Affair of the Diamond Necklace (2001) A shot of a rack of newspapers, Journal de Paris, one numbered Numero 173, one dated 15 Août 1791, and one dated Août 1794, with an actual period depiction of Cagliostro. In a voice over, Christopher Walken, as Cagliostro, is introduced erroneously: "He is Grand Master of the Illuminati, the German mystic elite." The events of this affair occurred in 1785 while the first edicts for the suppression of the Bavarian Illuminati had been issued in 1784. Although Cagliostro was claimed by the Inquisition of Rome to have been commissioned by the "Grand Masters of the Illuminati", and the Abbé Barruel reports Starcke’s accusation that Cagliostro was commissioned in Paris by the Lodge Amis Rèunis, Cagliostro’s name does not appear in any of Weishaupt or Knigge’s published papers. Inventor of "Egyptian Freemasonry, the character of Cagliostro in this movie displays none of the symbols of Freemasonry. Jonathan Pryce, as Cardinal de Rohan, bishop of Strasbourg, has a cabinet with decorations which may be considered masonic. Hilary Swank, Jonathan Pryce, Adrien Brody, Brian Cox, Joely Richardson, Christopher Walken. Directed by Charles Shyer, written by John Sweet. Drama R 117 min., USA, English. Technicolor.

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