Under the Red Robe Reviews

The great Swedish director Victor Sjostrom (billed here as "Seastrom") came out of semiretirement and ventured to England to direct UNDER THE RED ROBE. Handsomely mounted, with a strong cast, the film is set in France during the reign of Louis XIII. Gil de Berault (Veidt), a notorious gambler and duelist, finds himself facing the gallows. At the last moment he is offered a reprieve by Cardinal Richelieu (Massey) on the condition that he seek out and kill a duke suspected of being the leader of the antimonarchist Huguenots. Veidt agrees and finds himself accompanied in the venture by Massey's trusted assassin (Brent), who is assigned to make sure that Veidt does his job. Veidt traces the rebel leader to a castle and infiltrates his stronghold, only to fall in love with his prey's beautiful sister (Annabella). Veidt captures the duke, but rather than kill him or bring him back to Massey for execution, he lets the rebel escape to England. When Veidt returns to Massey and the king (Gardner), Louis praises him for the clever way he removed the threat to the crown. Angered, but forced to concur, Massey also congratulates Veidt. His neck out of the noose, Veidt returns to Annabella to renew their romance. While certainly not among Sjostrom's masterworks, UNDER THE RED ROBE is a fine costume adventure. Massey attacks his menacing role with relish, while Veidt, who was a bit too old for his part, rises to the occasion and pulls off the action scenes as well as the romance. French actress Annabella, who was treated as a national treasure by her countrymen following her performances in Rene Clair's LE MILLION (1931) and JULY 14TH (1933), left France for England to make this picture and two others. She then went to Hollywood, where she failed to duplicate her European success. Sjostrom directed no more films himself, but concentrated on acting and appeared in several movies, most notably giving a superb performance in Ingmar Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957).