Les trois mousquetaires

Impoverished nobleman Douglas Fairbanks (as D'Artagnan)'s greatest ambition is to join the King's royal swordsmen, "The Three Musketeers". And, after impressing the three best swordsmen in Paris, Mr. Fairbanks becomes their fourth blade. He also finds love, with Marguerite De La Motte (as Constance), and much palace intrigue. Nigel de Brulier (as Cardinal Richelieu) makes life particularly irksome, involving Fairbanks and friends in schemes against weak a King Adolphe Menjou (as Louis XIII), and his unfaithful Queen Mary MacLaren (as Anne).

Alexandre Dumas' classic is a perfect vehicle for Fairbanks; who, after the success of his "Zorro", struck box office gold with a series of classy audience pleasing productions. While this is not the best "Musketeers" movie, it's certainly true that Fairbanks' 1920s films had an indelible impact upon subsequent adaptations. Fairbanks, through the force of his personality, didn't so much "play" characters like "D'Artagnan" as much as he made the characters play him.

Fred Niblo (director) and Arthur Edeson (photographer) create a great swashbuckling atmosphere. Nigel de Brulier steals the acting honors, with his cunning, cat-stroking "Richelieu"; the best supporting player will reprise his role in a trio of additional "Musketeers" films, including the superior Fairbanks sequel "The Iron Mask" (1929). Pretty "leading lady" De La Motte (from "Zorro") and others will also return. After all, it is... "All for one and one for all."

******* The Three Musketeers (8/28/21) Fred Niblo ~ Douglas Fairbanks, Nigel de Brulier, Marguerite De La Motte

What you see at this point in cinema's history is the maturing of various formulas once considered frivolous. Griffith had done it in the mid-teens with dramatic film-making as a whole. Chaplin's The Kid had shown how slapstick could be melded with powerful storytelling. And now it was the turn of Douglas Fairbanks to develop his unique brand of adventure comedies into the realm of grand mythmaking.

Fairbanks had already reinvented his screen persona with the groundbreaking Mark of Zorro, transferring his over-the-top athleticism and comic timing to the world of romantic adventure. Mark of Zorro is amazing, but it is also something of an experiment; not too extravagant and quite straightforward in storyline. After the success of Zorro, his confidence bolstered (not to mention his coffers a little fuller), Fairbanks made his follow-up The Three Musketeers a far more lavish production, as well as allowing more time for characterisation and subplot. In other words, this was an attempt to move beyond simple genre antics and present a swashbuckler that was also a sweeping historical epic.

The broader canvas of The Three Musketeers allows for greater freedom of expression for its director Fred Niblo, who had also filmed Zorro. Niblo was an expert at balancing rhythm and motion in crowd scenes, but was also a great dramatic director. Here he gets to show off both these abilities, providing a realistic and constantly moving backdrop with the masses of extras at his disposal, yet also allowing the more emotional scenes to play out at a steady pace, giving them dignity and bringing out naturalism in the performances. He still recognises however that this is first and foremost an action picture. He gives a unique look to every action shot, sometimes putting figures in the background, other times foregrounding them, sometimes having them move towards the camera, other times across the frame. A great shot is the one in which Fairbanks steals food from the cardinal troops. The guards are placed in the foreground at the right of the frame; Fairbanks appears on the left in the background. This arrangement focuses us on Fairbanks, and the depth of his position also allows him room to do his stunts without having to move the camera or change angle.

Like Chaplin, Fairbanks always ensured that he was the star of the show and centre of attention, but in this more generous production he does allow some room for great supporting players, confident that they will make the picture more enjoyable without stealing it. Of note here are George Siegmann (Porthos), who can mostly be seen playing villains for Griffith, but here gets to show off his comedy skills - check out the casual way he wipes his sword and saunters off after dispatching a guard - and Eugene Palette (Aramis), also a great comedy player, and worth mentioning simply because it's interesting to see him without the huge belly he had acquired by his 30s heyday. Other than that Adolphe Menjou is great as usual, although he expresses far too much confidence and smugness for the puppet monarch he portrays. Fairbanks's regular leading lady Marguerite De La Motte is not bad, getting a little more time and space to show her acting range than she did in Mark of Zorro.

