Our hero, needless to say, has an enemy or two and a love or two. The backdrop for it all is the unsettled days prior to the setting of the French monarchy 's sun. This picture is typical of its studio's output at the time, big, colourful, lavish, ornate, full of stars, and devoid of life. All the performances are adequate, good even, but no one performance stands out above the rest. None of these actors have the ability or star vitality to rise to the material.
Vitality is the key word here.
The result, a slightly creaky film when viewed today, but one which abounds with life and enthusiasm. Michael Curtiz's direction gave us towering performances and action sequences full of spirit. While Scaramouche is a much bigger production, it is also a much less entertaining. The blame, I believe, lies for the most part with director, George Sidney. Sidney's mistake is that he fails to inject any urgency into the action.