Ruy Blas

There are oddities about RUY BLAS. The strangest aspect of all is that the tale was written by one of France's greatest writers, Victor Hugo, but it is about the court of traditional foe Spain.

The equally odd love tale sees the Spanish queen (played by the beautiful Danielle Darrieux) fall in love with, and kiss, Jean Marais, a kind of D'Artagnan (minus the swashbuckling prowess), of modest background who rises through the ranks to court general secretary thanks to the queen's favor and at the expense of a lookalike duke. The latter goes to jail in the wake of machinations by some unsavoury characters in the Spanish court.

The story is somewhat reminiscent of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (US 1937), the ending recalls ROMEO AND JULIET, and there is something Errol Flynn/ SEA HAWK-like about Jean Marais' role as the jailed duke.

Although Pierre Billon is the film's official director, there is no doubt that Jean Cocteau (then Marais' lover) was highly influential, especially over the photography, which keeps highlighting Marais' physical beauty, to the very final shot, often in a manner reminiscent of LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE.

An interesting aside is that Marais, as court secretary, conveys his Spanish fervor by regretting the loss of Portugal and Brazil. Well, I beg to differ. Thank God for the existence of those two Portuguese-speaking countries. And it is also odd, if not downright curious that Hugo, as a French national, should wish that one of his country's main foes (Spain) should control territories that France, too, tried to conquer on various occasions.

Ultimately, this is a watchable flick, but of little historical import, and not much in terms of acting, direction or script.