Two of the greatest film villains act together in this lavish costume drama of the 17th century, Raymond Massey as Cardinal Richelieu and Conrad Veidt as his spy and traitor. They are no less villains here although they both survive, and Conrad Veidt is so thoroughly groomed in as a villain in film history that he just can't be taken seriously as a victor of the happy end. The film is not original, the script is very ordinary Hollywood history stuff spinning yarns on legends, and not even the heroine is very beautiful. It was films such as these that the great silent film director Victor Sjöström of Sweden was given to make in Hollywood, lacking all his original ingenuity and just showing off Hollywood in stale artificiality of cramped efforts at romantic intrigue and solemn scenery of elaborate sumptuousness. This was his last film, he then went home to Sweden to work occasionally with Ingmar Bergman, while Raymond Massey and Conrad Veidt both went on as successful scoundrels in Hollywood, Conrad Veidt though just for a few years more, since he died far too young at only 50. The film is not bad, it's a valid costume drama with plenty of intrigue, but it has no soul of originality, only superficiality.
Review of Under the Red Robe
