Books2Movies Club discussion

Please help me dig up the name of an epic story of revenge ...

It's a story of a boy who was abused and left for dead as a helpless child. He survived, got filthy rich and came back to plot his revenge against 4 people who no longer recognized him b/c they were all complicit in his supposed demise, they thought he was dead. Now an adult, he used a pseudonym and approach these 4 rich and powerful men as a fellow mogul. Ring any bells?

This classic tale was made into films and plays from a book. The setting was ... well, old. It must have taken place at least 100 years ago.

Please give me a holler if you can recall the title. I already tried Googling to no avail, much obliged !!

Now that sounds like young adult version of Count of Monte Cristo... Maybe it is Revenge? Although in this one the main character isn't quite a boy and the story isn't set a 100 years ago...

But I am curious to know other retellings of Count of Monte Cristo. I know of that Stephen Fry's and one anime. Jules Verne's Mathias Sandorf and Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination are also inspired by, but the plots do not sound like the one you seek, sorry :(

I agree Zeljka it does sound like the COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO.

Yes, it sounds very much like the Count of Monte Cristo and I can't think of anything else it could be, except in that story he wasn't a young boy and there weren't 4 people he was after. I'm trying to think of a Dickens book, but that doesn't sound right, either.

Do you remember any of the actors in the films? Maybe you could do IMDB.com for their names?

Yes, it was "Le Comte de Monte-Cristo", thanks all! I was very young when I first heard it so the details are fuzzy

Zeljka wrote: "...

I am curious to know other retellings of Count of Monte Cristo"

There's a 2011 TV drama "Revenge" when Le Comte de Monte-Cristo meets Long Island in a Hamptons summer. Entertaining like a good cheap novel.

It does remind me of The Count of Monte Cristo, but the versions that I am familiar with involve a young man, not a child--old enough to be engaged. He is betrayed by at least 3 people, is wrongfully imprisoned, and escapes. After finding a hidden treasure, he becomes affluent and gets revenge against his betrayers. In one version, he reunites with his fiancée; in the other, she leaves him--losing interest in the man he has become.

Rock wrote: "Yes, it was "Le Comte de Monte-Cristo", thanks all! I was very young when I first heard it so the details are fuzzy..."

Ah I am glad we could be of some help :)

I have read an abridged version of the story (Hachette, in two parts, for French learners), and I found it awesome as such. I bet it would be great to read unabridged! One day, who knows, we might give it a try in the group ;)

Alana wrote: "Yes, it sounds very much like the Count of Monte Cristo and I can't think of anything else it could be, except in that story he wasn't a young boy and there weren't 4 people he was after. I'm tryin..."

Some of the actors are...Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, James Frain, Jim Caviezel, Henry Cavill, Dagmara Dominczyk and Luis Guzmán.

Those are the actors in The Count of Monte Cristo, but I'm not sure that's the story Rock is referring to.

I am reading The Count of Monte Cristo at the moment, and I am loving it!