Les fils des mousquetaires

Is "At Sword's Point," a great adventure film?

Well, perhaps not. But it is a great spoof of adventure, and, as a piece of entertainment, it needs no defending.

The sons of the three musketeers rally round their aging Queen of France (Gladys Cooper) to prevent her daughter's marriage to the ambitious Duc De Lavalle (Robert Douglas) and to protect the throne of Young Louis XIV (Peter Miles) from the villainous nobleman...

Caught between beautiful sets, fancy costumes and clashing swords, our reddish-brown haired heroine (Maureen O'Hara) - as Claire, the daughter of Athos, who joins the offspring of the other musketeers - found enough opportunity for romance with the handsome and dynamic Cornel Wilde (expert fencer as D'Artagnan). Maureen's proficiency with the sword gets our attention but not her ability to manage the soft dialogue...

The supporting cast - the tall, distinguished looking Dan O'Herlihy as Aramis & Alan Hales Jr. as Porthos - add a major assets to the picture, photographed in vivid Technicolor...

A hilarious duel climaxes this likable swashbuckling adventure...

This movie is one of my all time favorites! Swashbuckling, funny, adventurous and downright silly at times, it is ALWAYS entertaining to watch.

This is the movie that really made me fall for Maureen O'Hara. Red hair, green eyes, and she swordfights better than any man in this movie! What more could you want?

This movie seems to have brought out the true sense of whimsy in all of the cast. Their grins give them away throughout the movie. They were obviously having a blast. And so do we.

As a French, I have always been amazed by the fact that the Hollywood industry was so much inspired from French novels, myths and legends, French history as weel. Amazed and please too. This movie reminds me my childhood, no matter the factual mistakes, history mistakes. It is colorful, fast paced, beautifully made and acted. Cornel Wilde is excellent in this role. Errol Flynn could have made it too.

This movie was (very) vaguely inspired by the fourth part of Dumas ' novel " Le Vicomte De Bragelonne", which mostly dealt with the young Sun King.

For a French ,it's absolutely impossible to take the historical context seriously : it's true that there was trouble all over the land ,caused by the nobles who challenged the king's absolute power : it was called "La Fronde" :it's true that the young King had to escape from Paris and to take refuge in Fontainebleau .In 1648,however,the queen mother ,Anne D'autriche , was not dying : she did not have a heart condition and she died in 1666 of breast cancer.During her regence,she had strong support from her minister Mazarin (not mentioned here,as an user has already pointed out),who,in the wake of Richelieu, ruled the country and paved a reliable way for the absolute monarchy (which began when he died in 1661).And Anne D'Autriche had no daughter but two sons ,Louis and Philippe : the latter was gay.

Let's forget history .Lewis Allen's swashbuckler has plenty of go ,and Cornell Wilde and majestic Maureen O'Hara make an attractive pairing ; the villain ,the ambitious Duc De La Valle ,a fictious character ,could be one of those rebellious aristocrats (the own king's uncle ,Gaston D'Orléans, was part of the Fronde); As the three/four musketeers were getting old, it was only natural to replace them by their sons ;but the best idea is to introduce a girl (Athos' s daughter) Not only Miss O'Hara wields the sword with gusto (she was carefully taught;see her first appearance) but she proved herself more than useful than a man: a beautiful woman can replace a princess, turn into a servant and seduce a roughneck soldier (the scene when she is told off by her would be husband and lovers is much fun to watch).The screenplay is action-packed , the colors are superb , the film is rather short so there's never a dull moment.

A voice over warns us when the movie begins : this is what could have happened in France............ if fate had not decided otherwise.Well ,decidedly implausible ,but a good entertainment is guaranteed for all.

"At Sword's Point" contains homages to "The Three Musketeers" and some common conventions for such films. Placed in 1648, it starts with Queen Anne of France (Gladys Cooper) worried about threats to her throne and her son's succession to the throne. The Duc de Lavalle (Robert Douglas) is stirring up the nobles, who are circling like sharks. The queen has hidden her young son in a monastery to keep him safe from Lavalle. Since Lavalle is unable to find the prince, he resorts to plan B: he will marry Princess Henriette (Nancy Gates). But Henriette despises him and the queen resists all threats. She attempts to contact Spain for assistance, but all her messengers are killed en route by Lavalle. Time is of the essence, because the queen is sick.

She decides to reach out to her trustworthy four musketeers from the past: Athos, Aramis, Porthos and D'Artagnan. If you have not seen "The Three Musketeers" (1935), you should probably watch that film first. By now the musketeers are older men. Each sends his son in his place, except Athos who sends his daughter Claire (Maureen O'Hara), a fine swordswoman.

This story is full of intrigue, swordplay and clever twists, even if it departs from history. Nods to "The Three Musketeers" include the passing of the father's sword to the son. Also, when the musketeers meet, there is swordplay among them to establish their abilities. (It should be noted that the swordplay and stuntwork in this film is quite good. Maureen O'Hara displays an athleticism that few actresses could match.) Moroni Olsen plays the aged Porthos--the same role he played in the 1935 film.

The film uses the common convention of a woman passing as a man--something that just has to be accepted because there is no way anyone would mistake Maureen O'Hara for a man simply because her hair is under a hat and she is wearing men's breeches.

Shot in Technicolor, this film is a colorful addition to the "Three Musketeers" canon. The acting is solid and the action scenes are worth seeing.