The Three Musketeers (1948 film)

1948 film by George Sidney

The Three Musketeers

Theatrical poster

Directed by| George Sidney
Screenplay by| Robert Ardrey
Based on| The Three Musketeers
1844 novel
by Alexandre Dumas
Produced by| Pandro S. Berman
Starring| Gene Kelly
Van Heflin
June Allyson
Vincent Price
Lana Turner
Angela Lansbury
Cinematography| Robert H. Planck
Edited by| Robert J. Kern
Music by| Herbert Stothart

Production
company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Distributed by| Loew's, Inc.

Release date

* November 26, 1948 (1948-11-26)

Running time

| 125 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $4,474,000[1][2]
Box office| $8,412,000[3]

The Three Musketeers is a 1948 film directed by George Sidney, written by Robert Ardrey, and starring Gene Kelly and Lana Turner. It is a Technicolor adventure film adaptation of the classic 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

## Plot

[edit]

D'Artagnan, an inexperienced Gascon youth, travels to Paris to join the elite King's Musketeers. On his way, he encounters a mysterious lady at a roadside inn. When he picks a fight with one of her escorts, she becomes suspicious and has him knocked unconscious. His letter of introduction from his father to de Treville, the commander of the Musketeers, is burned. When he awakens, he continues on to the city.

In Paris, he nevertheless presents himself to de Treville, who recognizes d'Artagnan's description of one of his assailants and makes him a cadet. The young Gascon spots the very man and in his haste to confront him, annoys three of the most skillful Musketeers: Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Each challenges him to a duel. Upon learning they are all at the appointed place to duel the same man, the swordsmen are amused. Before they can begin, however, they are interrupted by Richelieu's guards, who try to arrest the Musketeers. D'Artagnan joins them in dispatching their foes. As a result, he is welcomed into their ranks.

Later, d'Artagnan rescues (and falls in love with) Constance Bonacieux, a confidante of Queen Anne. The queen was given a matched set of twelve diamond studs by her husband, King Louis XIII. Foolishly, she gives them to her lover, the Duke of Buckingham, who is also the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Knowing of the queen's indiscretion, Richelieu sees a way to persuade the King to go to war with Britain. Richelieu arranges a ball and suggests to Louis that he have the Queen wear the diamonds.

D'Artagnan and his three friends volunteer to travel to Britain to retrieve the jewels, but along the way, they are ambushed by Richelieu's men. One by one, the Musketeers are forced to stay behind to hold off their pursuers. Finally, only d'Artagnan and his servant Planchet reach the Duke. However, Richelieu had already sent the beautiful Countess de Winter to steal two of the studs. The Duke's jeweler is able to make replacements quickly and d'Artagnan races back to France. He arrives just in time to save the Queen from disgrace.

Admiring d'Artagnan's resourcefulness, Richelieu has Constance abducted in an attempt to enlist him in his service. He also assigns de Winter to help persuade the young man. D'Artagnan tries to learn where Constance is being held from the countess, but begins to fall under her spell instead. When Athos discovers that de Winter is actually his treacherous wife, he tells d'Artagnan, but is not believed. Then d'Artagnan sees a brand on her shoulder, the mark of a common criminal, just as Athos had told him.

Fighting breaks out between Britain and France. The Queen frees Constance and sends her to Buckingham for safety. When the war goes against him, Richelieu gives de Winter a carte blanche and sends her to Britain to assassinate his foe. The Musketeers learn of the plot and send Planchet to warn the Duke. Athos confronts Milady and recovers the carte blanche as proof of Richelieu's treachery. De Winter is imprisoned by the Duke and placed in Constance's custody, but de Winter kills her first, then Buckingham.

D'Artagnan and Athos return to France to bring de Winter to justice. De Treville warns the Musketeers that she is under Richelieu's protection.

Aramis recalls a conversation between her and Richelieu concerning the granting of a title and an estate near Lille. Caught at the estate, Athos's ancestral home, she begs for mercy, but finds none, even though her husband still loves her. Seeing no escape, she walks with dignity to her execution. The Musketeers are captured by Richelieu's men and returned to the royal court for judgment.

