I tre moschettieri

Boy is this thing all over the place. Sumptous to be sure it has the MGM touch in spades as far as lavishness goes but an inconsistent tone and some terrible casting choices.

The good-Vincent Price and Lana Turner are perfect in their roles with Lana looking astonishing in some beautiful and some ridiculous costumes. Angela Lansbury, wasted playing Queen Anne, campaigned for the role of Milady; in hindsight it seems incredible that Mayer said no, how great and truly evil she could have been but Lana was a huge star at the time and she is silkily wicked so no real harm was done to the film. June Allyson may not have been the ideal choice but she doesn't disgrace herself as Constance.

The average-Van Heflin, Gig Young and Richard Coote are merely adequate as the musketeers and while Frank Morgan is always a welcome sight he is just so wrong as the king of France.

The bad-Gene Kelly as d'Artagnan, and very bad he is, of course he handles the sword fighting episodes well with a dancers grace. It's his over eager and downright dreadful line readings and reactions that are painful and irritating to watch. Whenever he is on screen the movie stops dead in it's tracks. A very mixed bag.

Gene Kelly's athleticism which is usually on full display in his musical films is given full reign in MGM's big budget adaption of The Three Musketeers, a tale very often told on the big screen. Personally I don't think the movies ever got it quite right, especially when none of the three best actors suited to play D'Artagnan, Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. never got a crack it on the big screen.

The Seventies had an all star epic filming of the Alexandre Dumas classic, but I'm betting that Richard Lester so wished he had all his players under contract to the same studio as Louis B. Mayer did. Look down the cast list, Mayer barely went outside his studio for a player.

I don't think I have to relate any of the plot, one of the most familiar in the world. Gene Kelly fresh off the farm from Gascony with the usual bumptiousness associated with folks from that area of France gets himself in hot water with three Musketeers of the King's personal guard Van Heflin, Gig Young, and Robert Coote. But before fighting any duels with them all three join forces to defeat and send packing some of Cardinal Richelieu's guards. The other three like Kelly's style and he's a musketeer from then on.

That particular duel is choreographed as Kelly would do in any of his numbers in his musicals. It's so good I expected a song to be coming forth almost any minute. This is where Kelly the dancer and choreographer gets to shine.

The rest of the cast is of high quality with Frank Morgan as King Louis XIII, Angela Lansbury as Queen Anne of Austria, Vincent Price as the clever Richelieu, Ian Keith as Price's attack dog Rochefort, Lana Turner as Milady DeWinter who attacks in other ways for Richelieu, June Allyson who's a little too much like her Americanized girl next door as Constance for my taste, John Sutton as the English Prime Minister the Duke of Buckingham, and Keenan Wynn as the loyal if not too bright servant of D'Artagnan.

Milady DeWinter is one of the most evil women in literature and Lana Turner was up to the job. Watching her it's like she channeled back her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice for this role.

I was curious however that I could find no reference in the film to Richelieu being a Cardinal. In the film he's simply referred to as Richelieu. Note there is no trace of any clerical garb on Vincent Price. My guess is that MGM didn't want to offend the Catholic Church by having a prince of said church shown as the villain. Also as the Cold War was going into deep freeze, Pius XII and his church were seen as an anti-Communist bulwark.

Though I wish that one of the three stars I cited above had ever gotten to play D'Artagnan, The Three Musketeers from MGM in 1948 is not a bad version and Gene Kelly's fans will enjoy it immensely.

Still a spectacular and fun movie and an adaption of the work by Alexandre Dumas that got the spirit of the writings. The cast with Gene Kelly, Lana Turner and Vincent Price among others is superb. Still a movie to dream and one of my favorites regarding the adventures of D'Artagnan. Athos, Aramis and Porthos. Top movie for the whole family.

While there have been many versions of the THREE MUSKETEERS, this is my very favorite thanks to wonderful writing, acting and cinematography. I just love the incredibly vivid colors of the 1940s Technicolor and this is perhaps the best example of this type of color film that emphasized very bright primary colors--more intense than real life but perfect for showy spectacles like this.

The film begins with Gene Kelly (as D'Artagnon) heading to Paris and accidentally insulting each of the three musketeers. He is challenged to all three to a duel, but the duels are cut short by the troops of the evil Cardinal Richelieu. Then, the story takes off and the intrigue begins.

The film is a perfect example of the "full MGM treatment"--top production values, crisp writing, excellent direction and the best ensemble cast around. See it and have a ball. If you don't, you must be dead.

"The Three Musketeers" is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel of the same name. The film features sweeping scenes, bright costumes and classical themes. Gene Kelly does well in an energetic performance as D'Artagnan. The rest of the cast is solid as well, particularly Lana Turner and Vincent Price as the scheming villains.

The film features a number of sword fights which are well staged, but become repetitive. The filmmakers tried to balance the action scenes with the intrigue of Dumas' novel. This was welcome, but I found the film had tedious stretches and didn't completely capture the excitement of the novel.