From Wikipedia: The Count of Monte Cristo is a 1934 film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel, The Count of Monte Cristo. Directed by Rowland V. Lee and starred Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, and Louis Calhern.
Plot: In 1815, a French merchant ship stops at the island of Elba. A letter from the exiled Napoleon is given to the ship's captain to deliver to a man in Marseille. Before he dies of a sickness, the captain entrusts the task to his first officer, Edmond Dantes (Donat). However, the city magistrate, Raymond de Villefort Jr. (Louis Calhern), is tipped off by an informer, the second officer, and has both men arrested after the exchange. Dantes' "friend" Fernand (Sidney Blackmer) accompanies him to the jail. However, he, Danglers, and de Villefort all stand to gain from keeping Dantes imprisoned. The unfortunate young man is sent without trial to prison, on the false testimony of Danglers. When Napoleon returns to France, de Villefort signs a false statement that Dantes was killed trying to escape, which Mondego shows to Mercedes. Deceived, she gives in and marries Mondego. 8 years of solitary confinement follow for Dantes. Then one day, the aged Abbé Faria, a fellow prisoner, breaks into his cell through a tunnel he has been digging. The two join forces; Faria calculates it will take five more years to finish. In the meantime, he starts educating Dantes.
As they near their goal, a cave-in fatally injures the old man. Before he dies, he bequeaths a vast hidden treasure to his protegé. The body is sewn into a shroud, but while the undertaker is away, Dantes substitutes himself for the corpse. He is cast into the sea, frees himself and is picked up by a smuggling ship. Dantes later finds the treasure on the uninhabited island of Monte Cristo. With his new fortune, he sets in motion his plans for revenge. At last, with all of his enemies destroyed, Dantes is reunited with Mercedes.
