The Three Musketeers (1921 film)

1921 film by Fred Niblo

The Three Musketeers

Léon Bary, Eugene Pallette,
Douglas Fairbanks and George Siegmann

Directed by| Fred Niblo
Written by| Edward Knoblock (adaptation)
Douglas Fairbanks
Lotta Woods (screenplay)
Based on| The Three Musketeers
1844 novel
by Alexandre Dumas
Produced by| Douglas Fairbanks
Starring| Douglas Fairbanks
Leon Bary
George Siegmann
Eugene Pallette
Boyd Irwin
Marguerite De La Motte
Cinematography| Arthur Edeson
Edited by| Nellie Mason
Music by| Louis F. Gottschalk
Distributed by| United Artists

Release date

* August 28, 1921 (1921-08-28)

Running time

| 120 minutes
Country| United States
Languages| Silent film
English intertitles
Box office| $1.5 million[1]

The Three Musketeers is a 1921 American silent film based on the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. It was directed by Fred Niblo and stars Douglas Fairbanks as d'Artagnan. The film originally had scenes filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process (billed as the "Wyckoff-DeMille Process").[2] The film had a sequel, The Iron Mask (1929), also starring Fairbanks as d'Artagnan and DeBrulier as Cardinal Richelieu.

## Plot summary

[edit]

In the royal court of France, Cardinal Richelieu vies for influence over King Louis XIII. The greatest obstacle to his dominance is Anne of Austria, the Queen of France. Anne is loved by the Duke of Buckingham, an Englishman, although she remains faithful to Louis. Louis gives her a diamond encrusted brooch.

In Gascony, d'Artagnan leaves his home to seek his fortune. He travels to Paris, where he meets the Three Musketeers. The Three Musketeers and d'Artagnan cause trouble around Paris and frequently fight with Cardinal Richelieu's guardsmen. d'Artagnan falls in love with Constance, the Queen's seamstress.

Cardinal Richelieu forges a letter from Anne to the Duke of Buckingham inviting him to Paris. The Duke arrives, but Anne gently rebuffs him. He requests something to remember her by. Anne gives the Duke her diamond brooch and he returns to England. Richelieu manipulates the King into asking Anne to wear the brooch at an upcoming ball.

Knowing the Queen will be dishonored if the brooch is discovered missing, Constance asks d'Artagnan to retrieve the brooch from England. d'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers depart for England. Richelieu discovers d'Artagnan's mission and sends his agents to stop him. One by one the Three Musketeers stay behind to prevent d'Artagnan from falling into the Cardinal's traps. d'Artagnan sails to England and retrieves the brooch. He arrives back in Paris to deliver the brooch to Queen Anne. d'Artagnan, Constance, and the Three Musketeers are reunited. d'Artagnan is made a member of the King's Musketeers.

## Cast

[edit]

In opening credits order:

* Adolphe Menjou as Louis XIII
* Mary MacLaren as Anne of Austria
* Nigel De Brulier as Cardinal Richelieu
* Thomas Holding as Duke of Buckingham
* Marguerite De La Motte as Constance Bonacieux
* Willis Robards as Captain de Treville
* Boyd Irwin as Comte de Rochefort
* Barbara La Marr as Milady de Winter
* Lon Poff as Father Joseph
* Walt Whitman as d'Artagnan's Father
* Sidney Franklin as Bonacieux
* Charles Belcher as Bernajoux
* Charles Stevens as Planchet
* Léon Bary as Athos
* George Siegmann as Porthos
* Eugene Pallette as Aramis
* Douglas Fairbanks as d'Artagnan

## Production

[edit]

The Three Musketeers (1921)

The athletic Douglas Fairbanks's one-handed handspring to grab a sword during a fight scene in this film is considered one of the great stunts of the early cinema period. Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance enthuses, "The Three Musketeers was the first of the grand Fairbanks costume films, filled with exemplary production values and ornamentation. Indeed, one ornament extended beyond the film: Fairbanks wore d'Artagnan's moustache—cultivated for The Three Musketeers—to the end of his life. With The Three Musketeers, he at last found his metier and crystallized his celebrity and his cinema."[3]

* Front row: Charles Stevens, Marguerite De La Motte, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford (guest), Sidney Franklin. Second row: Boyd Irwin, Nigel De Brulier, Mary MacLaren, Adolphe Menjou, Barbara La Marr, Thomas Holding. Back row: Lon Poff, Eugene Pallette, George Siegmann, Léon Bary, Willis Robards.

## Preservation status

[edit]

In April 1939, Fairbanks donated his entire film collection to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), including both a 35mm nitrate negative and a tinted positive print. The negative was duplicated in 1963, and this print was used for the restoration completed in May 2017 by MoMA, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and Film Preservation Society. MoMA and Image Protection Services also finished a color restoration in February 2021.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* List of early color feature films

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-299-23004-3.
2. ^ "The Three Musketeers". Silent Era. Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
3. ^ Vance, Jeffrey (2008). Douglas Fairbanks. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 105\. ISBN 978-0520256675.
4. ^ Preamble to a restoration.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to The Three Musketeers (1921 film) at Wikimedia Commons
* The full text of The Three Musketeers (1921 film) at Wikisource
* The Three Musketeers (1921) on YouTube
* The Three Musketeers (Remastered) (1921) on YouTube[dead link]
* The Three Musketeers at IMDb
* The Three Musketeers is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
* The Three Musketeers at AllMovie
* The Three Musketeers at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Color poster

