ThiefHott Too much of everything

RyothChatty ridiculous rating

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

bsmith5552 Another rousing swashbuckling adventure from the pen of Alexandre Dumas. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars as the storied Corsican Brothers.The story opens with Count Franchi (Henry Wilcoxen) awaiting the imminent birth of his first born and heir. Twin boys are delivered to Countess Franchi (Gloria Holden). Dr. Paoli (H.B. Warner) delivers the news that the twins are in fact Siamese twins joined at the hip. The Count has prepared a celebration nonetheless, however the evil Baron Colonna (Akim Tamiroff) and his men have infiltrated the gathering and attack the Franchi household burning the estate to the ground killing all inside.Dr. Paoli and dedicated servant Lorenzo (J. Carroll Naish) manage to escape through a secret passage with the twins. The doctor manages to separate the babies in an operation. They are named Lucien and Mario respectively. They then decide that to protect the twins, they should be raised separately. Trusted Franchi friends, the Dupres (Walter Kingsford, Nana Bryant) agree to raise Mario in Paris while Lorenzo takes Lucien to be raised deep within the Corsican forest.Twenty years later, the boys have grown. Lucien has become a bandit praying upon Colonna's men. Mario meanwhile, has been living the good life in Paris. When they turn twenty-one they are re-united in the forest camp of Lucien and Lorenzo. The two lead separate raids on Colonna and his men, popping up in two separate places to confuse Colonna and his cousin Tomasso (John Emery) in the process.Countess Isabelle Gravini (Ruth Warrick) whom Mario had met in Paris arrives on the scene having been forced to listen to Colonna's proposal of marriage following the latter's murder of her father. Isabelle is abducted and taken to the Corsican Brothers camp. Since each twin experiences the feelings and pain of the other, they of course both fall in love with her.Isabelle prefers Mario which causes feelings of jealousy and vengeance within Lucien. Fearing that she has come between the two, she returns to Colonna's house. Mario impersonating a jewel salesman attempts to rescue her. His ruse is discovered and he is arrested by Colonna. As Mario is being tortured, Lucien feels his pain. Will he ride to save his brother? Will the evil Baron be defeated? Who will win the hand of the lovely Isabelle? And, there's a great sword fight at the story's climax, not to be missed.Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had been in films since his childhood. Although he tried not to emulate his famous father, he was always at his best in adventure films. This was his final film before entering WWII after which (six years later) his career never regained its momentum. Akim Tamiroff makes a suitably distasteful and slimy villain. J. Carroll Naish turns in another of his solid supporting roles. Henry Wilcoxen's role is all but too brief, but he does get in a little sword play before his exit. Ruth Warwick makes a fetching Countess worthy of the brothers competition.Other recognizable faces in the cast include William Farnum (who had worked with Doug Sr.), Henry Brandon. Ric Vallin, Anthony Carouso and Charlie Stevens.An exciting adventure in the tradition of The Three Musketeers.

burkeinca I'm glad I had a chance to see "The Corsican Brothers" on TCM. It was exciting, exotic, romantic, and, best of all, from my point of view, based on a classic.In the opening credits, it's stated that the film has been "freely adapted," or, in other words, loosely adapted, from the original Dumas novella. Here's what is similar and different between the two versions. Both film and novella feature Siamese twins, surgically separated, with one living in Paris, the other in the Corsican hills, and thereafter able to sense each other's feelings with a kind of ESP. In both, the Parisian twin learns of a bet between two gentlemen to connive (or force, in the original) a date with a beautiful lady, and the Parisian gallantly intervenes only to be injured. Of course, his twin living back in Corsica in both cases is able to sense the injury. This is the center of the original Dumas story, and all of this is in the movie as well.The film, though, in order to fill out a full-length feature, adds a great deal to this original plot. In the film, it is imagined that the reason for the original separation of the twins is related to a massacre of the twins' parents and family which is part of a larger family feud (this is Corsica, after all). When the twins become of age, they take up this feud as personal vendetta and begin killing the members of the other family, using their identical appearance as a method of trickery. The romance between Louis and the beautiful lady (here a countess) is also elaborated, and, to complicate matters, both twins both fall in love with her and wind up quarreling. All of this additional material I found diverting and, actually, probably necessary, since the original source was thin.Although there is much to praise about the movie, I'll mention one aspect I didn't personally like. In order to create two entirely different personalities who look identical but are of separate character types, Fairbanks makes Lucien, who lives in the Corsican hills, surly and sullen—not very likable. As for the Parisian Louis, Fairbanks makes him foppishly verbose—also not very likable. This wasn't part of the original story, where both brothers were appealing, intelligent, and well bred even while being different.I agree with the other commenter, by the way, that "Start the Revolution Without Me" based on the same conceit and probably the same source, where Donald Sutherland's foppishness is magnified to extreme lengths, is hilariously entertaining.

