The Three Musketeers (1948) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure about the king's musketeers and their mission to protect France.

Cast & Crew

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George Sidney

Lana Turner

Gene Kelly

June Allyson

Constance [Bonacieux]

Van Heflin

Angela Lansbury

Photos & Videos

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Dave Karger Intro -- The Three Musketeers (1948)

Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- The Three Musketeers (1948)

Film Details

Also Known As

Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers

Genre

Adventure

Action

Adaptation

Classic Hollywood

Drama

Release Date

Nov 26, 1948

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 19 Nov 1948; New York opening: 20 Nov 1948

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.

Distribution Company

Loew's Inc.

Country

United States

Location

Los Angeles--Cheviot Hills, California, United States; Pasadena--Busch Gardens, California, United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel Les trois mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas, père (Paris, 1844).

Technical Specs

Duration

2h 5m

Sound

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color

Color (Technicolor)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Synopsis

In 1625, D'Artagnan, an eager young swordsman living in the small village of Gascon, France, sets out for Paris to seek a better life. In Paris, D'Artagnan meets Treville, the captain of King Louis XIII's musketeers, and asks to join Aramis, Porthos and Athos, the king's best musketeers, by whom he had been good-naturedly fooled on the road to Paris. Treville initially rejects D'Artagnan's request, but D'Artagnan later secures his place with the elite musketeers after fighting a series of duels and proving himself to be an expert swordsman. Soon after joining the musketeers, D'Artagnan learns that Cardinal Richelieu, the king's first minister, is secretly betraying the king and is determined to wage war against England. Treville is aware of Richelieu's betrayal but warns D'Artagnan that the king's position is tenuous and that D'Artagnan must not humiliate or provoke Richelieu's men. One day, Monsieur Bonacieux, D'Artagnan's landlord, asks D'Artagnan to look after his goddaughter Constance while he is away on a journey. Bonacieux tells D'Artagnan that Constance, who is one of the queen's maids, is in constant danger and that she is being followed by Richelieu's men. Before leaving on his journey, Bonacieux shows D'Artagnan a secret door in the apartment floor through which he may spy on Constance. When D'Artagnan sees Constance for the first time, he falls instantly in love with her. Late at night, after hearing screams from the apartment below, D'Artagnan dashes downstairs to rescue Constance and single-handedly fights off several of Richelieu's men. D'Artagnan is badly beaten in the fight but he quickly forgets his injuries when Constance gives him a small kiss. He then professes his love for Constance and they seal their love with a real kiss. Later, D'Artagnan follows Constance to her secret rendezvous with the English Duke of Buckingham. In a fit of jealousy, D'Artagnan challenges the duke to a duel, but the duel is called off when D'Artagnan learns that the furtive meeting has been arranged to deliver the duke to Queen Anne, with whom he is engaged in a secret affair. Before the duke returns to England, Anne gives him a keepsake of twelve large, perfectly matched diamond studs, which the king has given her as a gift. When Richelieu learns from one of his agents that Anne gave the studs to the duke, he sends an accomplice, the beautiful Lady de Winter, to England to steal two of the diamonds so that he can expose the affair and force the king to consent to a war with England. Determined to prevent the affair from being exposed, Constance sends D'Artagnan to England to get the studs before Richelieu finds them. D'Artagnan promises to return with the jewels before the banquet at which the queen is expected to be wearing all her diamonds. D'Artagnan enlists the help of the other musketeers to get the jewels back, and as soon as they arrive in England they engage Richelieu's men in a battle. D'Artagnan arrives at the duke's estate too late, and discovers that two of the diamonds have already been stolen by Lady de Winter. While Lady de Winters set out to deliver the diamonds to Richelieu, the king's musketeers search for Athos, who, in a fit of depression over his past, has gotten violently drunk. Following several misadventures, the musketeers take exact duplicates of the missing gems, which have been made by the duke's jeweler, to France in time to deliver them to the Queen for the banquet. His scheme foiled, Richelieu exacts his revenge by arresting Constance and holding her captive. Richelieu refuses to release Constance until D'Artagnan consents to join forces with him as his lieutenant. When D'Artagnan refuses, Richelieu instructs Lady de Winter to use her persuasive charms to seduce him. The other musketeers later condemn D'Artagnan for consorting with Lady de Winter in order to continue his romance with Constance. D'Artagnan, however, insists that he is merely trying to win Lady de Winter's confidence to find out where Constance is being held. D'Artagnan devises an elaborate scheme to trick Lady de Winter into revealing Constance's whereabouts, but he later undermines his own scheme when he succumbs to Lady de Winter's charms and reveals his plan. Meanwhile, the queen's aides find and release Constance and deliver her to D'Artagnan's quarters. A hasty wedding is arranged between D'Artagnan and Constance before Constance is sent to Buckingham for safety. Soon after, the war between France and England breaks out, and Lady de Winter follows D'Artagnan to England, determined to exact revenge against him for tricking her. Warned of Lady de Winter's treachery, the Duke arrests her and places her under Constance's supervision. When D'Artagnan learns of the arrest, he races to the Duke's estate, hoping to prevent a tragedy. He arrives too late, however, as Lady de Winter has killed both Constance and the Duke. The musketeers eventually find Lady de Winter, who it is revealed, was once married to Athos, and after delivering her to the executioner, they fight off the last of Richelieu's men and bring the war to an end.

