Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

drednm Gene Kelly can't act and he proves it in this ponderous and boring version of the Dumas novel that's full of continuity problems and bad acting, not to mention miscasting.Kelly plays D'Artagnan as a buffoon, and without his lifts he looks like he's standing in a hole through most of the film. Van Heflin overacts as the droopy Athos. The other two musketeers (Gig Young, Robert Coote) hardly make a blip in this version. Lana Turner gets top billing even though she's not a musketeer, and she never learned how to act. June Allyson is wasted as Kelly's "love." Vincent Price is OK as Richelieu but is historically inaccurate as is King Louis, with Frank Morgan being about 100 years too old for the part. Angela Lansbury disappears (lucky for her) about half way through the interminable film.In lesser roles, Keenan Wynn is totally miscast as a servant. John Sutton brings nothing to Buckingham. Marie Windsor is a lady in waiting and disappears but then Patricia Medina (Turner's maid) just appears out of nowhere. Neither part makes any sense.The endless dueling is stupid since everyone has a gun. They duel just about everyplace you can think of, even on the beach. In total, they use about 3 fencing moves over and over and over again. It's obviously NOT Kelly doing all the Fairbanks-type stunts (the ugly wig was handy for disguising the stunt man's face). When Wynn clunks his head on a fireplace, his rat-nest wig almost falls off.And what's with the 3-D thing where everything was aimed at the camera? That went nowhere. Terrible continuity between closeups and long shots. History tells us the films was a huge hot for MGM but since it cost $4.5M and grossed $4.2M the accountants must have performed some miracle math to declare this turkey a winner.Thank god no one dances and no one sings!

bkoganbing Gene Kelly's athleticism which is usually on full display in his musical films is given full reign in MGM's big budget adaption of The Three Musketeers, a tale very often told on the big screen. Personally I don't think the movies ever got it quite right, especially when none of the three best actors suited to play D'Artagnan, Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. never got a crack it on the big screen.The Seventies had an all star epic filming of the Alexandre Dumas classic, but I'm betting that Richard Lester so wished he had all his players under contract to the same studio as Louis B. Mayer did. Look down the cast list, Mayer barely went outside his studio for a player.I don't think I have to relate any of the plot, one of the most familiar in the world. Gene Kelly fresh off the farm from Gascony with the usual bumptiousness associated with folks from that area of France gets himself in hot water with three Musketeers of the King's personal guard Van Heflin, Gig Young, and Robert Coote. But before fighting any duels with them all three join forces to defeat and send packing some of Cardinal Richelieu's guards. The other three like Kelly's style and he's a musketeer from then on.That particular duel is choreographed as Kelly would do in any of his numbers in his musicals. It's so good I expected a song to be coming forth almost any minute. This is where Kelly the dancer and choreographer gets to shine.The rest of the cast is of high quality with Frank Morgan as King Louis XIII, Angela Lansbury as Queen Anne of Austria, Vincent Price as the clever Richelieu, Ian Keith as Price's attack dog Rochefort, Lana Turner as Milady DeWinter who attacks in other ways for Richelieu, June Allyson who's a little too much like her Americanized girl next door as Constance for my taste, John Sutton as the English Prime Minister the Duke of Buckingham, and Keenan Wynn as the loyal if not too bright servant of D'Artagnan.Milady DeWinter is one of the most evil women in literature and Lana Turner was up to the job. Watching her it's like she channeled back her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice for this role.I was curious however that I could find no reference in the film to Richelieu being a Cardinal. In the film he's simply referred to as Richelieu. Note there is no trace of any clerical garb on Vincent Price. My guess is that MGM didn't want to offend the Catholic Church by having a prince of said church shown as the villain. Also as the Cold War was going into deep freeze, Pius XII and his church were seen as an anti-Communist bulwark.Though I wish that one of the three stars I cited above had ever gotten to play D'Artagnan, The Three Musketeers from MGM in 1948 is not a bad version and Gene Kelly's fans will enjoy it immensely.

blanche-2 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.

Jem Odewahn THE THREE MUSKETEERS is an incredibly entertaining romp that boasts terrific Technicolour visuals, gorgeous production design and costumes, amazing action sequences,a riveting plot and a top-notch MGM cast. Quite simply, this film adaptation of Dumas'novel is a triumph!Gene Kelly, famous for his fancy footwork in musical classics such as SINGIN IN THE RAIN and AN American IN Paris, slides into Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn's swashbuckling shoes and finds the fit near perfect as D'Artagnan, the hero of the piece. Kelly is charismatic and incredibly likable, imbuing his performance with such energy and belief that his own stocks (Kelly was a good actor, not a great one) as an actor seem to rise. Kelly obviously had a riot of a time playing D'Artagnan, and it shows on-screen. His training as a dancer and skills in dance choreography benefit the production immensely, as Kelly adds his own unique blend of athleticism and grace to the swordplay sequences. Gene is also at his physical peak here...just one look at that shirtless scene and you'll know what I'm talking about...Lana Turner turns in what may be her finest performance as ice-blonde (and ice-hearted) villianess Lady De Winter. Turner, an incredibly photogenic yet limited actress, was capable of turning in a good performance in the right role, and she makes Lady De Winter her own. Vincent Price is also here in villain-mode (but did he ever really come out of it again after DRAGONWYCK and SHOCK?), and provides many memorable moments as only he can.Angela Lansbury is suitably stately as the Queen, and Van Heflin turns in a great performance as Athos, an emotionally tortured Musketeer who is hiding a big secret. June Allyson, an always appealing and committed actress, unfortunately is miscast as Constance. Still, her scenes with Kelly are wonderful in their light comic playing and tender, genuinely touching romance.The film is not perfect,yet it captures the spirit of Dumas' novel and promises to provide future generations with terrific entertainment.9/10.