El regreso de los mosqueteros

The Return of the Muketeers marks the reunion of the cast of the best adaptation of Dumas' novel. Here, they take up the story of the sequel, The Twenty Years After. Unfortunately, it would mark the untimely end of the life and wonderful career of actor Roy Kinnear. Ironically, the tragedy is in keeping with the darker tone of the novel.

Spoliers-D'Artagnan is still a lieutenant in the King's Musketeers, his companions having retired to estates and abbeys. D'Artagnan finds himself tasked by Cardinal Mazarin to undermine the rebellion of Beufort and the Frondists. He also finds himself the target of Milady's legacy; her evil daughter.

The film starts out a bit slow, seemingly having trouble finding its footing. It picks up when the other Musketeers enter the picture and as the film progresses. Unfortunately, the tragic accident suffered by Roy Kinnear casts a palor over the ending.

The original cast is as good now as in the original films. Philippe Noiret was a fine addition as Mazarin. Jean-Pierre Cassel returns, this time as Cyrano De Bergerac. Kim Cattrall is a mixed bag; she has some good moments, but her overall performance is lacking. C. Thomas Howell is completely forgettable as Athos' son, Raoul.

Part of the problem with this film is that Mazarin never seems as formidable as Richelieu and Cattrall is a poor caricature of Faye Dunaway. The scheming nature of Aramis is nicely illustrated by Richard Chamberlain, and Frank Finlay provides a wonderful turn as Porthos. Oliver Reed was sliding quickly into the depths of his career at this point, but he has many fine moments.

One wonders if the film would have been better without the tragedy that befell it? Certainly, it affected the actors' performances. Still, the script was a bit lacking and budgetary restraints did hurt as well. It would have been interesting to see the group tackle the final Musketeer installment, The Man in the Iron Mask. They certainly could have improved upon the Randall Wallace version. All-in-all, the film is fine entertainment for a quiet evening or a rainy weekend.

One note of trivia: Philippe Noiret would later play D'Artagnan in Bertrand Tavernier's Revenge of the Musketeers.

French politics always have been a mess. The backdrop of "La Fronde" as the French civil war was known, is difficult to explain. There were no good or bad guys. The country was thrown into confusion and disarray.

The challenge of adapting the second Dumas novel (as well as the third) is that there is no clear cut plot element to hang your hat on. Unlike the race to get the jewels back from the first novel, "Twenty Years Later" is rather episodic and dis-jointed. the musketeers are no longer musketeers and (in the novel) they are not even on the same side of the political fence.

The movie tries. There is an attempt at the levity of the previous two films. The screenwriters attempt to throw in a weird romance between Athos' son Raoul and Lady De Winter's daughter (an evil son in the book). The writers also keep many of the major set pieces from the book (the fire ship plot against the heroes, the execution of Charles I, the escape of the prince of Condé, etc.) but in the end the film has no spirit.

Everyone involved must have dearly wanted to recapture the magic of the first two films. Lester was working under pressure on a television schedule and budget.

In his autobiography Michael York describes how he looked forward to the first day of shooting. The whole thing turned sour when Roy Kinnear had a tragic (and York believes, an unnecessary) accident. Kinnear was asked to ride his horse across a bridge in a long shot and tried to oblige. He fell and was rushed to the hospital where he later passed away. York feels the producers treated Kinnear and his family shabbily.

Any joy the actors may have had going in to the project evaporated after that.

A great hoax circulates about this movie. Unfortunately, we are at a time when there are no principles and the websites copy here and there, without more, without citing provenance, including the supposedly serious ones. And so repeated ends up looking true. On September 18, 1988, during the filming in Toledo, at the great Puente de Alcántara, the actor Roy Kinnear fell from his saddle. He was taken to the hospital in Toledo and was diagnosed with a partial pelvic fracture. Not having a serious prognosis, he was transferred that afternoon to the Ruber clinic in Madrid. The next day, when he was hospitalized, he had a heart attack and died. It is said that Richard Chamberlain, angered by the event, left the shooting. This rumor was fueled by the fact of his brief role in the film. Well, ... IT IS COMPLETELY FALSE. Chamberlain had gladly accepted to participate in the film, but on condition that his already signed commitments were respected. It was filming a few days, until Friday, September 3 in San Lorenzo de El Escorial (nearby Madrid). On September 4, 15 days before the unfortunate event, he set course for Los Angeles. This is reflected in the chronicle of diary La Vanguardia of September 4, 1988.

