry was "One For All! And All For One!" Catch it when it is repeated on TCM and, for a couple of hours, be a kid again!

All positive comments are agreed to. This is truly one of the finest ones. The only minor dig that I could come up with is that they could have had more dueling sequences. Louis Hayward was capable of more robust fencing than what was portrayed here and I don't think they utilized his skills to any great degree. Outside of that this is a truly enjoyable film, black and white or not and while I don't advocate doing every B/W film over by colorizing it, I think I would like to see what this one Australia, What Guy Pearce Remake??????? Guy Pearce did Count of Monte Cristo, not M.I.T.I.M. as far as I have been able to determine.