Director

George Sidney

Cast

Lana Turner

Gene Kelly

June Allyson

Constance [Bonacieux]

Van Heflin

Angela Lansbury

Frank Morgan

King Louis XVIII

Vincent Price

Keenan Wynn

John Sutton

The Duke of Buckingham

Gig Young

Robert Coote

Reginald Owen

Ian Keith

Patricia Medina

Richard Stapley

Byron Foulger

Sol Gorss

Richard Simmons

Robert Warwick

Wm. "bill" Phillips

Albert Morin

Norman Leavitt

Marie Windsor

Dark-eyed woman

Ruth Robinson

Dickie Dubins

Charles Bates

David Bair

Tom Tyler

Michael Kostrick

William Tannen

Wheaton Chambers

Gordon Clark

Gregg Barton

Tom Stevenson

Reginald Sheffield

Leonard Penn

Fred Coby

Kirk Alyn

John Holland

David Bond

Noel Howard

Richelieu guard

Roland Hughston

Richelieu guard

Allen Pinson

Richelieu guard

Bert Lebaron

Richelieu guard

William Edmunds

Irene Seidner

Landlord's wife

Francis Mcdonald

Jack Stoney

Wilson Benge

Alec Harford

Frank J. Marlo

William Norton Bailey

Carl Saxe

Gil Perkins

Jeff York

Paul Kruger

Vernon Downing

Paul Maxey

Arthur Hohl

Host at Dragon Rouge

Paul Newlan

Musketeer guard

David Thursby

Jean Louis Heremans

Jack Shea

Douglas Evans

British officer

Mickey Simpson

Redmond Doms

Jack Owen

Crew

Robert Ardrey

Peter Ballbusch

Pandro S. Berman

George Boemler

Malcolm Brown

Gene Coogan

Voice of man offstage

Jack Dawn

Makeup created by

Larry Germain

Hair styles designed by

Cedric Gibbons

Henry W. Grace

Associate (Sets)

Sydney Guilaroff

Hair styles designed by

Edward Hubbell

Henri Jaffa

Associate (Color)

Conrad Kahn

Natalie Kalmus

Technicolor Color Consultant

Robert J. Kern

Tom Long

Warren Newcombe

Special Effects

Robert Planck

Director of Photography

Walter Plunkett

Charles Previn

Tessa Primrock

Script Supervisor

George Rhein

Assistant Director

Roy Rowland

Fill-In Director

Albert Sendrey

Orch collaboration

Douglas Shearer

Recording Director

Harkness Smith

Camera Operator

Herbert Stothart

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Edwin B. Willis

Edward Woehler

Production Manager

Photo Collections

Videos

Three Musketeers, The (1948) --(Movie Clip) Brand New Creatures Director George Sidney with closer looks at key players, John Sutton as the English Prime Minister, in love with French Queen Anne (Angela Lansbury), diabolical Cardinal Richelieu (Vincent Price) with his chief collaborator Lady de Winter (Lana Turner), in MGM's The Three Musketeers, 1948.

