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IMDbPro

The Three Musketeers

  • 1921
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
Douglas Fairbanks in The Three Musketeers (1921)
ActionAdventureFamily

Cardinal Richelieu, engaged in intrigue at the court of Louis XIII, attempts to rule by threatening the queen, who is secretly in love with the Duke of Buckingham. From Gascony comes D'Artag... Read allCardinal Richelieu, engaged in intrigue at the court of Louis XIII, attempts to rule by threatening the queen, who is secretly in love with the Duke of Buckingham. From Gascony comes D'Artagnan to join the King's Musketeers in his quest for adventure. He wins the right to members... Read allCardinal Richelieu, engaged in intrigue at the court of Louis XIII, attempts to rule by threatening the queen, who is secretly in love with the Duke of Buckingham. From Gascony comes D'Artagnan to join the King's Musketeers in his quest for adventure. He wins the right to membership by proving his prowess with the sword and forms an eternal alliance with Athos, Portho... Read all

  • Director
    • Fred Niblo
  • Writers
    • Alexandre Dumas
    • Edward Knoblock
    • Lotta Woods
  • Stars
    • Douglas Fairbanks
    • Nigel De Brulier
    • George Siegmann
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Fred Niblo
    • Writers
      • Alexandre Dumas
      • Edward Knoblock
      • Lotta Woods
    • Stars
      • Douglas Fairbanks
      • Nigel De Brulier
      • George Siegmann
    • 20User reviews
    • 15Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos30

    "Three Musketeers, The" Douglas Fairbanks 1921 United Artists **I.V.
    Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks, Léon Bary, Eugene Pallette, and George Siegmann in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks and Barbara La Marr in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks, Léon Bary, Boyd Irwin, Eugene Pallette, and George Siegmann in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks, Léon Bary, Eugene Pallette, and George Siegmann in The Three Musketeers (1921)
    Douglas Fairbanks in The Three Musketeers (1921)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Douglas Fairbanks
    Douglas Fairbanks
    • D'Artagnan
    Nigel De Brulier
    Nigel De Brulier
    • Cardinal Richelieu
    • (as Nigel de Brulier)
    George Siegmann
    George Siegmann
    • Porthos
    Eugene Pallette
    Eugene Pallette
    • Aramis
    Adolphe Menjou
    Adolphe Menjou
    • Louis XIII
    Mary MacLaren
    Mary MacLaren
    • Anne of Austria
    Thomas Holding
    Thomas Holding
    • Duke of Buckingham
    Marguerite De La Motte
    Marguerite De La Motte
    • Constance
    Willis Robards
    Willis Robards
    • De Treville
    Boyd Irwin
    • Rochefort
    Barbara La Marr
    Barbara La Marr
    • Milady de Winter
    Lon Poff
    Lon Poff
    • Father Joseph
    Léon Bary
    Léon Bary
    • Athos
    • (as Leon Bary)
    Walt Whitman
    Walt Whitman
    • D'Artagnan's Father
    Sidney Franklin
    Sidney Franklin
    • Bonacieux
    Charles Belcher
    Charles Belcher
    • Bernajoux
    Charles Stevens
    Charles Stevens
    • Planchet
    Janet Chandler
    Janet Chandler
    • Child
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Fred Niblo
    • Writers
      • Alexandre Dumas
      • Edward Knoblock
      • Lotta Woods
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Alexandre Dumas' source for his novel was a book by 19th-century writer Courtils de Sandraz, which was purporting to be D'Artagnan's biography; the Musketeers were actually real people, not fictional characters created by Dumas.
    • Goofs
      D'Artagnan sees the barrel of the gun held by Richelieu's gunman poking through the curtains, but whenever the gunman is shown, he is standing back from the curtains with the gun raised.
    • Quotes

      Cardinal Richelieu: If you were about to die, what would you do?

      D'Artagnan: Your Eminence, I should write the history of France.

