Any French Revolution Swashbucklers?

[Zkribbler]

I was watching the History Channel last night and learning a lot about the French Revolution.

It occurred to me that this period would be a great backdrop for swashbuckling novels and movies. There were lots of great characters (evil Malat with his chonic skin disease he picked up while living in the sewers of Paris; eloquent Robespierre, ultrashallow Marie Antoinette) plus Byzentine plots and bloodshed galore!

But the only two books I can thing of are:
Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness O'cesey (sp?) and
Fallen Angels by Bernand Cornwell.

What else is out there?

[Nikolai]

I for one awaits "Paris" by EBO and BBC. Featuring the rise of the revolution and it's ultimate demise into death and horror, only to for a short time being rescued by a man that inherits the best of both the pre-revolutionary and the revolutionary ways. That would have been awesome.

[Az]

Nappy

[BeBMan]

No book recommendation, but there is a very well-made, four-part, French TV movie of the French Revolution from 1989 with lots of wellknown international actors like Ustinov, Brandauer, Neill etc. I can only recommend.

One guy at IMDB says it's difficult to get in the US, but there's also a link posted at the end of his review.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098238/

[Zkribbler]

Thanks BeBro...it looks really good

[molly bloom]

Don't forget 'Danton', with Gerard Depardieu. Great director, too...

[MOBIUS]

We used to play FGU's RPG 'Privateers and Gentlemen' which was set during that era.

We had a very interesting campaign set during the revolution which involved a lot of espionage and smuggling refugees away from the revolution a la Scarlet Pimpernell...

I wonder whatever happened to Ray the GM...?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
I wonder whatever happened to Ray the GM...?

I hope the revolutionaries didn't get him.

[Solomwi]

Zkrib, it's not the fiction you seem to be looking for, but I'd recommend David Bell's "The First Total War," which looks at the role the Revolution and its ideas played in the development of modern warfare. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it right now and it's pretty good.

[Fake Boris]

Quatre-vingt-treize, by Victor Hugo...

[BeBMan]

Not about the French Rev, but one of the best movies playing in the Nappy era is IMO "Waterloo" from 1970 with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer.

I just have to bump this because I recently saw a re-run of it which made me remember how good it was.

[Patroklos]

Try the "Sharpe's" books, more the Napoleonic wars though. They are trash, but fun trash.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by BeBro
Not about the French Rev, but one of the best movies playing in the Nappy era is IMO "Waterloo" from 1970 with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer.

The abdication scene is one of the great acting performances of all times. I would never in a million years thought of casting Steiger as Napolean, but that scene shows why Delaurentis is a millionaire and I'm not.

Try the "Sharpe's" books, more the Napoleonic wars though. They are trash, but fun trash.

God save Ireland, I've read 'em all...even the novelettes like Sharpe's Skirmish and Sharpe's Christmas.

[BlackCat]

Not exactly about the revolution but lots of swashbuckling and strange behaviour (he lived in the period) .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Marryat

[Zkribbler]

I don't have time to real yourl link now, but he's got an incredible story.

Rose to be physician to King Louie, then decided to cross mental-swords with Newton and got his clock cleaned.

Fell from grace. Became a revolutionary. Ended up living in the sewers of Paris. Contracted a vile skin disease. His writings fired the imaginations of French rebels.

He became a revolutionary leader, giving commands from his herbal bath. An accusation was enough to get him to send people to the guillotine. Finally, a young woman from the provinces got fed up with his murderous ways, came to Paris, gained access to him by claiming to have a list of traitors and murdered him in his bathtub.