VeteranLight
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
drjgardner
The Corsican Brothers" is a 1941 black and white adventure films from the Alexander Dumas novel (1844) of the same name. It was the 8th adaptation of the book to film, and would continue to be adapted including "Cheech and Chong's The Corsican Brothers" (1984) and "Start the Revolution without Me" (1970). This is probably the best of the serious adaptations, but that's not saying much. The acting, photography, and music are all very ordinary, with nothing noteworthy to remark on. The special effects (using Fairbanks as his own brother) are relatively poor, even given the date of the film.If you like films about France in the pre-industrial age, my favorites are Marat/Sade (1967), Napoleon (1927), A Tale of Two Cities (1935), The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) and The Three Musketeers (1921, 1935).
JLRMovieReviews
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.
burkeinca
I'm glad I had a chance to see "The Corsican Brothers" on TCM. It was exciting, exotic, romantic, and, best of all, from my point of view, based on a classic.In the opening credits, it's stated that the film has been "freely adapted," or, in other words, loosely adapted, from the original Dumas novella. Here's what is similar and different between the two versions. Both film and novella feature Siamese twins, surgically separated, with one living in Paris, the other in the Corsican hills, and thereafter able to sense each other's feelings with a kind of ESP. In both, the Parisian twin learns of a bet between two gentlemen to connive (or force, in the original) a date with a beautiful lady, and the Parisian gallantly intervenes only to be injured. Of course, his twin living back in Corsica in both cases is able to sense the injury. This is the center of the original Dumas story, and all of this is in the movie as well.The film, though, in order to fill out a full-length feature, adds a great deal to this original plot. In the film, it is imagined that the reason for the original separation of the twins is related to a massacre of the twins' parents and family which is part of a larger family feud (this is Corsica, after all). When the twins become of age, they take up this feud as personal vendetta and begin killing the members of the other family, using their identical appearance as a method of trickery. The romance between Louis and the beautiful lady (here a countess) is also elaborated, and, to complicate matters, both twins both fall in love with her and wind up quarreling. All of this additional material I found diverting and, actually, probably necessary, since the original source was thin.Although there is much to praise about the movie, I'll mention one aspect I didn't personally like. In order to create two entirely different personalities who look identical but are of separate character types, Fairbanks makes Lucien, who lives in the Corsican hills, surly and sullen—not very likable. As for the Parisian Louis, Fairbanks makes him foppishly verbose—also not very likable. This wasn't part of the original story, where both brothers were appealing, intelligent, and well bred even while being different.I agree with the other commenter, by the way, that "Start the Revolution Without Me" based on the same conceit and probably the same source, where Donald Sutherland's foppishness is magnified to extreme lengths, is hilariously entertaining.
shell-26
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.