As Richelieu is about to have them sentenced to death, d'Artagnan produces the carte blanche. Richelieu is compelled to recommend to King Louis that he grant Aramis's wish to enter a monastery; Porthos, an introduction to a rich widow; Athos, the restoration of his title and lands; and d'Artagnan, a commission as a Musketeer and a mission to England, for "the English lead too dull a life." The four depart triumphantly.

## Cast

[edit]

* Lana Turner as Milady, Countess de Winter
* Gene Kelly as d'Artagnan
* June Allyson as Constance Bonacieux
* Van Heflin as Athos
* Angela Lansbury as Queen Anne
* Frank Morgan as King Louis XIII
* Vincent Price as Richelieu. (Not wanting to risk offending Roman Catholics, MGM ensured that the character was never referred to as a cardinal.)[4]
* Keenan Wynn as Planchet
* John Sutton as the Duke of Buckingham
* Gig Young as Porthos
* Robert Coote as Aramis
* Reginald Owen as Treville
* Sol Gorss as Jussac, an officer in Richelieu's Guards (uncredited)
* Ian Keith as Rochefort, Richelieu's chief henchman. (Keith reprised his role as Rochefort from the 1935 version.)
* Patricia Medina as Kitty, Lady de Winter's maid
* Richard Stapley as Albert
* Byron Foulger as Bonacieux (uncredited)
* Marie Windsor as Lady-in-Waiting (uncredited)
* Paul Newlan as Musketeer Guard (uncredited)
* Gil Perkins as Felton (uncredited)
* Dick Simmons as Count de Wardes (uncredited)
* Robert Warwick as d'Artagnan Sr. (uncredited)
* Alberto Morin as Bazin (uncredited)

## Production

[edit]

In mid-1947, it was announced Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was set to produce a film adaptation of The Three Musketeers.[5] Initially, Louis Hayward showed interest in playing d'Artagnan in a film adaptation by Edward Small, but he withdrew when he found out The Three Musketeers was already being produced by MGM.[5]

### Casting

[edit]

Despite rumors Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was set to star, Gene Kelly was announced as the film's lead in June 1947, with production slated to begin in September.[6] A week later, Keenan Wynn was confirmed to play a co-starring role.[7] Shortly after, Van Heflin and William Powell were revealed to be in negotiations for the title roles.[8] In October, Kelly broke his ankle, forcing him to give up the leading role in Easter Parade (1948), and delaying the start of filming. Though Kelly's ankle had mended sufficiently to begin shooting in January, 1948, his elaborate fencing scenes required more healing time, and were pushed back to the end of filming.[9]

To appear as Lady de Winter, Lana Turner had to relinquish her role in an unfinished project called Bedeviled.[10] In January 1948, news items reported Turner withdrew from The Three Musketeers. Initially, she had permission to withdraw from Louis B. Mayer, because she had been very busy shooting the films Green Dolphin Street (1947), Cass Timberlane (1947), and Homecoming (1948).[11] However, she was later put on suspension and Alida Valli was considered as her replacement.[12] Eventually, she agreed to make the film, and it sparked her first film in color. Sidney admitted Turner did not "want to do it at all. She got into it and she enjoyed it. She was just wonderful in the part. People thought making The Three Musketeers was ridiculous but it worked."[13]

Before June Allyson was cast in the remaining female lead, Deborah Kerr was offered the role in November 1947.[14]

While the work was in the public domain in the US and Britain there was some doubt whether this was the case in some European countries, causing MGM much concern.[15]

Footage from The Three Musketeers appears in the film Singin' in the Rain. It was used as part of the Lockwood/Lamont film The Royal Rascal.