Three Musketeers, The (1948) --(Movie Clip) I Shall Never Recover! D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) is just getting a first look at downstairs neighbor and queen's maid Constance (June Allyson) when she is attacked by Cardinal Richelieu's henchman, a rescue, aided by Planchet (Keenan Wynn) ensuing, in MGM's The Three Musketeers, 1948.

Three Musketeers, The (1948) --(Movie Clip) Four Against Five Gene Kelly's D'Artagnan arrives to duel Athos (Van Heflin), whose seconds Porthos (Gig Young) and Aramis (Robert Coote) are duly surprised, offenses forgotten when Jussac (Sol Gorss) arrives leading the cardinal's guards, in MGM's all-star The Three Musketeers, 1948.

Three Musketeers, The (1948) -- (Re-issue Trailer) Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, and Janet Leigh star in The Three Musketeers (1948), a lavish adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic swashbuckler.

Intro Aired: Feb 2019

Dave Karger Intro -- The Three Musketeers (1948) TCM’s Dave Karger introduces The Three Musketeers, 1948.

Intro Aired: Dec 2017

Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- The Three Musketeers (1948) Ben Mankiewicz introduces The Three Musketeers, 1948.

Intro Aired: Aug 2017

Tiffany Vazquez Intro -- The Three Musketeers (1948) TCM's Saturday afternoon host Tiffany Vazquez introduces The Three Musketeers, 1948.

Film Details

Also Known As

Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers

Genre

Adventure

Action

Adaptation

Classic Hollywood

Drama

Release Date

Nov 26, 1948

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 19 Nov 1948; New York opening: 20 Nov 1948

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.

Distribution Company

Loew's Inc.

Country

United States

Location

Los Angeles--Cheviot Hills, California, United States; Pasadena--Busch Gardens, California, United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel Les trois mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas, père (Paris, 1844).

Technical Specs

Duration

2h 5m

Sound

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color

Color (Technicolor)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Award Nominations

Best Cinematography

1948

Articles

The Three Musketeers (1948)

February 1, 2007

Swashbuckler, according to Merriam Webster, is a flamboyant soldier, adventurer or daredevil. If there were a section in Webster's Dictionary for Swashbuckling films, George Sidney's 1948 version of The Three Musketeers would have to be at the top of the list. Made at MGM, the Rolls Royce of movie studios at the time, The Three Musketeers has a star-studded cast that includes sexy Lana Turner, June Allyson, Angela Lansbury, Van Heflin, Vincent Price, Gig Young, and the electrifying Gene Kelly (whose character and performance are synonymous with the term swashbuckling).

The Three Musketeers was an extremely personal project for Kelly for two reasons. The first was the fact that he was recreating the character (D'Artagnan) played by his favorite star (Douglas Fairbanks) in his favorite movie (the 1921 version of The Three Musketeers). Kelly was later quoted in Tony Thomas' The Films of Gene Kelly: Song and Dance saying "I loved playing this part. As a boy I idolized Fairbanks, Sr. and I raised myself to be a gymnast." The second reason is that Kelly was hoping his performance in The Three Musketeers would convince MGM to let him do a musical version of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac.. Regardless of his energetic performance in The Three Musketeers, the studio brass wouldn't go for a musical Cyrano even though Kelly pestered them for years about it.

