The Three Musketeers (1948)

D'Artagnan and his musketeer comrades thwart the plans of Royal Prime Minister Richelieu to usurp the King's power.

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Alexandre Dumas père (novel), Robert Ardrey (screenplay)

Stars:

Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lana Turner	...	Lady de Winter
Gene Kelly	...	D'Artagnan
June Allyson	...	Constance
Van Heflin	...	Athos
Angela Lansbury	...	Queen Anne
Frank Morgan	...	King Louis XIII
Vincent Price	...	Richelieu
Keenan Wynn	...	Planchet
John Sutton	...	The Duke of Buckingham
Gig Young	...	Porthos
Robert Coote	...	Aramis
Reginald Owen	...	Treville
Ian Keith	...	Rochefort
Patricia Medina	...	Kitty
Richard Wyler	...	Albert (as Richard Stapley)

Storyline

The hectic adventures of D'Artagnan, a young provincial noble who just comes to Paris to enter the musketeers. He will meet action, love, hate, the king and the queen as his impetuousness gets him involved in political plots... and of course virile and indestructible friendship with the three musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis.

---

Plot Keywords:

musketeer | prime minister | three musketeers | friendship | 17th century | 

---

Taglines:

THE COMPLETE ROMANCE...THE FULL NOVEL! (original ad - all caps)

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Loew's

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fearing pressure from church groups, MGM had the script refer to Richelieu as Prime Minister rather than Cardinal and almost all traces of him being a cardinal or a man of the church at all have been removed, even though other versions of this story kept Richelieu explicitly a cardinal without any repercussions.

---

Goofs

Over the first hour of the movie, Countess de Winter's mole is below and to the left of her mouth. When Richelieu introduces her to D'Artagnan, her mole is below and to the right of her right eye. When she breaks a mirror several minutes later, she has no mole at all. She then gets dressed and meets D'Artagnan in her parlor without a mole. During their conversation, it reappears near her right eye. When they start wrestling, the mole is again missing. The mole appears, disappears and moves throughout the movie. However, during this time, among the French upper class, women sometimes added a phony mole (or beauty mark) when applying their facial cosmetics.

---

Quotes

Constance Bonacieux: Whatever my reputation or my D'Artagnan's, I don't take love lightly.

---

Connections

Referenced in Leave It to Beaver: Wally's New Suit (1958)

User Reviews

exciting spectacle from MGM

MGM pulled out all the stops for this 1948 version of "The Three Musketeers." Filmed in color and directed by George Sidney, it has a large, all-star cast consisting of Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Cornell Wilde, Vincent Price, Angela Lansbury, Robert Coote, Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn and John Sutton. Gene Kelly is D'Artagnan, who arrives to join the Musketeers and ends up having to fight three duels in a day with Athos (Heflin), Porthos (Young) and Aramis (Coote). They all wind up friends.

The Musketeers' first assignment is to steal the Queen's jewels back for her - a gift of twelve diamond studs from her husband (Morgan). She has given them to her lover, the Duke of Buckingham, but now needs them back to wear in nine days' time. Cardinal Richlieu (Price), anxious to reveal the secret relationship between the two, dispatches his evil mistress, Lady De Winter (Turner) to steal two of the studs. Richlieu wants France to declare war against England and completely destroy the King's powers.

The Musketeers have to get the jewels from the Duke and return with them to Paris. With two diamond studs missing, they have an added task of picking up two replacements from a jeweler and getting them to the Queen in time to wear them at a banquet. In the process of all of this, D'Artagnan falls in love with the Queen's lady-in-waiting, Constance (Allyson).

All of the acting is wonderful, with the role of Lady De Winter expanded from the original book. Lana Turner is perfect as De Winter - gorgeous, cool, irresistible and deadly. The scenes between Constance and De Winter toward the end of the film are among the best in the movie, very suspenseful (and different from the book). Turner to me looks carefully made up to hide some extra pounds, not to mention being tightly corsetted. The movie was filmed right after Lana had broken up with the great love of her life, Tyrone Power, which may have had something to do with it.

Van Heflin is sympathetic and strong as Athos, who has a past with De Winter and still loves her, and Vincent Price makes an excellent Cardinal Richlieu. Gene Kelly is the ideal D'Artagnan, and his casting is very clever, giving him a chance to show the great athleticism that contributed so much to his dancing. His swordplay is amazing, really making the swordfights entertaining. Though the role has very serious moments, Kelly gives it a lightness and humor when needed. Especially fun is the scene where D'Artagnan, in the dark, poses as Lady De Winter's lover.

There are, as mentioned, many versions of this Dumas classic. This one is vividly entertaining, colorful and energetic, with a very attractive cast, good direction, and a thrilling score. Highly recommended.