### Shooting

[edit]

Director George Sidney said he approached the film as "a Western with costumes... I didn't approach it as a classic. The dueling was pure choreography and the fights are pure Western stuff."[16]

The big dueling scene was shot in Busch Gardens in Pasadena. Sidney said "we shot on the back lot, in a public park, on golf courses."[16]

"Lana Turner and I played complicated practical jokes on each other during the making of The Three Musketeers," Vincent Price said. "Finally Gene Kelly yelled at us to stop it. But we didn’t."[17]

## Release

[edit]

The film was very successful, earning MGM's second highest gross of the 1940s, even though its large production budget minimised profits.[1] According to MGM accounts it made $4,124,000 in the US and Canada and $4,288,000 elsewhere, recording a profit of $1,828,000.[3] It was one of the most popular films of 1948.[18]

## Accolades

[edit]

Robert Planck was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography (Color) for the 21st Academy Awards. He lost to Joseph Valentine, William V. Skall and Winton C. Hoch for their work on Joan of Arc.[19]

The Three Musketeers were nominated for the American Film Institute's 2003 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains as heroes.[20]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b H. Mark Glancy, 'MGM Film Grosses, 1924-28: The Eddie Mannix Ledger', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 12 No. 2 1992 p127-144 at p140
2. ^ Another account sats $4 million Variety 18 February 1948 p 14
3. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
4. ^ "The Three Musketeers Plot Synopsis". Allmovie. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
5. ^ a b "In Hollywood" by Bob Thomas, The Brownsville Herald, August 22, 1947, p. 5
6. ^ "Gene Kelly Gets Dumas Lead" by Louella O. Parsons, San Antonio Light, June 5, 1947, p. 10-A
7. ^ "Louella Parsons", Lowell Sun, June 11, 1947, p. 22
8. ^ "Hollywood Column" by Erskine Johnson, The Bakersfield Californian, June 18, 1947, p. 22
9. ^ Cadman, Sue. "Gene Kelly, Creative Genius". Retrieved October 13, 2014.
10. ^ "Independents Seek Shelter Of Major Studios for Cold Winter" by Bob Thomas, Denton Record-Chronicle, December 5, 1947, p. 4
11. ^ "Hollywood" by Louella Parsons, Middletown Times Herald, January 15, 1948, p. 12
12. ^ Basinger, J., Lana Turner, 1976, p. 80
13. ^ Davis, Ronald L. (2005). Just making movies. University Press of Mississippi. p. 74. ISBN 9781578066902.
14. ^ "In Hollywood" by Erskine Johnson, Altoona Mirror, November 21, 1947, p. 31
15. ^ THOMAS F. BRADY (Feb 1, 1948). "HOLLYWOOD DEALS: Prospects Brighten for United Artists -Budget Runs Wild and Other Matters". New York Times. p. X5.
16. ^ a b Davis, Ronald L. (2005). Just making movies. University Press of Mississippi. p. 73. ISBN 9781578066902.
17. ^ Bawden, James & Miller, Ron. You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet. University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, Kentucky, 2017.
18. ^ "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46
19. ^ "The 21st Academy Awards – 1949". oscars.org. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
20. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-06.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Monder, Eric (1994). George Sidney:a Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313284571.

## External links

[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Three Musketeers (1948 film).

* The Three Musketeers at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* The Three Musketeers at the TCM Movie Database
* The Three Musketeers at IMDb
* The Three Musketeers at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by George Sidney

* Free and Easy (1941)
* Pacific Rendezvous (1942)
* Pilot No. 5 (1943)
* Thousands Cheer (1943)
* Bathing Beauty (1944)
* Anchors Aweigh (1945)
* The Harvey Girls (1946)
* Holiday in Mexico (1946)
* Cass Timberlane (1947)
* The Three Musketeers (1948)
* The Red Danube (1949)
* Key to the City (1950)
* Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
* Show Boat (1951)
* Scaramouche (1952)
* Young Bess (1953)
* Kiss Me Kate (1953)
* Jupiter's Darling (1955)
* The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
* Jeanne Eagels (1957)
* Pal Joey (1957)
* Who Was That Lady? (1960)
* Pepe (1960)
* Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
* A Ticklish Affair (1963)
* Viva Las Vegas (1964)
* The Swinger (1966)
* Half a Sixpence (1967)

* 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

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template