Not all the cast members were as thrilled as Kelly to do The Three Musketeers. June Allyson, in her autobiography June Allyson, revealed how uncomfortable she felt playing Constance Bonacieux. " . . .I wanted out of the picture. I never felt comfortable doing a period piece. . .I looked at myself in my sweeping robes and was not convincible that anyone was going to believe me as Lady Constance." Lana Turner also had a few problems accepting her role as Lady De Winter. According to her autobiography Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, Lana Turner refused to do the movie because she didn't have a starring role. MGM combated her refusal with a stern suspension. After negotiations and a rewriting of the script, Lana Turner agreed to do the film. But when all was said and done, the movie was a box office success and became an instant classic.

Director: George Sidney
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Screenplay: Robert Ardrey (based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas)
Cinematography: Robert H. Planck
Editor: George Boemler, Robert Kern
Art Direction: Malcolm Brown, Cedric Gibbons
Music: Herbert Stothart
Cast: Gene Kelly (D'Artagnan), Lana Turner (Lady de Winter), June Allyson (Constance Bonacieux), Van Heflin (Athos), Angela Lansbury (Queen Anne), Vincent Price (Cardinal Richelieu), Keenan Wynn (Planchet), Frank Morgan (King Louis XIII), Gig Young (Porthos)
C-126m. Close captioning. Descriptive Video.

by Rod Hollimon

The Three Musketeers (1948)

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Swashbuckler, according to Merriam Webster, is a flamboyant soldier, adventurer or daredevil. If there were a section in Webster's Dictionary for Swashbuckling films, George Sidney's 1948 version of The Three Musketeers would have to be at the top of the list. Made at MGM, the Rolls Royce of movie studios at the time, The Three Musketeers has a star-studded cast that includes sexy Lana Turner, June Allyson, Angela Lansbury, Van Heflin, Vincent Price, Gig Young, and the electrifying Gene Kelly (whose character and performance are synonymous with the term swashbuckling). The Three Musketeers was an extremely personal project for Kelly for two reasons. The first was the fact that he was recreating the character (D'Artagnan) played by his favorite star (Douglas Fairbanks) in his favorite movie (the 1921 version of The Three Musketeers). Kelly was later quoted in Tony Thomas' The Films of Gene Kelly: Song and Dance saying "I loved playing this part. As a boy I idolized Fairbanks, Sr. and I raised myself to be a gymnast." The second reason is that Kelly was hoping his performance in The Three Musketeers would convince MGM to let him do a musical version of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac.. Regardless of his energetic performance in The Three Musketeers, the studio brass wouldn't go for a musical Cyrano even though Kelly pestered them for years about it. Not all the cast members were as thrilled as Kelly to do The Three Musketeers. June Allyson, in her autobiography June Allyson, revealed how uncomfortable she felt playing Constance Bonacieux. " . . .I wanted out of the picture. I never felt comfortable doing a period piece. . .I looked at myself in my sweeping robes and was not convincible that anyone was going to believe me as Lady Constance." Lana Turner also had a few problems accepting her role as Lady De Winter. According to her autobiography Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, Lana Turner refused to do the movie because she didn't have a starring role. MGM combated her refusal with a stern suspension. After negotiations and a rewriting of the script, Lana Turner agreed to do the film. But when all was said and done, the movie was a box office success and became an instant classic. Director: George Sidney Producer: Pandro S. Berman Screenplay: Robert Ardrey (based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas) Cinematography: Robert H. Planck Editor: George Boemler, Robert Kern Art Direction: Malcolm Brown, Cedric Gibbons Music: Herbert Stothart Cast: Gene Kelly (D'Artagnan), Lana Turner (Lady de Winter), June Allyson (Constance Bonacieux), Van Heflin (Athos), Angela Lansbury (Queen Anne), Vincent Price (Cardinal Richelieu), Keenan Wynn (Planchet), Frank Morgan (King Louis XIII), Gig Young (Porthos) C-126m. Close captioning. Descriptive Video. by Rod Hollimon

Quotes

Trivia

'Taylor, Robert' and Ricardo Montalban and 'Greenstreet, Sidney' were originally cast as Athos, Aramis and Richelieu.

