Reign of Terror

1949
Approved
1h 29m

IMDb RATING

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Costume Drama Political Thriller Drama History Romance Thriller War

Robespierrre, a powerful figure in the French revolution, is desperately looking for his black book, a death list of those marked for the guillotine.Robespierrre, a powerful figure in the French revolution, is desperately looking for his black book, a death list of those marked for the guillotine.Robespierrre, a powerful figure in the French revolution, is desperately looking for his black book, a death list of those marked for the guillotine.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

2.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos123

+ 117

Top cast46

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Robert Cummings

Charles D'Aubigny

Richard Basehart

Maximilian Robespierre

Richard Hart

François Barras

Arlene Dahl

Madelon

Arnold Moss

Fouché

Norman Lloyd

Tallien

Charles McGraw

Sergeant

Beulah Bondi

Grandma Blanchard

Jess Barker

Saint Just

Walter Bacon

Citizen
(uncredited)

Ray Bennett

Robespierre's Shooter
(uncredited)

Chet Brandenburg

Citizen
(uncredited)

Ralph Brooks

Citizen
(uncredited)

William Challee

Bourdon
(uncredited)

Frank Conlan

Gatekeeper
(uncredited)

Clancy Cooper

Saint Just's Sentry
(uncredited)

Wade Crosby

Danton
(uncredited)

Mary Currier

Mme. Duval
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Shot on sets left over from Joan of Arc (1948).

Goofs
In a conversation with D'Aubigny, Robespierre states that he turned 36 years old in the month of May. However, during their Reign of Terror, the French revolutionaries changed many things, including the calendar. They discarded the traditional Gregorian calendar (January, February, etc.) in favor of a new, decimal-based system, and called it the French Republican Calendar . There were still 12 months, but now each month had 3 10-day weeks (for 30 days) and all of the months were re-named. What would have been the month of "May" in the Gregorian calendar was changed to "Prairial" in the new calendar. ("Prairial" translates to prairie or meadow.) So being a good revolutionary, Robespierre would have used this new calendar and not the old one when referring to dates. He should have said he "turned 36 years old in Prairial" and not "May."

Quotes
Maximilian Robespierre: There's a man in Strasbourg who isn't afraid of anything. A man named Duval.
Fouché: Duval?
Maximilian Robespierre: You know him?
Fouché: No, but I know his record. Five hundred executions in a single month. That's almost as good as yours, Max.
Maximilian Robespierre: I've sent for Duval. He arrives at the Blue Goose Inn tonight. You go there and bring him to the bakery. I'll meet him there.
Fouché: How will I know him?
Maximilian Robespierre: As one snake to another, you'll smell each other out.

Connections
Edited into Amérique, notre histoire (2006)

User reviews57

Review

Featured review

Brilliant film noir disguised as French Revolution Epic

True film noir, that densely urban, disillusioned body of work characterized by the deep shadows that separate the characters from each other and isolate them from society, was almost always set in contemporary cities... in France before WWII and in America after it. ALMOST... Anthony Mann's THE BLACK BOOK (aka REIGN OF TERROR) is one of its finest examples, a costume thriller set in the French Revolution, and somehow managing to create the visual style and emotional mood of true film noir in a completely atypical setting.

This is a film to watch for its cinematic, visual brilliance... The story is serviceable, but the experience it services is a thrilling piece of movie art. Photographed by the great John Alton (a man who, it is said, could re-light Times Square at high noon, if necessary) the frame consistently dazzles and intrigues. Anthony Mann's taut and claustrophobic work (rather at odds with the usual French Revolution epic, and with Mann's later work in other genuinely epic-scale costume dramas) draws a compelling parallel between the atmosphere of fear in post-revolutionary France and in mid-20th century McCarthyite America.