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Fred Niblo

* Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1916)
* Officer 666 (1916)
* The Marriage Ring (1918)
* When Do We Eat? (1918)
* Fuss and Feathers (1918)
* Happy Though Married (1919)
* Partners Three (1919)
* The Law of Men (1919)
* The Haunted Bedroom (1919)
* The Virtuous Thief (1919)
* Stepping Out (1919)
* What Every Woman Learns (1919)
* Dangerous Hours (1919)
* The Woman in the Suitcase (1920)
* Sex (1920)
* The False Road (1920)
* Hairpins (1920)
* Her Husband's Friend (1920)
* The Mark of Zorro (1920)
* Silk Hosiery (1920)
* Mother o' Mine (1921)
* Greater Than Love (1921)
* The Three Musketeers (1921)
* The Woman He Married (1922)
* Rose o' the Sea (1922)
* Blood and Sand (1922)
* The Famous Mrs. Fair (1923)
* Strangers of the Night (1923)
* Thy Name Is Woman (1924)
* The Red Lily (1924)
* Ben-Hur (1925)
* The Temptress (1926)
* Camille (1926)
* The Devil Dancer (1927)
* The Enemy (1927)
* The Mysterious Lady (1927)
* Two Lovers (1928)
* Dream of Love (1928)
* Redemption (1930)
* Young Donovan's Kid (1931)
* The Big Gamble (1931)
* Two White Arms (1932)
* Diamond Cut Diamond (1932)

* v
* t
* e

The d'Artagnan Romances by Alexandre Dumas

* The Three Musketeers
* Twenty Years After
* The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later

Characters|

* Athos
* Aramis
* Porthos
* d'Artagnan
* Cardinal Richelieu
* Milady de Winter
* Rochefort
* Buckingham
* Queen Anne
* Louis XIII
* Louis XIV
* de Tréville

Films|

| The Three
Musketeers|

* The Three Musketeers (1916)
* Les Trois Mousquetaires (1921)
* The Three Musketeers (1921)
* The Three Musketeers (1932)
* The Three Musketeers (1933)
* The Three Musketeers (1935)
* The Three Musketeers (1939)
* The Three Musketeers (1942)
* The Three Musketeers (1946)
* The Three Musketeers (1948)
* Blades of the Musketeers (1953)
* The Three Musketeers (1953)
* The Three Musketeers (1961)
* The Three Musketeers (1973)
* The Four Musketeers (1974)
* The Three Musketeers (1993)
* The Musketeer (2001)
* The Three Musketeers (2011)
* 3 Musketeers (2011)
* The Three Musketeers (2013)
* The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023)
* The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023)

|

Twenty Years
After|

* The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
* Musketeers Twenty Years After (1992)

The Vicomte of
Bragelonne|

* The Iron Mask (1929)
* The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
* Uthama Puthiran (1940)
* Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
* The Count of Bragelonne (1954)
* The King's Prisoner (1954)
* Uthama Puthiran (1958)
* Le Masque de fer (1962)
* The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
* The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years After (1993)
* The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Other sequels|

* At Sword's Point (1952)
* The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan (1962)
* Revenge of the Musketeers (1994)
* The Return of the Musketeers, or The Treasures of Cardinal Mazarin (2009)

Animated|

* The Four Musketeers (1936)
* Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936)
* The Three Musketeers (1974)
* Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004)
* Barbie and the Three Musketeers (2009)
* Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (2021)

Tom and Jerry|

* The Two Mouseketeers
* Touché, Pussy Cat!
* Tom and Chérie
* Royal Cat Nap

Television|

| Series|

| Live-action|

* The Three Musketeers (1954)
* The Three Musketeers (1966)
* The Mind Robber (1968)
* d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978)
* Young Blades (2005)
* The Three Musketeers (2009–10) (puppetry)
* The Musketeers (2014)

|

Animated|

* The Three Musketeers (1968)
* Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (1981)
* The Three Musketeers Anime (1987–89)
* The Return of Dogtanian (1989)
* Albert the Fifth Musketeer (1993–94)

Films|

| Live-action|

* The Three Musketeers (1959)
* The Three Musketeers (1969)
* The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)
* La Femme Musketeer (2004)

|

Animated|

* The Three Musketeers (1973)
* The Man in the Iron Mask (1985)
* Dogtanian: Special (1985)
* The Three Musketeers (1986)
* Dogtanian: One For All and All For One (1995)

Games|

* Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer
* The Three Musketeers (1987 video game)
* The Three Musketeers (2006 video game)
* The Three Musketeers: One for All!

Musicals|

* The Three Musketeers (1928)
* 3 Musketiers

Other
adaptations|

* The Three Mesquiteers
* Dog in Boots
* The Three Must-Get-Theres
* The Three Mouseketeers (comics)
* The Three Musketeers (South Korean adaptation)
* Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (video game)

Khaavren Romances|

* The Phoenix Guards
* Five Hundred Years After
* The Viscount of Adrilankha
* The Baron of Magister Valley

Related|

* Auguste Maquet (collaborator)
* A Modern Musketeer
* The Three Muscatels
* Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno
* Man in the Iron Mask
* Musketeers of the Guard
* 3 Musketeers (chocolate bar)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

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