History Film / TheIronMask

In this one Fairbanks returns as D'Artagnan, and he and the Three Musketeers are having swashbuckling fun in 1638 France. Meanwhile, King Louis XIII is thrilled by the birth of his son and heir, the future King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV. The situation is immediately complicated when the birth of the boy is followed by the birth of a ''second'' boy, an identical twin brother. Cardinal Richelieu, fearing that the presence of two twin sons of the king raises the threat of dynastic instability and war, packs the second child, Phillipe, off to the country to be raised in secret. D'Artagnan's lover, Constance, was the lady-in-waiting at the birth, and for this Richelieu has his [[TheDragon dragon]] Count De Rochefort send Constance away to be imprisoned in a convent. D'Artagnan tries to rescue her but fails to arrive before tragedy strikes. Richelieu in turn breaks up the Musketeers, ordering Athos, Porthos, and Aramis to their home properties while assigning D'Artagnan to be a guardian of the boy Louis. De Rochefort has his own schemes, however, which involve a switcheroo of twin brothers.

* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: D'Artagnan, all three of the Musketeers, de Rochefort, Richelieu, and Constance all die over the course of the movie. The only main characters still alive at the end are Louis and Phillipe. This is also the only film Douglas Fairbanks ever made where his character dies in the end.

* EvilTwin: Phillipe, who is shown throughout to be mean-tempered and vicious. Even if he does have a gripe about being pushed aside, imprisoning his brother and trying to poison his mom is not cool.

* ManInTheIronMask: Phillipe was hidden away but allowed to live in comfort, in a chateau with servants. When he replaces his brother he has Louis fitted with an iron mask and clapped in a dungeon. This is a change from the Dumas novel and from later film adaptations, in which it's Phillipe being held in a dungeon in an iron mask by evil King Louis. In this version, Louis doesn't even know his brother exists until Phillipe shows up to replace him.

* PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo: Phillipe doesn't even try to be subtle about this, switching his goblet with his mother's right in front of her. But he's the king (or rather he's usurped the king), so she feels compelled to drink it.
* PoisonRing: Phillipe has and uses one of these.

* TimeSkip: Four years to show Louis being groomed for kingship while Phillipe has become an awful brat out in the countryside. Then twenty more years to the second part of the story, wherein Count De Rochefort launches his plan to substitute Phillipe for Louis.
* TheUsurper: Phillipe, impersonating his brother Louis XIV.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Averted in this case, as de Rochefort gives a perfectly reasonable explanation for not having the real Louix XIV killed--the fact that the king is still alive gives him control over Phillipe.

* KillEmAll: D'Artagnan, all three of the Musketeers, de Rochefort, Richelieu, and Constance all die over the course of the movie. The only main characters still alive at the end are Louis and Phillipe. This is also the only film Douglas Fairbanks ever made where his character dies in the end.

The Dumas novel has been adapted for film many times, including [[Film/TheManInTheIronMask a 1998 version]] that starred Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio as the royal twins.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Douglas Fairbanks, in a meta sense. While Fairbanks insisted on making ''The Iron Mask'' as a silent film--in fact, with the primitive nature of sound recording in 1929, making a stunt-filled action movie like this would have been impossible--he did concede to insert two talking scenes in which D'Artagnan addresses the audience. See {{Tableau}} below.

''The Iron Mask'' was one of the last major silent films released in Hollywood. It was Douglas Fairbanks' farewell to both the silent film medium and the action-adventure films that he had been making throughout TheTwenties. Fairbanks had no enthusiasm for talking films, and in any case he was 46 years old in 1929 and aging out of the action film genre. Fairbanks dabbled in talkies, making five films before he retired in 1934, but never made an action film again.

''The Iron Mask'' is a 1929 silent film starring Creator/DouglasFairbanks. It is one of many film adaptations of Creator/AlexandreDumas's novel ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', drawing plot elements from that novel but taking most of the plot from Dumas's sequel ''The Vicomte de Bragelonne''. The film is also a sequel to Fairbanks's 1921 film ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers|1921}}''. It was directed by Allan Dwan.

