And this beautiful, colorful, athletic version of the tale of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan doesn't disappoint and is so bright and action-packed that you sometimes forget it came out in '48.
Not surprisingly, Kelly as D'Artagnan is the star of the movie, with a lot of the action centered around his strengths, which means fancy footwork and a lot of jumping over things to mount horses instead of simply climbing up. With Kelly as the star, most of the movie takes on a happy-go-lucky style, making most of the situations, including the swashbuckling scenes, seem somewhat passe or merely hedonistic. Of course, as adults, we realize that fighting with swords results in death. However, most of the movie downplays this angle, never showing even the faintest sign of blood (with one notable exception I will explain a little later). Instead, most of the film plays like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, with D'Artagnan wagging his derriere at his enemies or ending his first fight with Rochefort (Richelieu's chief henchman) with a little swordplay that drops his pants.
Another major impact Kelly has on the movie is how the romance scenes play. With constant swooning and blubbering, there isn't much realism in the way he plays the scenes, especially since the actor was 36 at the time and playing a character much younger and more naive. But Kelly sure has a knack for getting the audience to understand just how in love he is with another character by tripping over himself with love (even if he falls in love instantly after merely seeing the woman for a quick second and not yet speaking with her). You can tell that the movie's director and its actors intend on the audience having fun throughout the movie.
While I have always loved the story behind The Three Musketeers and have tried to see just about every adaptation of it, there are certain areas where I think this version could have been better. As I mentioned, most of this movie plays very light-hearted, focusing on athletic swordplay and romance. Therefore, when the movie goes dark about two-thirds of the way through, the balance gets thrown off a bit. This happens once Lana Turner's evil Lady de Winter receives a more important character arc, duping everybody and killing anybody in her tracks. The only time we see a trace of blood is after she kills D'Artagnan's wife Constance; we don't see the Lady de Winter necessarily but we see somebody dressed in Constance's clothes, her hands dripping with Constance's blood as she goes to kill the Duke of Buckingham. Although this all plays as interesting drama, Turner's scenes slow down the otherwise upbeat film in a big and partially negative way.
The way I see it, if you're going to make an upbeat movie, make an upbeat movie. Of course, you have to fit in certain parts of the source material to stay faithful. Additionally, Turner was talented and a popular actress at the time. However, this movie really suffers from giving too much time to the actress and a character that is important but not worth slowing down and nearly stopping the film in its tracks.
That being said, if you view most of the movie as a fun romp, there is a lot to like. Van Heflin is a decent choice as Athos. When I think of French characters, Heflin's name is not necessarily one I would think feasible for the role of the lead musketeer. However, Heflin made a career of playing the strong, silent type, which makes him a good fit. He even gets to let loose a little bit by playing drunk. Based on my perception of the roles of Aramis and Porthos, I was a little surprised at how flamboyant and outspoken Robert Coote was as Aramis and how underscored and melancholy Gig Young's Porthos became. I've read here and there that the two actors' roles should have been reversed, and I whole-heartedly agree.
Vincent Price just plain makes sense as the bad guy Richelieu, though I'd argue he should have had more of the screentime relegated to Lana Turner. Aside from being implicitly awesome just by being himself, Price's characterization of the prime minister (in the source material and every other adaptation, Richelieu is a cardinal) is made even more devious in scenes when he can be seen on his throne stroking a cat Blofeld-style. He's so enjoyable in the role that, as a viewer, you are kind of looking forward to how he plays the scene at the end when he will assumedly get his commeupance. However, that never happens, as the movie just kind of ends without Richelieu being punished and the musketeers simply marching away after they reveal knowledge of his evil schemes to the king.Speaking of the king, going along with the mostly light-hearted feel of the movie, Frank Morgan, most known as the Wizard of Oz, plays an appropriately bumbling version of King Louis XIII. As the cherry on top of the sundae, I almost hadn't realized Keenan Wynn had played D'Artagnan's right-hand man, Planchet, until I took a look at the IMDb page.
For a 1948 film, The Three Musketeers has a hefty number of really cool and cinematographic scenes that leave you impressed more than 60 years later. One scene, for instance, has Gene Kelly sliding down a table toward the camera during a fight. Another interesting shot is when D'Artagnan and Athos can be seen in the mirror as they come to capture Lady de Winter.
Interest to Young Fans
This one is fairly easy. The Three Musketeers is a fairly well-known story with many adaptations, enough for just about every generation of moviegoers to get their own feature film version of Dumas' classic tale. For me, my first exposure was the 1993 version starring Chris O'Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Charlie Sheen and Tim Curry. There have even been a few different versions of both this story - a version came out in 2011 - and other Dumas tales since then, including the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring Man in the Iron Mask from 1998. As I've mentioned before, comparing remakes to older versions of movies is a good way to get people interested in older movies.
This isn't a musical, but Gene Kelly is a name with which most people are familiar that might pique some interest. A similar argument can be made for both Vincent Prince and Angela Lansbury, who has a few scenes as the queen of France despite being in her early 20s when the film was made.
It's probably a bit longer than it needs to be, especially for impatient young viewers, but the pace keeps up for most of the movie and allows for easy viewership for just about anybody watching.
