The Three Musketeers (1953 film)

The Three Musketeers
File:Three Musketeers 1953.jpg
Directed by	André Hunebelle
Produced by	Paul Cadéac
Written by	Michel Audiard
Based on	Les trois mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas père
Starring	Georges Marchal Bourvil Jean Martinelli Danielle Godet
Music by	Jean Marion Costantino Ferri
Cinematography	Marcel Grignon Henri Thibault
Edited by	Jean Feyte
Distributed by	Pathé Titanus
Release dates	October 7, 1953 (1953-10-07) (France) December 8, 1953 (1953-12-08) (Italy)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	France Italy
Language	French

The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a 1953 film based on the French novel of the same name. This adaptation is one of five films director André Hunebelle and screen writer Michel Audiard achieved together. Georges Marchal portrayed d'Artagnan. In real life he was clearly older (born in 1920) than this character, but Marchal happened to be one of the most famous actors of European cinema in these days. With hindsight this adaptation might be regarded as one of his lesser important appearances because later on he even starred for Luis Buñuel.

Plot

Young d'Artagnan leaves his parents and travels from his native Gascony to the capital of France because he wants to prove himself an excellent fencer and to become a musketeer. He is told by his father he must not avoid any duel. On his way to Paris, d'Artagnan feels that his honour is besmirched because he overhears how his horse is derided by a sinister nobleman. He can't help but demand immediate satisfaction. Unfortunately, of all men he finds he has challenged the Count de Rochefort, a shifty character to whom Cardinal Richelieu frequently entrusts covert operations. Rochefort's henchmen take care of d'Artagnan and steal from him. The enraged d'Artagnan is determined to take revenge and will eventually have the chance to do so, for the Queen has given a present to her secret admirer the Duke of Buckingham, and d'Artagnan must retrieve it from him, although he is now already back in England. If he fails her, Cardinal Richelieu is going to disclose Queen Anne's infidelity to King Louis XIII, in order to force a war against England upon him. The Cardinal and Count de Rochefort will do everything in their power if only they can put paid to d'Artagnan's mission. But with help from his three new friends d'Artagnan prevails.

Cast

Actor	Character
Georges Marchal	d'Artagnan
Bourvil	Planchet
Jean Martinelli	Athos
Gino Cervi	Porthos
Jacques François	Aramis
Danielle Godet	Constance Bonacieux
Marie Sabouret	Queen Anne
Louis Arbessier	King Louis XIII
Renaud Mary	Cardinal Richelieu
Yvonne Sanson	Milady de Winter
Jean-Marc Tennberg	Count De Rochefort
Steve Barclay	Duke of Buckingham
Françoise Prévost	Ketty
Félix Oudart	M. de Tréville
Claude Dauphin	the narrator

Production

The film was shot in the Studios de Saint-Maurice, on the premises of castle Fontainebleau and in the Forest of Fontainebleau. In 1966 André Hunebelle returned to Fontainebleau for his film Fantômas contre Scotland Yard.

Reception

Due to the film's success André Hunebelle directed three more swashbuckler films (Le Bossu, Captain Blood and Le Miracle des loups) and hereby established Jean Marais as a fixture for this genre.

References

This article incorporates information from the French Wikipedia.

External links

• The Three Musketeers at IMDb
• Biography of Michel Audiard on his homepage