The Three Musketeers

I really enjoyed this old version of the three musketeers. D'Artagnan was not too well cast but I did enjoy the musketeers. This movie did an excellent job of following the book and showed a vile Milady De Winter. There is a lot of the style of older movies in this one, for instance, the four musketeers do a little singing from time to time, but it's surrivable. I would people who like older movies to give this one a try, it's worth it.

This is quite an interesting version of the 3 Musketeers. It does not follow all of the book, and ends about half way into the book. I thought Walter Abel was great in this version. If you see the 1948 Gene Kelly version, you will note that Kelly definitely copies the Abel look for the hero. Also another great film score. Favorite scenes include, the Assembled body of the Musketeers at their fencing exercises, and the meeting between the Queen her English lover. Action packed, because it is shorter than most versions, and quite stirring.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS is a cheap, 1935 version of the Alexandre Dumas novel made by notorious programmer studio RKO Radio Pictures. Despite the shortness of the running time this is a plodding affair that looks quite dated to the modern eye. The heroes are stiff and wooden and the bad guys straight out of a pantomime.

It is true that the movie has a sufficient period 'look' to it, although a lot of the locations, like the wooded track which carriages run through repeatedly throughout the movie, are re-used. This kind of film was crying out to be made in colour because the vibrant costumes are wasted. The script is lean but lacks decent characterisation although it has to be said the female characters are far better written and more interesting than the male ones and quite alluring at times, particularly Margot Grahame's de Winter.

Sadly, the titular musketeers are both interchangeable and dull and Walter Abel's d'Artagnan is hardly a guy to root for; maybe a sanctimonious fellow you'd like to give a good pasting instead. The sword fights are pretty excruciating and although there are flashes of inspiration here and there (the climactic carriage chase is rather fine) it's not enough to prevent this from being a bore.

Of all the major American and British sound versions of the Dumas classic made up to 1999, this is easily the worst. The trouble is in the casting and the direction. Walter Abel was "introduced" in this film, although he had actually been in films since as far back as 1930, and because this was his first swashbuckling role, the producers didn't know what to make of him. He has none of the dash of Douglas Fairbanks,Don Ameche, Warren William, Cornel Wilde, or even Gene Kelly, and none of the charming awkwardness of Michael York, all of whom have played D'Artagnan in other films.

In fact, Abel gives, in plain English, a bad performance, partly because he is so totally miscast. Film fans will recognize him as one of those actors whom you see often,but never know what their name is. He would give better performances later in his career as worried, nervous managers (in "Holiday Inn") or business executives( i.e. Gregory Peck's boss, who falls memorably out the window to his death in "Mirage"). The other roles are indifferently cast and performed--this could be any one of a hundred B-movies--even the villains,and that's the real problem. A swashbuckler is supposed to be exciting and thrilling,and this one is neither--it's as if director Lee just didn't care.

This is at least the seventh official adaptation I have watched of the archetypal Alexandre Dumas swashbuckler – the others dating from 1921 (Silent), 1939 (semi-musical), 1948 (for my money, the definitive version), 1953 (French), 1963 (Italian spoof) and 1973/1974 (the popular star-studded two-parter); there are still a few more to go, to be sure – including a renowned French Silent serial and a vintage British TV mini-series which I will be getting to shortly – not counting myriad sequels, offshoots and variations! Being the first Talkie rendition and emanating from the golden age of the genre, much was perhaps expected of the outcome – especially since its director had just supplied the best-regarded take on another of the author's classic and oft-filmed adventure tales, namely THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (1934); however, it ended up proving so uninspired that the picture has virtually fallen through the cracks over the years – until the recent dusting off, being an RKO production, via Warners' "Archive Collection"!

While the essence of the narrative is there for the most part, the spirit is sadly lacking (despite a script co-written by Lee and the renowned Dudley Nichols); not surprisingly, it looks fairly good – but the cast is variable to say the least! The worst offenders here are certainly Walter Abel's bland D'Artagnan (he is awkwardly speechless during the opening sequence!) and Paul Lukas' unimposing Athos (with his trademark broken English delivery intact!); the remaining Musketeers are played by Moroni Olsen (a typically rowdy Porthos in his debut) and a young Onslow Stevens (an adequately brooding Aramis) – incidentally, their famous exploits have even yielded a theme tune! The other famous characters are just as unevenly served – with Ian Keith's Count de Rochefort (for the record, he would reprise the role in 1948) and Margot Grahame's Milady de Winter (who bows out not in the traditional manner, i.e. at the mercy of the public executioner, but rather by leaping off a bridge into the river below!) acquitting themselves reasonably well, while Miles Mander as the King and Nigel de Brulier's Cardinal Richelieu (a part he would tackle four times in all, including the 1921 original and two separate versions, made in 1929 and 1939, of Dumas' "The Man In The Iron Mask") barely register here! That said, the fencing by Fred Cavens (a master in his art throughout the genre's heyday) delivers the expected goods...but, as a general rule, the positives are outweighed by the negatives – perhaps never more so than when D'Artagnan engages in drunken singing (with his just-met beloved Constance on one arm and the Queen of France{!} on the other being urged to helpfully join in) to escape the attention of the Cardinal's men after a clandestine night-time rendezvous with the Duke of Buckingham!!