The Three Musketeers (1948)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Alexandre Dumas père (novel)
Robert Ardrey (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 October 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

Mightiest of All Romantic Adventures! ...Storming it's way to the screen with unbelievable excitement!

Plot:

D'Artagnan and his musketeer comrades thwart the plans of Royal Prime Minister Richelieu to usurp the King's power.

Plot Keywords:

Musketeer | Prime Minister | Friendship | Beautiful Woman | Treachery

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Lana Turner	...	Lady de Winter / Charlotte
Gene Kelly	...	D'Artagnan
June Allyson	...	Constance
Van Heflin	...	Athos / Robert
Angela Lansbury	...	Queen Anne
Frank Morgan	...	King Louis XIII
Vincent Price	...	Richelieu
Keenan Wynn	...	Planchet
John Sutton	...	The Duke of Buckingham
Gig Young	...	Porthos
Robert Coote	...	Aramis
Reginald Owen	...	Treville
Ian Keith	...	Rochefort
Patricia Medina	...	Kitty
Richard Wyler	...	Albert (as Richard Stapley)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kirk Alyn	...	Aramis' Friend (uncredited)
Gregg Barton	...	Musketeer (uncredited)
Charles Bates	...	D'Artagnan's Brother (uncredited)
Wilson Benge	...	Valet (uncredited)
David Blair	...	D'Artagnan's Brother (uncredited)
Gordon Clark	...	Musketeer (uncredited)
Fred Coby	...	Musketeer (uncredited)
Dickie Dubins	...	D'Artagnan's Brother (uncredited)
William Edmunds	...	Innkeeper-Landlord (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Bonacieux, Landlord (uncredited)
Sol Gorss	...	Jussac (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Executioner of Lyons (uncredited)
Jean Heremans	...	Cardinal Guard (uncredited)
Arthur Hohl	...	Dragon Rouge Host (uncredited)
John Holland	...	Aramis' Friend (uncredited)
Burt Kennedy	...	Fencer (uncredited)
Michael Kostrick	...	Traveler (uncredited)
Norman Leavitt	...	Mousqueton (uncredited)
Paul Maxey	...	Major Domo (uncredited)
Francis McDonald	...	Fisherman (uncredited)
Alberto Morin	...	Bazin (uncredited)
Leonard Penn	...	Musketeer (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	...	Felton (uncredited)
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Grimaud (uncredited)
Ruth Robinson	...	D'Artagnan's Mother (uncredited)
Carl Saxe	...	Guard (uncredited)
Irene Seidner	...	Innkeeper-Landlord's Wife (uncredited)
Reginald Sheffield	...	Subaltern (uncredited)
Dick Simmons	...	Count de Wardes (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson	...	Executioner (uncredited)
David Thursby	...	Innkeeper (uncredited)
Tom Tyler	...	First Traveller (uncredited)
Robert Warwick	...	D'Artagnan Sr. (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Kidnapper (uncredited)
Marie Windsor	...	Queen Anne's Lady-in-waiting (uncredited)

Directed by
George Sidney

Writing credits
Alexandre Dumas père		(novel "Les trois mousquetaires") (as Alexandre Dumas)
Robert Ardrey		(screenplay)

Produced by
Pandro S. Berman	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart

Cinematography by
Robert H. Planck		(director of photography) (as Robert Planck)

Film Editing by
George Boemler
Robert Kern		(as Robert J. Kern)

Art Direction by
Malcolm Brown
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Walter Plunkett

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer
Larry Germain	....	hair designer
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair designer

