The Singing Musketeer (1939)
"The Three Musketeers" (original title)

D'Artagnan sings and fronts for slapstick cowardly Ritz brothers posing as musketeers.

Director:

Allan Dwan

Writers:

Alexandre Dumas père (novel), M.M. Musselman (screenplay),

Stars:

Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers, Binnie Barnes

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Don Ameche	...	D'Artagnan
The Ritz Brothers	...	Three Lackeys
Binnie Barnes	...	Milady De Winter
Gloria Stuart	...	Queen Anne
Pauline Moore	...	Lady Constance
Joseph Schildkraut	...	King Louis XIII
John Carradine	...	Naveau
Lionel Atwill	...	De Rochefort
Miles Mander	...	Cardinal Richelieu
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Athos (as Douglas Dumbrille)
John 'Dusty' King	...	Aramis (as John King)
Russell Hicks	...	Porthos
Gregory Gaye	...	Vitray
Lester Matthews	...	Duke of Buckingham
Egon Brecher	...	Landlord

Storyline

A parodic remake of the story of the young Gascon D'Artagnan, who arrives in Paris, his heart set on joining the king's Musketeers. He is taken under the wings of three of the most respected and feared Musketeers, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Together they fight to save France and the honor of a lady from the machinations of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

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Plot Keywords:

musketeer | king | gascon | mission | palace | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

One for All

Filming Locations:

Stage 5, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the scene where horsemen are chasing a carriage containing Milady and D'Artagnan along a country road, an electric power substation can briefly be seen in the background.

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Quotes

D'Artagnan: She's a walking post office.

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Connections

Version of Los tres mosqueteros (1942)

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Soundtracks

"Song of the Musketeers"
(1939) (uncredited)
Music by Samuel Pokrass
Lyrics by Walter Bullock
Played during the opening credits
Performed by Don Ameche and The Ritz Brothers twice
Sung by all the marhcing musketeers at the end

User Reviews

One of the strangest musicals ever

After viewing this film I wound up scratching my head with so many questions of how this thing ever got made in the first place.

Firstly three years before there was a straight dramatic version of The Three Musketeers that starred Walter Abel as D'Artagnan by RKO. That film was well received although it didn't transform Abel into a leading man. Why Darryl Zanuck made another version so soon is beyond me.

Secondly Rudolph Friml wrote a fine operetta of The Three Musketeers in the 20s. The score here by Walter Bulloch and Samuel Pokrass is singularly unmemorable. Who knows why Friml's music wasn't used, but it should have been.

Zanuck had the ideal D'Artagnan on his lot in Tyrone Power. But since Power didn't sing and Don Ameche always got sloppy seconds in roles at Fox, he got the part. Poor Ameche, he tried his best and he even gets into the comic elements of the film, but it's no good.

At year 2004 very few people know of the Ritz Brothers. They were good burlesque comedians who Zanuck signed up. Their humor was of The Three Stooges variety, but each stooge had an individual personality. You can't tell one Ritz from the other. In the film they take the place of the real Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and they and Ameche bungle their way into one situation after another.

Of the women in the cast I have to say that Binnie Barnes as Milady DeWinter gets into the spirit of the slapstick with the Ritzes.

It's a mess this film, but more so when you think that a straight musical with the Friml score could have been done and now probably never will and a version with Ty Power as D'Artagnan would have been a classic.