Trama

A complete performance of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO filmed as a stage play with curtains between the five acts: Act I. "The Sailor's Return," Act II. "Twenty Years Later," Act III. "Dantes Starts on His Mission of Vengeance," Act IV. "Dantes as the Count of Monte Cristo," Act V. "Dantes Accuses His Enemies," and "finis" at the end. This is the oldest known film of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Also, it depicts the oldest known film of the San Diego coast.

Act I. The Sailors Return. Edmond Dantes, the mate of the ship Pharaon, returns to Marseilles after a long voyage and is enthusiastically welcomed by his friends, and especially by the young girl, Mercedes, to whom he is affianced. During the long voyage Dantes has innocently provoked the envy and dislike of Danglars, an inferior officer of the same ship, who plots his ruin by insinuating that he has been the bearer of letters and communications to the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, then exiled from France and a prisoner at the Island of Elba. Danglars finds ready tools to assist him in his plot: Gaderousse, a malicious enemy of Dantes, and Fernand, the cousin and suitor for the hand of Mercedes, who is naturally jealous. These two join in the plot and Fernand consents to be the instrument of denouncing Dantes to the King's Procureur as a Bonapartist agent. Within an hour of his marriage to Mercedes the unfortunate Dantes is arrested for his supposed treasonable practices and brought before the Deputy Procureur, who finds that Dantes, while innocent of any wrong intent, is really the bearer of a letter from Elba which implicates the Deputy Procureur's father in the Bonapartist plot and incidentally discredits himself. Pretending to be Dantes' friend and assuring him of his early release, he in reality makes an order committing him to the Chateau d'Iff for life, where he is confined in one of the lowest dungeons in that most fearful prison. Act II. Twenty Years Later. Long confinement under the most horrible privations breaks down the fortitude of the prisoner to such an extent that he endeavors to commit suicide by voluntarily starving himself, and is on the point of death, when he establishes communication with a prisoner in the adjoining cell, the Abbe Faria, and after many months of patient work the two prisoners complete a concealed opening that enables them to visit each other's cells. Months pass, and as the Abbe gains confidence in his fellow prisoner he imparts to him the secret of a treasure of enormous value buried on the Isle of Monte Cristo, and by his advice and counsel saves Dantes from utter despair. The prisoners make fresh plans for digging their way out of the fortress and affecting their escape and prosecute their work at all hours when free from the visits of jailers. Weakened by old age and long imprisonment, the Abbe grows daily more feeble, and finally succumbing to his maladies, dies in Dantes' arms. Dantes is inspired with the idea of substituting his own body for the corpse of his friend, and carries out the scheme by placing the Abbe's body on the bed in his own cell and taking the other's place, assuming the posture and as far as possible the appearance of the dead man. The ruse succeeds and the jailors, entirely deceived, carry away the rough sack which they suppose contains the dead body of the Abbe and throw it over the battlement and into the sea, which comes up to the walls of the Chateau d'Iff. By a supreme effort Dantes succeeds in extricating himself from the sack in which he has been tied, and being a powerful swimmer manages to keep himself afloat until he is cast on a desolate rock outside the harbor mouth, where he sinks exhausted, but is soon after rescued by a passing vessel and becomes one of the sailors on board of her. After many vicissitudes and the lapse of some time, he finally reaches the Island of Monte Cristo and following the minute instructions given by the dead Abbe, finds the treasure and realizing its enormous value and the power which it places in his hands declares dramatically, "The world is mine!" Act III. Dantes Starts on His Mission of Vengeance. Dantes now determines to return to his old home and employ his enormous wealth in wreaking vengeance on those who plotted his ruin, and having secured the entire treasure from Monte Cristo Island, discovers that he is rich beyond the power of imagination. He purchases a yacht, in which he once more visits Marseilles and makes searching inquiry for his friends and enemies. His father is dead, his sweetheart Mercedes has gone to Paris and has been lost sight of entirely, while his other friends have scattered and disappeared. He then turns his attention to his enemies and finds that Danglars has become a man of wealth and importance and has gone to Paris. Fernand entered the army and by devious means has risen high in the service and also become a millionaire, while Caderousse alone remains in Marseilles as the keeper of a small inn. Disguised as a priest, he now visits the inn kept by Caderousse and obtains, from him full information without revealing his own identity. In the end he entrusts him with a diamond of immense value, which he instructs him to sell and divide the proceeds among his old friends. The story of the innkeeper's failure to carry out this trust and the disasters and death which his course involves are plainly pictured in our production and complete the first step in the vengeance of Monte Cristo. Act IV. Dantes as the Count of Monte Cristo. Intent upon greater schemes of vengeance and the punishment of his more influential enemies, Dante assumes the name of the Count of Monte Cristo, and by prodigal and lavish expenditure of his enormous wealth and the dazzling nature of his establishment and equipages, obtains an entré to the most distinguished circles in Paris and becomes the most admired man of fashion in the city. He discovers his former sweetheart Mercedes as the wife of a nobleman and contracts many friendships which enable him to locate and make the acquaintance of those of his enemies who have obtained positions of rank and fortune, although disdaining to meet them on equal artd friendly terms. Act V. Dante Accuses His Enemies. The fifth and last act, devoted to the consummation of Monte Cristo's vengeance on his enemies and the exposure of their nefarious plots, is clearly worked out in our production and requires little explanation beyond the picture itself. Fernand, driven to desperation by the revelation that the famous and distinguished Count of Monte Cristo is none other than Mercedes' lover, who he had vilely betrayed, commits suicide in a fit of remorse. The Deputy Procureur who, to save his father and himself, caused the unfortunate Dantes to be buried alive in the tomb of the Chauteau d'Iff is unmasked and exposed by the "Count" and dies of his own dagger rather than face the disgrace. Danglars, the arch villain of the conspiracy, still remains, and his death is necessary to complete the vengeance of Monte Cristo. The "Count engages him in a duel and he finally falls wounded to the death by the sword of the man he had betrayed with such unutterable baseness, and the vengeance of Monte Cristo is complete. -- The Moving Picture World, February 15, 1908