The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #142470 Message #3284415
Posted By: Don Firth
03-Jan-12 - 08:17 PM
Thread Name: 2012 Obit of Bob Anderson- swordmaster
Subject: RE: Obit of Bob Anderson- swordmaster
On the other hand, I would nominate, for the most moronic duel scene in any movie, the final confrontation between André (Stewart Granger) and the Marquis (Mel Ferrer) in the 1952 manifestation of Scaramouche.
The novel by Rafael Sabatini (CLICKY) was, and still is, one of my favorite historical novels, and one of the great historical novels of all time. The background for the action of the novel is the beginning of the French Revolution. The confrontation between André-Louis Moreau and the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr, who murdered André-Louis' best friend Philippe in a mock duel, takes place in the Bois de Boulogne outside of Paris on a cold and misty morning—a formal duel, with seconds and all. Sabatini's description of the action is exciting, and it is also sufficiently technical to please any avid fencer.
How did Hollywood handle the confrontation? Well—
The weapons are authentic. The French smallsword, a lightweight weapon worn by powdered-wigged gentlemen of that era. The smallsword is a deadly weapon, but it has only a point. No cutting edge. So how would one manage all that slashing of curtains and drapes, pruning of shrubbery, and cutting of ropes with a weapon with no cutting-edge? You tell me!
Most people probably found it exciting and breathtaking. But I'm afraid I found it somewhere between slapstick comedy and abject stupidity.