646f9e108c In France during the late 18th Century, a man sets out to avenge the death of his friend at the hands of a master swordsman. Andre-Louis Moreau is a nobleman's bastard in the days of the French revolution. Noel, the Marquis de Mayne, a nobleman in love with the Queen, is ordered to seek the hand of a young ingenue, Aline, in marriage. Andre also meets Aline, and forms an interest in her. But when the marquis kills his best friend Andre declares himself the Marquis's enemy and vows to avenge his friend. He hides out, a wanted man, as an actor in a commedia troupe, and spends his days learning how to handle a sword. When de Maynes becomes a spadassinicide, challenging opposing National Assembly members to duels they have no hope of winning, Andre becomes a politician to protect the third estate (and hopefully ventilate de Maynes). I first saw this movie when it first came out and commented to my friends of the beautiful music that was composed for it by Victor Young. The music is what attracted me, but I enjoyed the story and actors in it. I even recorded the sound track at a movie theater with permission of the management to listen to, and went to see it every time it was shown. Eventually, I bought the VHS recording of it, and I estimate I have watched it 20 or more times. I still marvel at the beauty of it. I have also read the novel twice. It is very unlike the movie, but that doesn't bother me at all. Both stories are appealing. I heard the music on a classical music radio station several years ago, and found out that I could purchase the recording. It is on my Ipod now, so I can hear it again and again at a touch. Victor Young was a musical genius. He gets little credit for the great music he composed for that and many other movies that he wrote music for. I recently saw this movie again on cable - it is a wonderful mixture of period romantic adventure with examples of great comedia del'arte and... especially... the best fencing scenes ever put on film. Both Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer were excellent swordsmen and their final confrontation is a brilliant tour de force. Watch it just for this sequence - remember it was made in 1953 and is still highly enjoyable. Scaramouche (1921) is a historical romance novel, set during the French Revolution (1789-1799) and written by Italian/English author Rafael Sabatini. The screenplay for Scaramouche was written by Ronald Millar, George Froeschel, and Talbot Jennings, who also took elements from an earlier silent film, <a href="/title/tt0014440/">Scaramouche (1923)</a> (1923). No. Scaramouche (Italian Scaramuccia meaning "skirmish") was an iconic masked, roguish, conceited, and buffoon stock character (stereotype), originating in 17th century Italian commedia dell'arte theatre and often associated with the Punch and Judy puppet shows. He was often dressed in black Spanish medieval dress, wearing a black mask that included a long, pointy nose.