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Title: The Three Musketeers (1933)
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Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
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Jack Mulhall | ... |
Clancy
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Raymond Hatton | ... |
Renard
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Ralph Bushman | ... |
Dutch Schmidt
(as Francis X. Bushman Jr.)
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| John Wayne | ... | ||
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Ruth Hall | ... |
Elaine Corday
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| Lon Chaney Jr. | ... |
Lt. Armand Corday [Chs. 1, 10]
(as Creighton Chaney)
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Hooper Atchley | ... |
El Kadur
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Gordon De Main | ... |
Colonel Duval
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Robert Frazer | ... |
Major Booth, USA
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| Noah Beery Jr. | ... |
Noah Stubbs [Chs. 1-2, 10]
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Al Ferguson | ... |
Ali
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Edward Peil Sr. | ... |
Leon Ratkin
(as Edward Piel)
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William Desmond | ... |
Captain Boncour
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George Magrill | ... |
El Maghreb
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Robert Warwick | ... |
Col. Brent, USA [Ch. 1]
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Storyline
American aviator Tom Wayne (John Wayne)and his co-pilot, Stubbs (Noah Beery Jr.)are flying over an African desert when they see trouble below...Arab bandits are attacking three troopers of the French Foreign Legion. Using the machine gun mounted on his airplane, Wayne quickly stops the Arab attack. The rescued Legionaires---Clancy (Jack Mulhall), Renard (Raymond Hatton) and Dutch Schmidt (Ralph Bushman)introduce themselves as "The Three Musketeers." They inform Wayne that the attackers were followers of "The Devil's Circle," a fanatic cult out to destroy the Foreign Legion by gun-running and insurrection. The cult's leader is El Shaitan, a masked man whose real identity is known to none. Wayne is drawn into the fight through the encouragement of his new friends, and a call for help from an old friend, Armand Corday (Lon Chaney Jr.), who has been duped into The Devil's Circle, but is trying to break away. But Armand, is killed by an assassin before he can tell what he knows about the ... Written by Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Alas, this is more interesting than enjoyable.
The script is rather muddled, and, despite a high-quality cast, the acting is ... well, to be polite, lacking.
Some of those good ol' country boys just do not make very convincing Arabs. (But they sure are good cowboys.)
John Wayne is today usually billed as the star, but he was listed fourth in the credits and was still relatively new in Hollywood at the time of the release. Even then he was showing the charm that would make him a star.
A tighter script and better directing should have made this a classic serial, but they are missing.
Still, this is one to see if only for the historical value.
Let me warn you: The DVD sold by the apparently dishonest and dishonorable Digiview company is more advertising for the company's other wares than a good presentation of this serial. There are only four of the 12 chapters, and I think the company is guilty of theft and fraud.
The picture seems to be ninth or tenth generation, and the sound is equally bad.
I urge everyone not to buy any product from Digiview.
(((This is an added note: After reading my comments here, a person wrote me that Digiview usually provides a buyer with value for the money. I was told "The Three Musketeers" is not typical fare from the company. I will leave my comment, above, but am happy to make this notation that Digiview, http://www.digiviewus.com, apparently is a company to buy from.)))
This is a long overdue update: Digiview does indeed include the complete serial. All the chapters are there. They are there in TWO DISCS, but the jerky retailer from whom I bought my copy had only the first disc. Quite by accident, from another jerky retailer, I found the second disc, so I now have the complete serial.
I hope readers and Digiview will accept my apology and my correction.