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I'm not quite sure that there is any version of The Three Musketeers that quite gets it right, though the closest are the RKO film from 1935 and the MGM one from 1948. They starred Walter Abel and Gene Kelly respectively and each was deficient somewhat as D'Artagnan. Why Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, or Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. did not play D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers is a mystery to me.The Four Musketeers is the second of the film that Richard Lester originally shot. His The Three Musketeers ran so long that it was simply released as two films. The first one however is marginally superior to this one. The first half of the story lends itself to the slapstick comedy spirit that permeates the two films. The whole business of trying to recover the Queen's necklace to preserve her honor works for comedy. But the second half of Alexander Dumas novel gets down to some serious business with the deaths of several of the characters. The comedy here went over like a titanium balloon.Best in the film because he keeps his dignity in both halves is Charlton Heston as Cardinal Richelieu. In any version that man is not one to be spoofed.A really great cast was assembled and wasted by Richard Lester. All for one and none really for this.
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