History Film / Scaramouche

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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scaramouche_1952_film.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[Music/{{Queen}} Will you do the fandango?]]]]

->''"But who is Scaramouche? And why does he hide his face behind a mask?"''
-->-- '''Lenore'''

''Scaramouche'' is the 1952 film adaptation of [[Literature/{{Scaramouche}} the novel]] by Creator/RafaelSabatini, directed by George Sidney.

Stewart Granger plays the hero, Andre Moreau, with Mel Ferrer opposite him as the villainous Marquis de Maynes. The female leads are Eleanor Parker (as Lenore) and Creator/JanetLeigh (as Aline de Gavrillac). Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer went all-out on the sets and costumes and the climactic duel is the longest single-take SwordFight in cinematic history.

The book was previously adapted as [[Film/Scaramouche1923 a silent film in 1923]].
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!! This film provides examples of:

* AdaptationNameChange: Lenore was called Climène in the novel and in the 1923 version.
* AffablyEvil: The Marquis De Maynes is a loyal servant of the Queen, a gentleman and caring protector and lover to his ward Aline. Unfortunately, he also happens to hate revolutionaries and has no qualms about [[ManipulativeBastard provoking Phillipe de Valmorin into a duel...]]
%%* BestServedCold
* BettyAndVeronica: Aline and Lenore with Lenore as the Veronica and Aline as the Betty.
* BlueBlood: It's a movie set during the early stages of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, so many characters are aristocrats. Even Andre and Philippe, who align themselves with the Revolution, are ultimately impoverished aristocrats.
* BreakTheHaughty: As the final duel continues and De Maynes begins to lose his nerve.
%%* CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds
* CommediaDellArte: In-universe, Andre hides out with the Commedia troupe in which Lenore is a member, where he discovers his hidden talent for slapstick, and begins to learn how to handle a sword.
* CostumePorn: Oh yes.
* CurbstompBattle: De Maynes duel with de Valmorin and his early encounters with Andre.
* DeadpanSnarker: Andre and Lenore.
* DontThinkFeel: Inverted.
--> '''Perigore:''' The ''head''! Fight with the head. Forget the heart.
* FieryRedhead: Redheaded Lenore is quite fiery in her BelligerentSexualTension with Andre.
* {{Flynning}}: Honestly a little bit less than you'd expect, with the ten-minute climactic fight scene, but it's definitely there.
%%* FriendlyTarget: Philippe de Valmorin
%%* FromNobodyToNightmare: Andre himself.
* FryingPanOfDoom: Lenore's weapon of choice, both on stage and off.
* GeniusBruiser: Both De Maynes and Andre are MasterSwordsman who play [[GuileHero other characters]] [[ManipulativeBastard like a violin]] when they need to.
* GloveSlap: When the National Assembly's noble delegates are reducing the numbers of the common delegates by challenging them to duels and killing them, Moreau is challenged several times by persistent nobles who want to improve his horrendously ugly face by slapping him with a glove.
* GuileHero: Andre, at times, especially after he joins the troupe.
* HobbesWasRight: Espoused by the Marquis De Maynes when he sees the revolutionary slogan ''Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'':
-->'''De Maynes:''' Liberty must be rationed among the few with the talent to use it. There's no such thing as equality. Most men are born with the gutter and are only at home there. As for fraternity, a De Maynes is nobody's brother. We stand alone at the head of the table, and if ever our rights are challenged, ''[taps sword]'' [[MightMakesRight this is our answer]].
%%* InspectorZenigata: Chabrillaine.
* InterestingSituationDuel: The climax has a sword fight in a theater, fought on the backs of the seats. They started by dueling along the rims of the balconies and finished on the stage.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: Leonore leaves Andre so he can marry Aline, finally settling up with a certain [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Corsican officer.]]]]
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:It turns out the Marquis De Maynes is Andre's long-lost half-brother. Earlier, he was led to believe that Aline was his long-lost half-sister, but this turned out to not be so.]]
%%* TheMasochismTango: Andre and Lenore.
* MasterSwordsman: De Maynes, his master Doutreval, and ''his'' master Perigore of Paris. And eventually, Andre himself.
* NotSoDifferent: Both Andre and De Maynes are clever, passionate, somewhat flippant charmers who are extremely loyal to their friends and family. Over the course of the film, Andre becomes more and more like De Maynes, becoming a master swordsman who repeatedly incapacitates political enemies in duels and has complicated relationships with two different women. This foreshadows TheReveal that [[spoiler: they're brothers.]]
* TheOner: The final duel. As it took place in a pre-Revolutionary France theatre, complete with over 600 extras in full costume, they '''had''' to get it done in one take. As it was so long the lead actors couldn't be trusted to do it, so the fight director and his assistant did it all in long-shot. After beginning the fight on the edge of the boxes, it moved to the corridor outside, then to the balconied foyer, where a single camera picks up the shot and follows them down the stairs, across the foyer, and back into the auditorium, roughly a third of the fight. The whole fight took over seven minutes, included two near-fatal accidents, and needed nine cameras to film, to cover the boxes, the corridor, the foyer, the auditorium, onstage, and backstage, none of which could be in shot for any other camera. After it was done, the leads did some close-ups of a few short sequences during the fight, and these close-ups cover the cuts between each camera.
* PunchclockVillain: Chevallier de Chabrillaine, De Maynes [[TheDragon dragon]] is actually quite personable and admirer of the theatre.
* RemakeCameo: Lewis Stone played the villain in the silent adaptation, while here he plays Andre's foster father.
* TheRival: Andre makes the transition all the way from UnknownRival to this after training under De Maynes' teachers and joining the rival party of the National Assembly.
* RoyalRapier: Moreau's weapon of choice.
* SlapSlapKiss: Andre and Lenore's relationship.
* SurpriseIncest: Andre courts Aline early on, but backs away when he finds evidence that she's his sister. [[spoiler: Subverted at the end when [[CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds Lenore reveals that Aline and Andre are not related after all]].]]
* {{Swashbuckler}}: A classic example.
* SwordFight: As noted, the whole arc of the film is Andre becoming a master at this, culminating in that epic climax.
* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet:
-->'''Andre:''' You may turn your back on Scaramouche, my Lord, but surely you would not run away from... ''[pulls off mask]'' ...Andre Moreau?\\
'''De Maynes:''' Scaramouche... you have given your last performance. ''[draws sword]''
* TheTrickster: Andre isn't but the character he plays, Scaramouche, is.
* UpperClassTwit: Andre, at first. Though he is actually a nobleman's bastard.
* VillainOpeningScene: The Marquis has the first ten minutes of screen time, and unlike most examples of this trope, commits not a single evil deed, so much so that he could almost be seen as the DecoyProtagonist.

