Thirteen years after making this film, in which he played the villainous ruler of a fictitious country called "Lichtenburg" (an obvious combination of the real-life small countries Lichtenstein and Luxemburg), George Sanders played a sympathetic role in the musical film Call Me Madam (1953), also set in "Lichtenburg."
Louis Hayward and George Sanders played the role of Simon Templar, a.k.a. The Saint, in different films.
Released the same year as 20th Century Fox's The Mark of Zorro (1940), both films share the same plot device in which the hero masquerades as a foolish dilletante in order to catch the villain off his guard later.
The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) takes the same name as the unofficial sequel novel to The Count of Monte Cristo, namely The Son of Monte Cristo, written by Jules Lermina in 1881. It is available via Project Gutenberg on their webpage. Using elements from several romantic swashbucklers of the time such as The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) and The Mark of Zorro (1940) the production also mirrors the situation of Continental Europe in 1939-1940.
Jules Lermina (1839-1915) was a French writer. He began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support. He wrote two sequels to the popular classic The Count of Monte-Cristo: Le Fils de Monte-Cristo (1881) (that in English was divided in two books --- The Wife of Monte Cristo and The Son of Monte Cristo) --- and Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885); and Les Mystères de New York [The Mysteries of New York] (1874), also written under the pseudonym of William Cobb.
Jules Lermina (1839-1915) was a French writer. He began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support. He wrote two sequels to the popular classic The Count of Monte-Cristo: Le Fils de Monte-Cristo (1881) (that in English was divided in two books --- The Wife of Monte Cristo and The Son of Monte Cristo) --- and Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885); and Les Mystères de New York [The Mysteries of New York] (1874), also written under the pseudonym of William Cobb.
At the 1942 Academy Awards®, The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) was nominated for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (John DuCasse Schulze and Edward G. Boyle) but the pair lost to How Green Was My Valley (1941).