The Son of Monte Cristo

The Son of Monte Cristo is a 1940 American blackandwhite film produced by Edward Small, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, and George Sanders. The Small production uses the same sets, and many of the same cast and production crew as his previous years production of The Man in the Iron Mask.

In 1865, the proletarian General Gurko Lanen becomes the behind the scenes dictator of the Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg located in the Balkans. Gurko suppresses the clergy and the free press and imprisons the Prime Minister Baron Von Neuhoff. The rightful ruler of the Grand Duchy the Grand Duchess Zona, hopes to get aid from Napoleon III of France and makes her escape pursued by a troop of Hussars loyal to Gurko. She is rescued by the visiting Count of Monte Cristo in the area on a hunting trip. The Count escorts her to a neutral country, but Gurkos Hussars violate international neutrality to return the Grand Duchess and her ladyinwaiting back to Lichtenburg.The count has become romantically enamoured of Zona and undertakes to help her, visiting the Grand Duchy where he falls in with the underground resistance movement of Lichtenburg. He befriends the loyal Lt. Dorner of the palace guard who knows a variety of secret passages leading from the Grand Ducal Palace to the literal underground catacombs of the Grand Duchy. Discovering that Baron Von Neuhoff is to be executed, the Count gains entry to the palace through his previously being asked for a large loan of French Francs by Gurko and plays the role of a cowardly fop international banker. There he overhears Gurko meeting with the French Ambassador who raises the issue of human rights in the Grand Duchy. Gurko counters him by saying he is signing a non aggression pact with Russia protecting Lichtenburg from any French threats. Gurko schemes to gain the nations loyalty by marrying the Grand Duchess and keeping the Russian pact a secret. ........

Source: Wikipedia