%%* InterestingSituationDuel

%%* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet

%%* RoyalRapier

-->'''De Maynes:''' Liberty must be rationed among the few with the talent to use it. There's no such thing as equality. Most men are born with the gutter and are only at home there. As for fraternity, a de Maynes is nobody's brother. We stand alone at the head of the table, and if ever our rights are challenged, ''[taps sword]'' [[MightMakesRight this is our answer]].

%%* FieryRedhead: Lenore

* BlueBlood: It's a movie set during the early stages of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, so many characters are aristocrats.

%%* BlueBlood

%%* LongLostRelative

* CurbstompBattle: De Maynes duel with dw Valmorin and his early encounters with Andre.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scaramouche_1952_film.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Music/{{Queen}} Will you do the fandango?]]]]

''Scaramouche'' is the 1952 film adaptation of [[Literature/{{Scaramouche}} the novel]] by Creator/RafaelSabatini. Stewart Granger plays the hero, Andre Moreau, with Mel Ferrer opposite him as the villainous Marquis de Maynes. The female leads are Eleanor Parker (as Lenore) and Creator/JanetLeigh (as Aline de Gavrillac). Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer went all-out on the sets and costumes and the climactic duel is the longest single-take SwordFight in cinematic history.

[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Scaramouche_1952_film_4917.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:[[{{Music/Queen}} Will you do the fandango]]?]]

->''But who is Scaramouche? And why does he hide his face behind a mask?''
-->-- Lenore

1952 film adaptation of [[Literature/{{Scaramouche}} the novel]] by Creator/RafaelSabatini. Stewart Granger plays the hero, Andre Moreau, with Mel Ferrer opposite him as the villainous Marquis de Maynes. The female leads are Eleanor Parker (as Lenore) and Janet Leigh (as Aline de Gavrillac). [[MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] went all-out on the sets and costumes and the climactic duel is the longest single-take SwordFight in cinematic history.

--> '''Perigore:''' "The ''head''! Fight with the head. Forget the heart."