The Man In The Iron Mask

When "The Man in the Iron Mask" was released in 1998, its stars and creative team were at the height of their popularity Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, G�rard Depardieu and Gabriel Byrne were known as great actors, all of them having won either Oscars or Golden Globes. The film's director and screenwriter, Randall Wallace, was nominated for both awards and won the Writers Guild Award for his work on "Braveheart." Furthermore in the previous year, Leonardo DiCaprio became "king of the world" with his performance in popular monstrosity "Titanic."

Add to this an enormous budget and an audience that craved costume dramas and blockbusters. The film would make money even if it were terrible – and it was astonishing.

In many ways, this deliciously over the top period drama, based on Alexandre Dumas' musketeer romances, resembles some of the great mid-20th Century cinemascope epics – both the box office successes, like "Ben-Hur" and the disasters, like "Cleopatra."

Of course this movie doesn't have the depth or moral complexity of Dumas' original. Essentially, it's the story of DiCaprio playing good-and-evil twins, the depraved and corrupt King of France and his benevolent yet ignorant twin brother, a man locked deep in a prison cell behind an iron mask where no one will recognize his famous face. The three musketeers, Athos (Malkovich), Porthos (Depardieu) and Aramis (Irons), plot to switch out the nobles, but their brother in arms, d'Artagnan (Byrne) remains loyal to the iniquitous king (for secret reasons that he can't reveal.)

The actors are all very talented, but their different acting styles and different accents make this cast into an eclectic hodge-podge. Then there's the script, a tale of aristocracy and honor packed with fart jokes and frat-boy humor. Finally, there's an incomprehensible, deus-ex-machina ending and boatloads of sentimentality. In this environment, not even a great actor like Gabriel Byrne can sell a line like, "I know to love you is a treason against France, but not to love you is a treason against my heart."

Nevertheless, this film is pure gold for fans of camp. Wallace speaks of honor, majesty and destiny with absolutely no irony. He sincerely believes in these absurdly packaged values – making the whole thing hilarious.

This brand new 4K scan of the original negative looks amazing. Also this Blu-ray release is packed with classic special features (like the original behind-the-scenes featurette and an historic look at myth and the musketeers), plus all-new interviews with the producer, Paul Hitchcock, and the production designer, Anthony Pratt.

"The Man in the Iron Mask"
DVD $29.98