Count of Monte Cristo

I was watching the last hollywood version of 'The count of Monte Cristo'. I am not a purist and I do think taking some liberties when you storyboard a massive novel is acceptable. But this is absolute murder. Dumas will turn over in his grave if he ever heard of this.
And to call it a travesty is an understatement. It was nothing more than a sentimental tearjerker and I almost thought in the midway Dantes is gonna runaway with Countess Mondego and cause a scandal. I didn't watch it till the end for fear that I might lose all my love for the novel and puke as well.
I like - rather love - the book 'The Count of Monte Cristo' because though it runs for over a 1000 pages, it works in many levels as a novel. It is a tragic love story, a story of redemption and a revenge most gruesome in every way and a fantastic action thriller. I have about 3-4 copies of this book and have read the Oxford world classics version 7-8 times.
The revenge in the book is very subtle and the Count works under various guises for a lot of time to achieve what he wanted and then starts wondering whether it is what he wanted. It puts the conflict in the justification of the revenge and the consequences of the same. For me each of the guises, Abbe Faria, Lord Wilmore, The Count are manifestations of the same person at odds with himself and trying to express his case.
One of my early memories is reading this book in Tamil when it was published in the Paico classics series. After that, I read multiple versions of it in different abridged versions and complete ones and settled on the Oxford version about 10 years back. This is just one bad movie trying to destroy my love for the book and I wont stand for it.
The one movie version which I love is in French and I believe is dubbed in English. But anyway, I got the DVD in French as it feels more authentic. It is a 6 hour version with Gerard Depardieu as Edmond Dantes and the beautiful Ornella Muti as Mercedes. It is an amazingly done version and it captivates you till the end. If you have to watch it on DVD, watch this one.