Overlooked Movies -- Scaramouche

After reading Scaramouche, nothing would do but that I see the movie again.  As I mentioned in my comments on the book, I loved the movie when I was a kid, and no wonder.  It had one of my favorite actors, Stewart Granger, a beautiful redhead, Eleanor Parker, a beautiful blonde, Janet Leigh, a villainous villain (Mel Ferrer), and one of the great movie sword fights of all time.  In fact, it was at one time the longest of all movie sword fights.  Maybe it still is.  Plus it's in glorious Technicolor.  You have to see it to realize how great it looks, that's all there is to it.  And there's a great score.

What's even better, the screenwriters took Elmore Leonard's famous advice years before he gave it and left out all the parts of the book that readers tend to skip.  Then they added almost nonstop action, a ton of witty banter, and tightened the plot to fit into two hours.  Scaramouche, the movie, is a lot faster and more fun than the book (and I say that having enjoyed the book).  If you like old Hollywood glamour, this movie has just about everything you could ask for.  I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now.  You want entertainment?  That's what Scaramouche provides, and plenty of it.  You cannot go wrong.  Check out the trailer embedded below if you don't believe me.  That should convince anybody.