First of all, this film has nothing to do with Alexandre Dumas' great novel, which takes place entirely in Holland in the 17th century and mainly is about cultivating tulips, which was a craze in Holland at that time. In the novel they struggled with the challenge of bringing forth an entirely black tulip, which is botanically impossible. Here they present black tulips galore, as if they grew in thousands, like another signature of another scarlet pimpernel, which underscores the aburdity of the script of this film, which is practically all nonsense with great sequences of sword-fighting, colourful rides and excursions, great chases on horseback, plenty of romantic flirts and courting and a thronged mess of general fighting. The colours and cinematography is outstanding like the dazzling show-off of brilliant French theatre and diction, but the script is just awful, all characters being casually superficial and disturbingly cynical, with only Akim Tamiroff standing out as something of an original character, but you are never informed of why and how he was ultimately hanged. This is casual superficial entertainment in dashing colours and swashbuckling splendour but nothing else, with no realism and no link with reality at all. Pity, because Christian-Jacque made some of the most brilliant costume films of France, the greatest being perhaps "Fanfan la Tulipe" 1952 with Gerard Philippe and Gina Lollobrigida, which was much more ingenious and original.

In 1789, in France, the outlaw The Black Tulip (Alain Delon) is a thief that steals the nobles for himself; however the poor people believes he is a revolutionary. He is indeed the womanized and dull Count Guillaume de Saint Preux, who has a love affair with the married Marquise Catherine de Vigogne (Dawn Addams). When the Chief of Police Baron La Mouche (Adolfo Marsillach) plans a scheme to arrest The Black Tulip, the bandit is marked by a scar on the face and La Mouche suspects Guillaume might be The Black Tulip. However Guillaume summons his clumsy and idealistic younger brother Julien de Saint Preux to pose as if were him to lure La Mouche. Meanwhile Julien meets the bride Caroline "Carol" Plantin (Virna Lisi), who is a revolutionary, and they fall in love with each other. When Julien learns that his brother does not have any principles or ideal, he assumes Guillaume identity and The Black Tulip to support Plantin (Francis Blanche) and his group in the revolution. Will they succeed?

"La tulipe noire", a.k.a. "The Black Tulip", is an entertaining adventure of a Zorro-like anti-hero. The plot is very funny until the point when Julien is arrested. Guillaume's sacrifice is silly and the conclusion is awful and messy, with Julien celebrating the revolution with Caroline and totally forgetting his brother and his body.My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Tulipa Negra" ("The Black Tulip")