Scaramouche
In France just prior to the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette (Nina Foch) asks her cousin Noel, the Marquis de Maynes (Mel Ferrer), to uncover the identity of "Marcus Brutus", a dangerous pamphleteer rousing hatred of the aristocracy.
Meanwhile, André Moreau (Stewart Granger), a nobleman's bastard, kidnaps his beloved Lenore (Eleanor Parker) to keep her from marrying another man. Afterwards, Moreau learns that his father is the Count de Gavrillac. While traveling to meet his parent, Moreau runs into Aline de Gavrillac (Janet Leigh), the Queen's ward, when her carriage breaks down the road. They are strongly attracted to each other, but Moreau's ardor suddenly cools when he learns that she is his half-sister. He hides that information from her.
By chance, de Maynes encounters Marcus Brutus, who turns out to be Moreau's best friend, Philippe de Valmorin (Richard Anderson). A master swordsman, de Maynes provokes de Valmorin into a duel, then toys with his inexperienced opponent before finally dispatching him. Enraged, Moreau attacks, but does no better than his dead friend. After de Maynes easily disarms him several times, Moreau chooses discretion over valor and flees for his life, vowing to kill de Maynes the same way he slew de Valmorin:
"You're going to die as he died, by the sword. You'll be driven back step by step, until you stand helpless as he did. Then I, Andre Moreau, will kill you as you killed him. I swear it, Philippe. By all that I hold sacred, I swear you this man's death!"
Chased by de Maynes's henchmen led by the Chevalier de Chabrillaine (Henry Wilcoxon), Moreau hides out in the commedia dell'arte troupe in which Lenore performs. Forced to disguise himself as the character Scaramouche, he discovers a hidden talent for acting. Burning for revenge, Moreau seeks out de Maynes' personal fencing instructor, Doutreval (John Dehner), and trains diligently in secret for weeks, while also performing with the troupe. However, de Maynes interrupts one such training session and they fight for a second time. Moreau is still overmatched. He is saved only when Aline and Doutreval unexpectedly intervene, allowing Moreau to escape.
Moreau decides that, to surpass de Maynes, he needs to learn from Doutreval's teacher, Perigore (Richard Hale), so he takes the troupe to Paris. There, Dr. Dubuque (John Litel), a deputy of the new National Assembly, seeks his help. The aristocrats in the assembly are systematically killing off the deputies representing the common people by provoking them into duels. Moreau is not interested, until Dubuque mentions that de Maynes is one of the duelists. Then he eagerly accepts the seat of a deceased deputy. Each day, he shows up at the assembly to challenge de Maynes, only to find his enemy absent on trivial but official duties, arranged by Aline and Lenore working together to protect the man they both love. However, other nobles in the National Assembly are eager to fight the newcomer, challenging him on a daily basis. Moreau wins each duel, gaining valuable experience with the sword in the process.
In the meantime, de Maynes becomes engaged to Aline. Overhearing de Maynes' intention to confront Moreau that night, Aline persuades him to take her out instead. At the suggestion of de Chabrillaine (who had been lucky to survive his duel with Moreau), they attend a performance of the De Binet Troupe. At last, Andre has his opportunity for revenge. The two men engage in a spectacular, prolonged duel (reputedly the longest in screen history at about seven minutes) that ranges throughout the theater, from the balcony boxes, to the lobby, through the main seats, onto the stage, into the backstage area, and finally back on the stage itself. At the end, Moreau has de Maynes at his mercy, backed against the proscenium arch, defeated, helpless as Philippe de Valmorin had been; but something he cannot explain stays his hand. Moreau stabs his sword into the stage and stalks off, leaving de Maynes bloodied but alive.
Later, Moreau learns from Philippe's father (Lewis Stone) that his father was not the Count de Gavrillac, but rather the old Marquis de Maynes, the Count de Gavrillac's friend; Noel de Maynes, the man he could not kill, is his half-brother. He then realizes that he is not related to Aline after all, so they can be married. Lenore, after giving him her blessing, consoles herself with a certain Corsican officer.
revenge, action, murder