Spectacular swordplay in lively style in this acceptable version of the classic Dumas novel ¨Twenty years later¨ . Producer Pierre Spengler presents Dumas' exciting story of love and adventure ,¨The four musketeers, Twenty years later¨. For the innumerable times adapted , it's filmed in the greatest splendor , the complete romance , the historical characters, the full novel just as Alexandre Dumas write it . It is packed with comedy , derring-do , intrigue, a love story , action , drama and moving swordplay. An awesome casting and big production shot in Spain make for a fairly amusement swashbuckler . This is the classic version of the Dumas's novel with a handsome Michael York in a brave role as veteran and handsome musketeer , a dashing, audacious lover. This is a slight and acceptable budgeted retelling about the durable Alexandre Dumas's novel with all star cast. This delightful adaptation based on Alexandro Dumas classic novel starts with a mature D'Artagnan who attempts to reunite the remaining Musketeers , the three two-fisted Musketeers , Athos (deliciously performed by Oliver Reed), Porthos(Frank Finlay) and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) . Athos , the old adventurer , fighting to live and living to love , nowadays he has a rollicking son (C. Thomas Howell), Porthos married a rich woman and Aramis as dreary priest . DÁrtagnan invites to unite them in their objective to struggle against guards of astute Cardinal Mazarin (Philippe Noiret), his deputy Rochefort ( Christopher Lee ), and a devious secret agent , the Milady De Winter's daughter ( Kim Cattrall ) who such as his mother is lovely as a jewel, deadly as a dagger the wickedest woman in all Christendom , she seeks vengeance against the Musketeers. Furthermore , there is developed an intrigue between the kid king Luis XIV, Queen Anna of Austria( Geraldine Chaplin), dazzling as her gilded palace for her, men dared a thousand perils ; and of course the nasty Mazarino . The musketeers join forces for royal vengeance and save the queen Anna from machinations from villain Cardinal Mazarin , all of them with the shout : ¨One for all and all for one¨. The Musketeers entangled in a web of treachery and intrigue become involved into historic events as the Fronda riots with the Duke Beaufort (Eusebio Lazaro) and execution of Charles I (Bill Patterson )as King of England by Oliver Cronwell (Alan Howard).

It's a passable take on from the immortal novel with quite budget and breathtaking scenarios .The picture contains rousing action, intrigue , romantic adventure, mayhem and a lot of fence. Entertaining swashbuckling , glamorous gowns by Ivonne Blake and luxurious sets by Oscar winning Gil Parrondo. Sympathetic performances by main star cast as York , Reed , Finlay , Chamberlain and enjoyable secondary cast . Kim Cattrall makes a stunning Milady De Winter's daughter. Comic relief by Roy Kinnear who unfortunately died in an equestrian accident , falling down horse during the production and the film is dedicated at the same . As the marvelous main actors are completed by stellar cast full of classical and veteran players as Roy Kinnear as unforgettable Planchet ,Philippe Noiret , Christopher Lee , Geraldine Chaplin ,Billy Connolly , Jean Pierre Cassel as Cyrano De Bergerac and several others. Atmospheric cinematography by Bernard Lutic though is necessary a fine remastering .This is an entertaining swashbuckling, full of action, adventures,romance comedy with tongue-in-cheek and broad slapdash and of course , lot of fights . This glamorous film was utterly shot in Spain , on location of Aranjuez , Alcazar of Toledo , Studios Roma and Royal Palace (Madrid) and many other places well photographed . Packs an evocative and atmospheric score by Jean Claude Petit . The motion picture is compelling directed by Richard Lester who twenty years before filmed ¨ The three Musqueteers¨and ¨The four Musketeers¨ that were really made simultaneously and with similar artist and technician team . Lush production design is well reflected on the luxurious interiors and exteriors mostly filmed at Madrid and Toledo .

This classy story about the famous ¨Musketeers ¨ is subsequently remade on several versions , firstly take on about this classic is the following : 1921 silent version by Fred Niblo with Douglas Fairbanks and going on the 1935 adaptation by Rowland V Lee with Walter Abel and Paul Lukas ; 1973 amusing version by Richard Lester with Michael York, Oliver Reed and Raquel Welch ; 1993 modern adaptation by Stephen Herek with Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt and Chris O'Donnell, and 2001 rendition by Peter Hyams with Justin Chambers, Mena Suvari and Tim Roth , among others. ¨The return of Musketeers¨ is an amusing and entertaining adaptation of the classy that will appeal to the costumer genre buffs and it results to be an average adaptation with some flaws based on the classic tale and inferior the two former entries much better directed by Richard Lester . The picture failed in Box office and the USA was released (1991) directly to cable-television Rating : 5,5 .

This fun instalment of the Musketeers series (fifteen years after 'The Four Musketeers' was released) reunites the original four cast members (Michael York still looking impossibly young as D'Artagnan, now in the King's army; Oliver Reed on good form as Athos, now with a weedy son Raoul (C Thomas Howell) who really doesn't need to be there; Frank Finlay in a very silly wig as Porthos and still accident prone; and Richard Chamberlain as Aramis, now an Abbe and the Queen's confessor, but ready (eventually) to join in the swordsplay).

Kim Cattrall appears as Justine de Winter, daughter of Milady, and is completely inadequate. Making a return are Christopher Lee as Rochefort, and Roy Kinnear (who died during filming) as long-suffering servant Planchet; and fine additions to the cast include Alan Howard as Oliver Cromwell, Bill Paterson as Charles I, Jean-Pierre Cassell as Cyrano de Bergerac (an idiot who thinks geese will help him fly in a balloon to the moon) and Philippe Noiret as Mazarin.

Is it as good as the 1970s instalments, also directed by Lester? The sword fights are there (and also an hilarious scene involving trapdoors in the rooms of Justine de Winter); there's the usual set of stunts and slapstick; and there's the darker sections - Athos remembering Milady, the execution of Charles I, the young French king imprisoned in the Tower, the gunpowder-laden ship.

For me the cast member who is most memorable (as in the earlier films) is Oliver Reed, in a perfect part which gives him chance to get lots of references to alcohol in there (in one bit son Raoul offers him tea 'a new infusion', which Athos sprays out after a swig when being told there's no alcohol in it!), has him stuck in a castle window, and plummeting into a water tank from the punctured balloon. Aside from the funny bits, he's at home with the serious stuff too - proving yet again that he could act when he wanted to.

There's lots in 'Return of the Musketeers' to brighten your day and it was great to see the boys back for one last fling.