    • Connections
      Featured in Movies Are Adventure (1948)

    User reviews20

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    "When life was life and men were men"
    What you see at this point in cinema's history is the maturing of various formulas once considered frivolous. Griffith had done it in the mid-teens with dramatic film-making as a whole. Chaplin's The Kid had shown how slapstick could be melded with powerful storytelling. And now it was the turn of Douglas Fairbanks to develop his unique brand of adventure comedies into the realm of grand mythmaking.

    Fairbanks had already reinvented his screen persona with the groundbreaking Mark of Zorro, transferring his over-the-top athleticism and comic timing to the world of romantic adventure. Mark of Zorro is amazing, but it is also something of an experiment; not too extravagant and quite straightforward in storyline. After the success of Zorro, his confidence bolstered (not to mention his coffers a little fuller), Fairbanks made his follow-up The Three Musketeers a far more lavish production, as well as allowing more time for characterisation and subplot. In other words, this was an attempt to move beyond simple genre antics and present a swashbuckler that was also a sweeping historical epic.

    The broader canvas of The Three Musketeers allows for greater freedom of expression for its director Fred Niblo, who had also filmed Zorro. Niblo was an expert at balancing rhythm and motion in crowd scenes, but was also a great dramatic director. Here he gets to show off both these abilities, providing a realistic and constantly moving backdrop with the masses of extras at his disposal, yet also allowing the more emotional scenes to play out at a steady pace, giving them dignity and bringing out naturalism in the performances. He still recognises however that this is first and foremost an action picture. He gives a unique look to every action shot, sometimes putting figures in the background, other times foregrounding them, sometimes having them move towards the camera, other times across the frame. A great shot is the one in which Fairbanks steals food from the cardinal troops. The guards are placed in the foreground at the right of the frame; Fairbanks appears on the left in the background. This arrangement focuses us on Fairbanks, and the depth of his position also allows him room to do his stunts without having to move the camera or change angle.

    Like Chaplin, Fairbanks always ensured that he was the star of the show and centre of attention, but in this more generous production he does allow some room for great supporting players, confident that they will make the picture more enjoyable without stealing it. Of note here are George Siegmann (Porthos), who can mostly be seen playing villains for Griffith, but here gets to show off his comedy skills - check out the casual way he wipes his sword and saunters off after dispatching a guard - and Eugene Palette (Aramis), also a great comedy player, and worth mentioning simply because it's interesting to see him without the huge belly he had acquired by his 30s heyday. Other than that Adolphe Menjou is great as usual, although he expresses far too much confidence and smugness for the puppet monarch he portrays. Fairbanks's regular leading lady Marguerite De La Motte is not bad, getting a little more time and space to show her acting range than she did in Mark of Zorro.

    Still, there is a problem with The Three Musketeers, one which arises from its larger scale and dramatic pretensions - it's a bit slow. The screenplay goes to lengths to allow Fairbanks's character to gradually emerge, and takes time to set the scene, which is all fair enough, except that this is done at the expense of pacing. The first ten minutes are used up establishing the political intrigue, and it's a full thirty-eight minutes before we get to the first real action sequence. While I agree it's a good idea to keep us in suspense before showing off D'Artagnan's fighting skills, the build-up would work much better if we were treated to a small burst of action at the beginning - a "hook", screenwriters call it. Also the best fight scenes are weighted to the middle of the story, robbing the picture of a satisfying finale. The Mark of Zorro, although it is far more simplistic, at least has a continuous frenetic pace that makes it extremely watchable. Nevertheless, The Three Musketeers did settle once and for all the character of Doug Fairbanks, a character that was the same no matter what name it went by - that of the mythical, ever-living hero.
    helpful•12
    0
    • Steffi_P
    • Jul 12, 2009

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 28, 1921 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Los tres mosqueteros
    • Filming locations
      • Raleigh Studios - 5300 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Douglas Fairbanks Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross US & Canada
      • $3,270,000
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 59 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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