''The Iron Mask'' is a 1929 silent film starring Creator/DouglasFairbanks. It is one of many film adaptations of Creator/AlexandreDumas's novel ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', drawing plot elements from that novel but taking most of the plot from Dumas's sequel ''The Vicomte de Bragelonne''. The film is also a sequel to Fairbanks's 1921 film ''The Three Musketeers''. It was directed by Allan Dwan.

In this one Fairbanks returns as D'Artagnan, and he and the Three Musketeers are having swashbuckling fun in 1638 France. Meanwhile, King Louix XIII is thrilled by the birth of his son and heir, the future King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV. The situation is immediately complicated when the birth of the boy is followed by the birth of a ''second'' boy, an identical twin brother. Cardinal Richelieu, fearing that the presence of two twin sons of the king raises the threat of dynastic instability and war, packs the second child, Phillipe, off to the country to be raised in secret. D'Artagnan's lover, Constance, was the lady-in-waiting at the birth, and for this Richelieu has his [[TheDragon dragon]] Count De Rochefort send Constance away to be imprisoned in a convent. D'Artagnan tries to rescue her but fails to arrive before tragedy strikes. Richelieu in turn breaks up the Musketeers, ordering Athos, Porthos, and Aramis to their home properties while assigning D'Artagnan to be a guardian of the boy Louis. De Rochefort has his own schemes, however, which involve a switcheroo of twin brothers.

* LockedInTheDungeon: This is the fate of the real Louis XIV when his brother seizes the thrown and has him put in an iron mask and imprisoned.

''The Iron Mask'' is a 1929 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks. It is one of many film adaptations of Creator/AlexandreDumas's novel ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', drawing plot elements from that novel but taking most of the plot from Dumas's sequel ''The Vicomte de Bragelonne''. The film is also a sequel to Fairbanks's 1921 film ''The Three Musketeers''. It was directed by Allan Dwan.

* ManInTheIronMask: Phillipe was hidden away but allowed to live in a chateau with servants. When he replaces his brother he has Louis fitted with an iron mask and clapped in a dungeon.

* PoisonChaliceSwitcheroo: Phillipe doesn't even try to be subtle about this, switching his goblet with his mother's right in front of her. But he's the king (or rather he's usurped the king), so she feels compelled to drink it.

* TimeSkip: Four years to show Louis being groomed for kingship while Phillipe has become an awful brat out in the countryside. Then twenty more years to the second part of the story, wherein Count De Rochefort launches his plan to substitute Phillipe for Louis.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: As indicated in the last dialogue card. After D'Artagnan's soul leaves his body and joins his friends up in the heavens, D'Artagnan says "Come on! There is greater adventure beyond." And then they turn their backs to the camera and run off to seek it.

In this one Fairbanks returns as D'Artagnan, and he and the Three Musketeers are having swashbuckling fun in 1638 France. Meanwhile, King Louix XIII is thrilled by the birth of his son and heir, the future UsefulNotes/KingLouisXIV. The situation is immediately complicated when the birth of the boy is followed by the birth of a ''second'' boy, an identical twin brother. Cardinal Richelieu, fearing that the presence of two twin sons of the king raises the threat of dynastic instability and war, packs the second child, Phillipe, off to the country to be raised in secret. D'Artagnan's lover, Constance, was the lady-in-waiting at the birth, and for this Richelieu has his [[TheDragon dragon]] Count De Rochefort send Constance away to be imprisoned in a convent. D'Artagnan tries to rescue her but fails to arrive before tragedy strikes. Richelieu in turn breaks up the Musketeers, ordering Athos, Porthos, and Aramis to their home properties while assigning D'Artagnan to be a guardian of the boy Louis. De Rochefort has his own schemes, however, which involve a switcheroo of twin brothers.