Still, there is a problem with The Three Musketeers, one which arises from its larger scale and dramatic pretensions - it's a bit slow. The screenplay goes to lengths to allow Fairbanks's character to gradually emerge, and takes time to set the scene, which is all fair enough, except that this is done at the expense of pacing. The first ten minutes are used up establishing the political intrigue, and it's a full thirty-eight minutes before we get to the first real action sequence. While I agree it's a good idea to keep us in suspense before showing off D'Artagnan's fighting skills, the build-up would work much better if we were treated to a small burst of action at the beginning - a "hook", screenwriters call it. Also the best fight scenes are weighted to the middle of the story, robbing the picture of a satisfying finale. The Mark of Zorro, although it is far more simplistic, at least has a continuous frenetic pace that makes it extremely watchable. Nevertheless, The Three Musketeers did settle once and for all the character of Doug Fairbanks, a character that was the same no matter what name it went by - that of the mythical, ever-living hero.

This light but enjoyable version of the often-filmed story of "The Three Musketeers" also offers Douglas Fairbanks plenty of material that plays to his best strengths. While he made several other movies that had more substance to them than this one does, the role of D'Artagnan is one of the roles that was best suited to his talents.

The adaptation of the Dumas novel considerably abridges both the story and the characters. It does not really attempt to deal with many of the themes of the book, instead concentrating on the parts with the most action and suspense. In itself, this results in a perfectly entertaining movie with plenty of things going on. But to enjoy it, you do have to set aside any expectation that the movie might come up to the book's standard (which in any case would be a difficult goal for a normal-length film feature to accomplish).

Fairbanks revels both in his early scenes as the ambitious young Gascon and in the rest of his sequences as the companion of the Musketeers. He also gets lots of help from the supporting cast. Nigel De Brulier has probably his best role as Cardinal Richelieu (a role he would also play in several later movies), with the austere, reserved Cardinal providing an ideal match for De Brulier's style. Marguerite De La Motte is appealing as Constance, and Barbara La Marr makes Milady de Winter a worthy adversary.

Everything fits together pretty well, and while this film version is much lighter than the novel, it succeeds at what it intended to do.

I think how much you'll enjoy the film will be impacted on how closely you want the film to follow the book (which it doesn't) as well as whether or not you've seen many of Douglas Fairbanks' films. What I mean by the latter is that I think my expectations were way too high for this movie because I expected a VERY physical and athletic film--but it wasn't. This was a HUGE surprise because Fairbanks was known for his amazing stunts--such as in "Thief of Bagdad" or "The Mark of Zorro". I expected to see his great leaps and bounds--but there just weren't very many athletic scenes. Now this is NOT to say that it's a bad film--it's still pretty good. It's just that I think it could have been a lot better. Enjoyable but not among the actor's best films--though the costumes and sets were pretty amazing for 1921.

By the way, the version I saw was the one in the public domain that is linked to IMDb. Oddly, this version has reversed the last two reels of the film!! In other words, it ends and then continues! I am not sure if you can find a corrected version or not.

