Review of The Three Musketeers (1948) by Ian C — 01 Dec 2008

One of the overlooked swashbucklers of Hollywood's Golden Age, this is probably the most faithful adaptation of Dumas's classic novel in terms of plot and story structure. The most prominent changes are Richelieu being a prime minister instead of a cardinal (so as not to offend Catholics), Constance Bonacieux having a larger role, and a couple of extra swordfights. Other than that, it's a pretty direct adaptation.

Gene Kelly makes a believable d'Artagnan. He's brash and reckless when he needs to be, brooding and tormented in the heavier scenes, and he's a pretty decent screen swordsman. Some of the stunts he pulls off in this flick would make Jackie Chan proud - and I don't say that lightly. It's no wonder Kelley considered this film to be his favorite non-musical role (this is the same guy who starred in "Singin' In The Rain"). He's clearly having a lot of fun playing the swashbuckler hero, and it does a lot to energize the movie. It's a shame he didn't do more movies like this one.

As for the rest of the cast, the iconic Vincent Price is delightfully devious as Richelieu, without overdoing it or being a truly evil character like the Countess de Winter, a role Lana Turner mostly does justice to. June Allyson is a mixture of sweetness and strength as Constance, and she gets more screentime than in the novel. Van Heflin has some great dialogue as Athos, but his delivery is rather wooden, which is a shame.

The pacing is the movie's biggest problem - the first half is one exciting action scene after another, and the second half is dark and dramatic, with barely a sword drawn until the end. We can't really blame the movie for this, since the novel's the same way, but people who haven't read the book might find it pretty jarring.

The action scenes are quite impressive, especially for their day, and I'd have hated to be a stuntman in this flick. Besides the tons of swordplay, the leaps and the falls the stuntmen do are extremely impressive - when you see someone do a 20 foot fall and get back up, you see it in its entirety without any cutting away. I've rarely seen stunts like this outside of old-school Hong Kong movies, and those alone make this movie noteworthy.

It's not the greatest of movies ever made, nor even the greatest of swashbucklers, but it does more credit to the original novel than any other (even the 1993 Disney version, which is a favorite of mine), and it's a well-made period piece. Fans of the genre will certainly like it.