Production Management
Edward Woehler	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Rhein	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Henry Grace	....	associate set decorator (as Henry W. Grace)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director
Conrad Kahn	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Stunts
Sol Gorss	....	stunts (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jean Heremans	....	stunts (uncredited)
Burt Kennedy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Frank McGrath	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rex Rossi	....	stunts (uncredited)
Russell Saunders	....	stunt double: Gene Kelly (uncredited)
Carl Saxe	....	stunts (uncredited)
David Sharpe	....	stunt double: Gene Kelly (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ed Hubbell	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Thomas Long	....	grip (uncredited)
Harkness Smith	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Charles Previn	....	conductor
Albert Sendrey	....	orchestral collaboration
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	....	composer: themes
Albert Sendrey	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Peter Ballbusch	....	montage sequence
Henri Jaffa	....	associate technicolor color director
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color director
Raphael Bretton	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Jean Heremans	....	consultant: fencing (uncredited)
Gene Kelly	....	choreographer (uncredited)
Tess Primock	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1948) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | West Germany:12 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Lana Turner's first appearance in a color feature.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Over the first hour of the movie, Countess de Winter's mole is below and to the left of her mouth. When Richelieu introduces her to D'Artagnan, her mole is below and to the right of her right eye. When she breaks a mirror several minutes later, she has no mole at all. She then gets dressed and meets D'Artagnan in her parlor without a mole. During their conversation, it reappears near her right eye. When they start wrestling, the mole is again missing. The mole appears, disappears and moves throughout the movie. However, during this time, among the French upper class, women sometimes added a phony mole (or beauty mark) when applying their facial cosmetics.

Quotes:

Richelieu: It takes a good man to prevent a catastrophe, Milady, and a great man to make use of one.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Surprisingly successful Dumas rewrite

The true test of a filmed version of a famous novel is not how close the action is to the plot of the book - it's whether it's faithful to the spirit of the original, and above all, whether it *works*. I didn't think casting Gene Kelly as a non-singing, non-dancing D'Artagnan would work: it does. I didn't think censoring the religious references to suit the US market would work - it does. I didn't think this could possibly rival the 1974 Lester/Macdonald Fraser version... well, I'm still not sure about that one, but it's an unexpectedly close call.

Without any question, the outstanding performance in this film is that of Gene Kelly. His athleticism, unsurprisingly, is marvellous, his swordplay is dazzling - but most importantly, as an actor his characterization of the impetuous, susceptible, hot-headed but good-hearted young Gascon is spot on the mark. He plays the part with a humour and charm that leave us likewise loving and laughing in his wake, and the only character with a chance of upstaging him is that truly preposterous yellow horse... a piece of type-casting if ever I saw one!

Perhaps the most disappointing performance, in contrast, is Van Heflin as Athos, the high-minded musketeer who drinks to find oblivion from a dark secret in his past. This Athos is a sullen peasant rather than a tragic nobleman, perhaps because the scriptwriters chose to demote him from Comte to Baron de la Fere. He has none of the charisma that should have been brought to the part, and it's often hard to understand why his three companions put up with him.

The fight scenes are excellently staged, as is to be expected in a precursor of 'Scaramouche', but I personally did feel that they went on for a little too long. Likewise, Anne of Austria was wonderfully imperious, but not as beautiful as the legend would have her. Constance Bonancieux, by contrast, gets a much larger part in this version than in Dumas' novel - and a somewhat less sleazy relationship with the young lodger - and makes the most of it.

The pivotal change in the plot during Milady's stay in England features Constance to a large extent, and is in my opinion actually very effective. The fact that even those of us who know the source material inside out have no idea *how* the inevitable is going to happen increases the tension enormously, and the change of emphasis to the relationship between the two women, rather than the seductive act we have seen several times before, gives both actresses a fresh chance to shine.

Richelieu, shorn of his Cardinal's title to avoid Church offence, has relatively little to do in this version, and D'Artagnan's nemesis Rochefort barely appears at all, though both actors make the most of what screen time they have. There is an effective scene at the end (again, owing nothing to Dumas) where Richelieu reminds the King of his dominion as the power behind the throne, only to save face in a graceful manoeuvre as Louis XIII temporarily asserts himself: we are quite certain that the King will soon be back under his thumb.

Overall, I was very impressed by the way in which this film captured the roistering, sometimes raucous, sometimes melodramatic spirit of its source material. Reading other people's comments about the silent version starring Douglas Fairbanks, I only wish I were likely to get the chance to see that as well!