First version based on Alexandre Dumas' classic yarn of intrigue at the 17th century French court . Entertaining and fun version based on the classic Dumas novel with an intrepid Douglas Fairbanks. Spectacular swordplay in nifty style , this is the first and superior version of the classic Dumas novel set in 17th Century France . Alexandre Dumas's source for his novel was a book by 19th-century writer Courtils de Sandraz, which was purporting to be D'Artagnan's biography; the Musketeers were actually real people, not fictional characters created by Dumas . Producer and actor Douglas Fairbanks presents Dumas' exciting story of love and adventure , ¨The three musketeers¨ . For this silent rendition is adapted 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 silent casting and big-budgeted production shot in Hollywood Studios and location make for a fairly amusement swashbuckler . This is the classic version of the Dumas's novel with a fine cast headed by handsome Douglas Fairbanks as D'Artagnan in a brave role as a young and handsome soldier of fortune , a dashing , audacious lover and nimble athlete . He is accompanied by Leon Bary as Athos , George Siegmann as Porthos and the notorious secondary actor Eugene Palette as Aramis and of course the nasty Milady Winter compellingly played by Barbara La Marr . This delightful adaptation based on Alexandre Dumas classic novel starts with the youngster D'Artagnan who arrives in Paris to find Mister Treville , chief of Musketeers. But he meets with three two-fisted Musketeers , Athos, a rollicking adventurer , fighting to live and living to love , Porthos and Aramis . DÁrtagnan to be aware they are Musketeers and is invited to unite them in their objective to struggle against guards of Cardinal Richelieu well performed by Nigel De Brulier and the astute Milady De Winter who is lovely as a jewel, deadly as a dagger the wickedest woman in all Christendom . Meanwhile, D'Artagnan falls in love with a gorgeous young , Constance , she is a golden-haired beauty entangled in a web of treachery and intrigue. Furthermore , there is developed an intrigue between Luis XIII , the prestigious actor Adolphe Menjou , Queen Anne of Austria : Mary McLaren , dazzling as her gilded palace for her, men dared a thousand perils , and Duke of Buckingham ; and of course the nasty Richelieu , as evil as ever . The musketeers join forces for royal vengeance with the shout : ¨One for all and all for one¨. Then , the musketeers whose friendship has become a legend to stir the hearts of men and shouting their slogan set out to help the Queen . Straightforward as well as gallant D'Artagnan and the three musketeers scheme a plan to save her , clashing against a malicious Richelieu .

It's a nice rendition from the immortal novel with pretty budget and breathtaking scenarios . The picture contains rousing action , plenty of crashing , intrigue , romantic adventure , romance , treachery mayhem and a lot of fence . Amusing swashbuckling with lavish production , glamorous gowns and luxurious sets . Furthermore , a vein of humour is evident here , though sometimes falling flat . For this movie itself , though , energetic and frantic are the best adjectives you could think of to describe its attraction . Charming Douglas Fairbanks steals the show when he bounds and leaps , hits and run ; in addition he is the screenwriter of this rollicking adventure . Fairbanks executes athletic feats , moving sword-play and spectacular acrobatics similarly he demonstrated in other classics such as The Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), Three musketeers , Don Q Son of Zorro , The gaucho , The Taming of the Shrew , among others . Douglas performed most of the stunts in his films himself . He was an excellent athlete and used his physical abilities to his best advantage . Adequate cinematography in black and white stunningly showed on the splendorous images . Glamorous production design is well reflected on the luxurious interiors and exteriors stunningly filmed . The motion picture was professionally realized by Fred Niblo (Ben Hur). This cool filmmaker provided visual style , comedy , fencing , drama , clangorous action in equal proportions . It's followed by a second part : ¨The iron mask¨ (1929) by Allan Dwan and again with Douglas Fairbanks , Margueritte De La Motta and Nigel De Brulier who plays Cardinal Richelieu,he would also play the role in the 1935 film of the same name ; in addition, the 1939 film "The Man in the Iron Mask."

This classy story is subsequently remade on several versions , firstly take on about this classic is the following : 1935 adaptation by Rowland V. Lee with Walter Abel and Paul Lukas ; it is followed by the MGM classic version in musical style by George Sidney with Gene Kelly , Paul Lukas , Gig Young , Vincent Price , Frank Morgan and Lana Turner as Milady ; 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 last rendition (2011) was starred by Matthew Macfadyen , Milla Jovovich , Luke Evans , Ray Stevenson and Logan Lerman. ¨The three Musketeers¨ is an outstanding and entertaining adaptation of the classy that will appeal to the costumer genre buffs and it results to be a good adaptation with big budget based on the classic tale .