The Three Musketeers (1948)

With this exceptionally star-studded cast including Gene Kelly, Angela Lansbury, Lana Turner, Van Heflin, June Allyson,Vincent Price, Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Gig Young, John Sutton and Robert Coote, this is the best and wittiest Three Musketeers ever! Fast moving action in glorious Technicolor amply juiced with tongue-in-cheek, this is an action packed picture from the late 1940s that provides great fun for all. One might wonder how the studio got all these stars under the same roof and still managed to make this picture. But, make it they did, with lots of adventure and humor, and some truly death-defying sword play by Gene Kelly as the ingenuous and eager-to-succeed farm boy swordsman D'artagnan (some scenes of which were revisited years later in "Singin' In The Rain"). However, not a song or dance out of Gene in this film, although plenty of stunts and innocently-derived humor abound. Van Heflin, Gig Young and Robert Coote are wonderfully cast as the Three Musketeers who take on D'artagnan as their protegé, and Vincent Price is marvelously malevolent as Cardinal Richlieu. The always outstanding Angela Lansbury shines as the French queen, wife of King Louis XIII, well played by a bumbling Frank Morgan. In one of her few sympathetic rolls, Angela as the Queen is mortifyingly caught in an affair of the heart with handsome John Sutton as the Duke of Buckingham. June Allyson, the Queen's Lady In Waiting, also has eyes for D'artagnan, and the mysterious and dangerous Milady de Winter, nicely essayed by Lana Turner has, along with her cohort Cardinal Richlieu, the blackmail goods on almost everyone. Finally, veteran character actor Keenan Wynn soldiers on as D'artagnan's worry wort valet, in this fast moving tale of lovers, spies and court intrigue. For Three Musketeer lovers everywhere this is a not-to-be missed best film version of this oft produced action packed adventure, and the print on this DVD version is great! Tom sez check it out!

I first saw this film in re-release when I was about ten and have loved it ever since. Gene Kelly is a terrific D'Artagnan. It was his favorite non-musical role and it is easy to see why. His dancer's co-ordination, flexibility and training contribute to make him the perfect swashbuckling hero. His humorous performance makes his character all the more appealing. Vincent Price is perfect as Cardinal Richelieu and Lana Turner is ideal as the villainous Lady De Winter. The production is MGM magnificent, sets, colors, costumes, etc. Not much in the way of extras but the DVD looks great.

Excellent movie fro the golden age of Hollywood. I had to get used to Gene Kelly in the role but he does his own stunts and is very adept with the sword. They squeezed a lot in the time frame of this movie but it is highly entertaining. Lana is a dream in this role and plays it to the hilt, my personal favorite M'lady. The cast is top notch with Vincent Price as the vile Cardinal. I would give it five stars if it came out on Blu ray. Warner needs to put this on Blu ray! They finally did and it was done very well. This movie jumps off the screen in blue ray. The colors are beautiful and the costumes are vivid. Love it.

Too much Gene Kelly dancing for me. It is a swashbuckler flick, not a ballet. Colorful, based on a great tale. I prefer the 1970's double -- THREE MUSKETEERRS and FOUR MUSKETEERS. Yet I confess I prefer above all the 1939 Ritz Brothers version. This one I would rank third, well above the Generation X 1990's effort. Read the novel, it is a fun read cover to cover.