blanche-2 Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. are "The Corsican Brothers" in this 1941 film also starring Ruth Warrick, H.B. Warner, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Wilcoxin and Gloria Holden. Based on the Dumas novel, it's the story of Siamese twins born to the Franchi family (incorrectly pronounced frahnchee instead of frahnkey throughout the movie) just as the Baron Colonna arrives to wipe out the family and take over Corsica. He believes the twins perished in the fire that destroyed their home and the rest of their family; however, the doctor who delivered them (Warner) escapes with them. He is able to separate them, and it is decided that for their own safety, he will raise one, Lucien, and the other boy, Mario, will be raised in Paris. Lucien, however, is the empathic twin, experiencing all of his brother's emotions before he even learns he has one. They meet when they are 21 and vow to get revenge on Baron Colonna (Tamiroff).This is a very good movie, but the beginning scenes at Colonna's house contain some of the worst acting ever put on film. Apparently the guests at Colonna's house were extras found wandering the set that day and were given lines. Pretty appalling.Fortunately, the rest of the film isn't like that. It's fast-moving, exciting, and brilliantly acted by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who should today be regarded as a much bigger star. Unfortunately, unlike his father, he was working at a time when there was just too much competition, and, like Brian Aherne, he just didn't get to appear in enough of the films remembered today. Handsome, athletic, with magnificent acting technique, Fairbanks creates two completely different characters in Mario and Lucien and has, of course, genetic ability with a sword. Whenever one reads about swordfights, the Tyrone Power-Basil Rathbone swordfight at the end of "The Mark of Zorro" is said to be the best. It's dear to my heart also, but Fairbanks and Tamiroff do a bang-up swordfight in this film. Tamiroff is a real buffoon as the villain - it's a great characterization - he doesn't seem to know he's an idiot. Ruth Warrick, Phoebe Tyler of "All My Children" is lovely as Isabelle, the object of Mario, Lucien and the Baron's affections.Very enjoyable, if a little awkwardly filmed with dated effects.

shell-26 Vendetta, the vicious tribal feuding which ravages the great families of Corsica. The Baron Calonne has ended the Franzi dynasty and made himself supreme.Or so he thinks..... unbeknownst to him, infant twin sons of the noble line of Franzi did not perish in the inferno he visited on their family. One, was taken to Paris and raised as an aristocrat, the other lived in the Corsican woods as a bandit.What might have been a predictable revenge saga is given an enterprising twist by the device of making the twins Siamese at birth. Surgically separated as their family is massacred and their home destroyed, they are parted and raised along different paths. Mario grows up to be a cultured and wealthy Parisian, Lucien however is raised in the Corsican woods by outlaws, and it is Lucien who retains a "sixth sense" link with his twin. He feels the pain of his brother and also the pleasure. When Mario fell in love with and fought a duel for a beautiful Countess, Lucien was present in spirit.The paths of the brothers reconverge at their 21st birthday where they are reunited by the doctor who saved them and told of their destiny.......Douglas Fairbanks Jr is excellent in the roles of Lucien and Mario. The special effects are limited to crude superimpositions and backprojections but he overcomes their lack of effect by the simple expedient of acting. Lucien is shorter, darker and cunning. Mario is tall, suave and clever. The countess who plays their love interest and who will eventually come between them is not so impressive. A soft focus stereotype in silly skirts simpering through the forest like an umbrella on legs.The scene is completed by the villain, the evil Baron. What a character ! Short, greasy, and swarthy, complete with twirly moustache he is a worthy adversary for the heroic twins. If trains had been invented, the countess would surely have ended her days tied to some tracks.The swordplay is frantic, buckles are swashed, the plot is satisfying and Fairbanks is a star twice over. If you can overlook the (awful) technical shortcomings and you like your heroes handsome but flawed and your baddies to twirl their moustaches and get their come-uppances, watch the Corsican Brothers.