The prison scene in the Count of Monte Cristo serves as a turning point in the first quarter of the novel. Edmond Dantes, the protagonist, is convicted of a crime he did not commit and is imprisoned without any explanation. During his 14 years of imprisonment, he meets Abbe Faria, learns of an immeasurable treasure and obtains a way to escape. In the context of the novel, this crucial event serves to bring Edmond from despair to hope and acts as the catalyst for his revenge that spans the rest of the story.
The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002, dir. Kevin Reynolds
When investigating this scene through its numerous adaptations, it is easy to see the different ways in which the era of filmmaking has affected the coverage. Take the camera for example. In the silent era, the camera placement often suggests a set environment. We do not see all four walls of the prison cell, one of the walls is likely nonexistent. Both for the 1918 French film and the 1922 American film, the coverage of the scene feels theatre-like. When characters talk to one another, they face towards the camera and tilts slighting towards each other. From the 1934 American film onwards, more camera movements are used in the scene. As Abbe Faria demonstrates his writing on the wall, the camera pans along with it. Concepts like the 180-degree rule are followed in dialogues between Edmond and Faria in the 1943 Italian film. In the 1954 French film, the camera is able to cheat the confined nature of the location. The cell is shown to be rectangular but the camera is placed where the wall would be. In the TV series, usage of the camera differs from films. Most prominently is their tendency to go for longer takes. This is likely due to some of the series using a multi-camera setup like the 1964 UK TV series. During these long takes, the camera tends to follow Edmond as he moves around in the scene. When dialogue occurs, there is an equal amount of the same size reverse shots for the speaker. For the 1966 Italian TV series, the camera often tracks into closeups instead of cutting in the middle of dialogue. The frequency of longer takes is likely due to the length of the TV show, given more runtime to cover the entire story. In the modern era, we see the usage of handheld shots in the 1975 UK film. The camera follows Edmond as he walks around his cell in disillusion. The camera perfectly emphasises this through the slightly exaggerated camera shake and POV shots that place the audience in the cell. The 2002 film utilised cranes to give us an overhead layout of the cell.
Monte Cristo, 1922, dir. Emmett J. Flynn
The Count of Monte Cristo, 1934, dir. Rowland V. Lee
The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002, dir. Kevin Reynolds
Another aspect of interest for me was the lighting techniques used throughout the years. This inquiry into over 100 years of filmmaking led to understanding different perspectives of lighting. In the vast majority of the modern adaptations, lighting is given motivations. Most commonly, the cells will often have some sort of window on the side along with some sort of hole near the ceiling. This design allows a believable key and top light to be present in most shots. In the 1975 and 2002 film, smoke is added in the cell to create light rays from the ceiling which adds to the downtrodden nature of the cell. With the use of colour, we also see the use of colour temperature to indicate day or night as demonstrated in the 1998 TV series. The orange hue created by using a warm colour temperature suggests daytime, whilst a cold colour temperature suggests the night. Characteristics of light are also explored to varying degrees of success. In the 1979 French TV series, the prison cell is extremely dark, the use of hard lighting on the characters creates unflattering hard shadows around their eyes. For Abbe Faria, who has black facial hair and black clothes, it becomes difficult to separate him from the background. On the other hand, the 1934 American film’s use of soft lighting on many of the closeups creates a sense of awkwardness. Edmond who has been in prison for 8 years does not have any blemishes on his face. When thinking of motivations for lighting, I highlight the tunnel sequence for comparison. In almost all adaptations, when the characters are traversing through the tunnel, they often use candles for illumination. For modern films, the lighting reflects this. The character’s faces would be lit only by the candle they are holding, we know this by the warm colour projected from the flame. When it comes to the black & white films, motivations for lighting become unclear, especially the ones that felt more theatrical. The objective for lighting becomes less about the mood or to supplement the subject, but to gain the correct exposure for the scene and make every object visible on camera. This results in the tunnel being lit without a diegetic light source. In retrospect, the desire to make sure everything is lit in a scene is something that people do today. TV commercials, for example, have their own ideology of lighting that is consistent with their standards, i.e. soft lighting on model’s faces and diffused top lights.
The Count of Monte Cristo, 1975, dir. David Greene
The Count of Monte Cristo, 1998, dir. Josée Dayan
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, 1979, dir. Denys de La Patellière
The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002, dir. Kevin Reynolds
The Count of Monte Cristo, 1934, dir. Rowland V. Lee
As mentioned earlier, Edmond spends exactly 14 years in prison, the passing of time is shown through different methods. For silent films, the usage of title cards explains that time has passed. This is most similar to the novel, where Dumas would write the number of years which have passed since the last paragraph. In the black & white films, the most common method to show time has passed is through a dissolve. Although the audience is not told how many years have passed exactly, the reset of the scene, along with a longer beard, clues us in that a significant period of time has passed. Both the 1966 Italian TV series and the 2002 film chose to include montage during the prison scenes. They both utilise the montage for ellipsis; quickly skipping through the time it took for Abbe Faria to impart knowledge and skills unto Edmond. Unique to the TV series, a text of the year is placed onto the screen to further emphasize the time spent. Out of all the films I’ve looked at for this project, the 1998 French TV series deals with time in a different way. The prison scene serves as the introduction, it is the first scene of the first episode. Edmond in the prison is in real life and he recounts the events that transpired in a flashback. This reorganisation of the timeline of events could be the filmmaker’s attempt to grab the audience’s attention with intrigue.
Monte Cristo, 1922, dir. Emmett J. Flynn
Il conte di Montecristo, 1966, dir. Edmo Fenoglio
Across more than 100 years of adaptations, the prison scene enables Edmond to figure out who his enemies are, gain knowledge from Abbe Faria and discover the treasure of Spada. For the vast majority of the films, the prison scene serves as the end of the first act. Edmond now has the means by which he can both escape the prison and exact revenge on his enemies. At the start of the scene, he is in despair and confusion, and by the end, he is invigorated by the desire for revenge. Ultimately, my investigation over the eras of filmmaking highlighted techniques which I was surprised to see used so long ago, as well as methods of filmmaking that are still being used today.