This is a fun film full of action and comedy. The players are wonderful - Gene Kelly as D'Artagnan, Van Heflin as Athos, Gig Young as Porthos, Lana Turner as Milady DeWinter, June Allyson as Constance, Vincent Price as Cardinal Richelieu and more. Kelly is delightfully acrobatic, jumping around as if his legs were coiled springs, swinging on ropes, fencing like a master - he is a joy to watch - he puts Erroll Flynn to shame. Van Heflin and Gig Young are perfect as his comrades - brave, dashing, as well as foolish and impetuous. Lana Turner is the beautiful and dangerous Milady DeWinter who seduces men to achieve the Cardinal's purposes and can be deadly. June Allyson is the virtuous and hapless Constance. Vincent Price is marvelously evil as Cardinal Richelieu - he uses people like chess pieces and even when thwarted he doesn't wish to kill D'Artagnan but to recruit him. The King is Frank Morgan (the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz), a bumbling but good-hearted king who doesn't quite know what is going on. The costumes and sets are breathtaking and the Technicolor is as good as it gets. There are some beautiful exterior actions scenes along the ocean (undoubtedly the Pacific but still gorgeous). It is Kelly who pulls the picture together, however. He seems to be everywhere at once, so full of energy and life. Although he is a bumpkin from Gascony he is more than a match with a sword for any man in Paris be he one of the King's Musketeer or one of the Cardinal's guards. He does quite a lot with his eyes and his facial expressions, a bit overacted occasionally but still quite enjoyable. Lana Turner has top billing and she is deliciously beautiful with a seemingly endless wardrobe of wonderful costumes From the first scene, however, this movie is all Kelly's - it seems a bit odd that he is so good in what is primarily an action film - but have no doubt he is completely convincing as the most athletic and acrobatic D'Artagnan ever seen on the screen - he is a bit like Burt Lancaster in "The Crimson Pirate" but without the trampoline. Van Heflin has the most serious role as the nobleman-turned-drunken musketeer - lamenting the loss of his treacherous wife and then trying to warn D'Artagnan of the danger of Milady, who loves him not and is far more dangerous than any of his swordman adversaries. This is a version of this often-told story where the film makers "got it right" - there is plenty of action, comedy, romance, intrigue, villainy, heartbreak all going on seemingly at once. The characters are portrayed closely to the way they were written by Dumas and this is precisely how they should be played.

If you can look past the fact that the main character D'Artagnan, who is 18 in the novel, is played by Gene Kelly who was 36 when the film was made, you will love this version of The Three Musketeers. Kelly, known for his incredible dancing abilities, brings amazing physicality to the role of the greatest swordsman in all of France. Some of the things that he does in this movie, like jumping 25 feet from a cliff and landing on his feet on a beach, crossing a large open room in a tavern from one corner to the other and reaching the second floor in three steps, and crossing several rooftops using a flag that tears as he swings from one roof to another, are flat out remarkable. The film faithfully follows the book and the fanastic cast includes Vincent Price as the evil Cardinal Richelieu, Frank Morgan (the wizard from the Wizard of Oz) as King Louis XIII, a young and very beautiful Angela Lansbury as Queen Anne, and Lana Turner as the deadly Lady de Winter, among many notable others (like Keenan Wynn, the voice of the Winter Warlock from the Christmas classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). The running time of 2:05 flies by as we follow D'Artagnon from his humble home in a rural village to Paris, meeting (hilariously) his fellow musketeers, to England and back. If you've never seen this film you are in for a real treat. This is a movie that I have watched at least once a year for more than 40 years and I recommend it most highly!!

Very Good Movie

I have loved this version of the Three Musketeers since I was a child. In pre-VCR days, to see an old movie like this, you had to keep scanning the TV Guide and then stay up to watch it on TV. We didn't have a color TV when I was young, so I never saw this in color until I bought it on VHS. WOW Lana Turner is an awesomely evil Milady. Vincent Price was so handsome back then, and always played the evil villain so well. Gene Kelly shows what a superb athlete he was in the many swordfights. His comic leaning shows in the lighthearted way he portrayed D'artagnan. He was so versatile--could sing (but not in this movie), dance, perform his own stunts. Van Heflin is my favorite character in this movie--he is so tortured as Athos. This character was cast and played just the way written by Alexandre Dumas--hard drinking, melancholy, but with a sense of humor. I did not care for the variance from the book in regards to Constance's character. She was not the landlord's niece, but rather his wife. D'artagnan fell in love with and had an affair with a married woman. I understand that Hollywood moral movie standards did not allow for this behavior in "nice" characters. the change was well done. So my biggest beef is why is this wonderful movie not out in wide screen?