Any list of top Swashbucklers needs at least one film based on the works of Alexandre Dumas, and this is the best of them. Pleasingly acted and filmed, it still just barely counts as a Swashbuckler due to its leisurely pacing and scarcity of swordfights.
Directed by: Rowland V. Lee
Written by: Rowland V. Lee, Philip Dunne, Dan Totheroh (from the novel by Alexandre Dumas)
Produced by: Edward Small
Music by: Alfred Newman
Reliance Pictures; 1934
Runtime: 113 Min
Cast: Robert Donat (Edmond Dantes), Elissa Landi (Mercedes), Louis Calhern (Raymond de Villefort), Sidney Blackmer (Fernand de Mondego), Raymond Walburn (Danglars), O.P. Heggie (Abbe Faria), Irene Hervey (Valentine de Villefort), Douglas Walton (Albert de Mondego)
A Few Thoughts
If there is a literary king of the Swashbuckler it would have to be Alexandre Dumas. His fast-paced historical fiction (which held only a winking acquaintance with actual history) was serialized in French papers in the mid 1800s and was extremely popular. His stories contained many of the elements that make a good film, so they have been made into films, over and over again—close to two hundred times. The most popular, and most often filmed, are The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. Unfortunately, most film versions of Dumas stories do not live up to the novels. The exception is the 1934 The Count of Monte Cristo.
It is a story of revenge. Edmund Dantes (played by Robert Donat in his only U.S. picture) is unfairly imprisoned by the actions of three men. There, he is taken under the wing of a wise eccentric who happens to know where a vast treasure is hidden. When Dantes escapes, he finds the treasure, and christens himself the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo in order to destroy his three enemies in ways most fitting to their personalities and flaws. It is a cathartic film and I couldn’t help smiling as each met his fate. Unlike other versions of the movie, this one is reasonably true to the book, and that’s a good thing.
Made only a few years into “talkies,” The Count of Monte Cristo has the look of a silent film. Gestures tend to be on the grand side and the pacing is languid. Donat, who is best remembered for Goodbye, Mr. Chips, plays the young Dantes a bit too angelic to be believed, but has complete control over the part of the older “Count” out for revenge.
Even with its flaws, The Count of Monte Cristo is a satisfying film. Once the retribution begins, it’s all fun. 
The newest, and much inferior version replaces a court scene with a swordfight, which would normally be a reasonable way of increasing the excitement. But it doesn’t work, in part because the fight is just standard violence where the court scene holds a much more poetic revenge.
Why is it Important?
Any list of top Swashbucklers needs at least one film based on the works of Alexandre Dumas, and this is the best of them. Pleasingly acted and filmed, it still just barely counts as a Swashbuckler due to its leisurely pacing and scarcity of swordfights. But due to its lineage, it’s impossible not to put it in the genre. It also represents where the genre was in the early ’30s. While it cannot be called the first Swashbuckler (the genre faded into being from its silent roots), no earlier film demonstrates anything more about the genre than The Count of Monte Cristo.
Availability
Here things get tricky. It is not currently available on VHS or DVD. You can sometimes catch it on late night television, where the copy they use is showing signs of wear. You may be able to pick up the long out of print, colorized version on tape from Amazon or eBay. Far more problematic than the colorization is that the film is often cut to 97 minutes. There is no reason to think that a restored DVD will arrive anytime in the near future.