Lana Turner originally accepted a studio suspension in preference to playing Lady de Winter because she considered Milady a secondary character.

Richelieu is referred to as prime minister and almost all traces of him being a cardinal or a man of the church have been removed (although Jean Heremans is still credited as "Cardinal Guard").

Because of feared pressure from church groups, M-G-M changed Richelieu from a cardinal to a prime minister, even though his true clerical office had been shown in many other films without any repercussions.

Notes

The opening title card reads: "Metro-Goldwn-Mayer Presents Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers." A written onscreen prologue to the film reads: "In the year of Our Lord 1625, William Shakespeare was not long dead, America not long settled, and the calm of France not long for this world. A Gascon villager was preparing to go forth and shake that world till its teeth rattled." A December 1947 Hollywood Reporter news item noted that director George Sidney planned to shoot his own version of the film with a 16mm camera, alongside the studio's 35mm cameras, but no further information regarding a 16mm version has been found. A December 1947 article in New York Times indicates that a representative of the National Catholic Legion of Decency, an organization that monitored the interests of the Church in motion pictures, objected to the characterization of Cardinal Richelieu in M-G-M's planned adaptation of Dumas' story. In a letter to M-G-M producer Pandro S. Berman, the organization stated its objection to the cardinal being portrayed as a "worldly and unscrupulous man" and urged the studio to remove the character from the film. The New York Times article notes that Berman refused to remove the character from the film but promised he would use great caution in all sensitive matters pertaining to the story. Berman also indicated that "Constance," who is the married mistress of "D'Artagnan" in the novel, would be unmarried in the film version.
       A contemporary news item in Hollywood Reporter notes that Roy Rowland filled in as director of the film's screen tests in December 1947 while Sidney was recovering from an illness. A December 12, 1947 Los Angeles Times news item announced that Sydney Greenstreet and Sonya Tufts had been cast. Hollywood Reporter production charts include Frances Gifford in the cast, but she was not in the film. According to a January 1948 Hollywood Reporter news item, Lana Turner initially refused her assignment and was briefly suspended by M-G-M as a result. The picture marked Turner's first screen appearance in a color feature. While a February 1948 Daily Variety article put the final cost of the film at $4,000,000, it is more likely that the cost was closer to the $2,500,000 figure listed in modern sources. The Three Musketeers opened to mostly favorable reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the film's unusual tongue-in-cheek approach. The New York Times reviewer likened Turner's portrayal of "Lady de Winter" to a "company-mannered Mae West" and noted that "more glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's chest have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one." The film received an Academy Award nomination in the catagory of Best Cinematography.
       Modern sources relate the following information about that film: screenwriter Robert Ardry was displeased with Sidney's irreverent approach to the Dumas story and objected to the spoof elements that were added to the film. Robert Taylor and Ricardo Montalban were originally announced to play two of the musketeers, and Greenstreet was set to play the third. During Turner's suspension, M-G-M began a search for her possible replacement and, at one point, considered actress Alida Valli, who was then under contract to David O. Selznick. In her autobiography, June Allyson notes that she did not feel comfortable doing a period piece, and that she tried to get out of her assignment in the picture. A biography of Kelly noted that Belgian fencing champion Jean Heremans, who appears in the film as the cardinal's guard, taught Kelly how to fence. Kelly's biography also noted that during the filming of a bedroom scene, Kelly flung Turner onto a bed with such force that she fell to the ground and suffered a broken elbow. Some filming took place at Busch Gardens in Pasadena, and at the Cheviot Hill golf course near Culver City, CA. According to the New York Times obituary for stuntman Russell M. Saunders, Saunders acted as Kelly's stunt double in the film.
       Among the many film versions of Dumas' story are the 1914 Film Attractions Co. production, directed by Charles V. Henkel (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.4457); the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks production, directed by Fred Niblo (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5665); the 1935 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. production, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Walter Abel, Paul Lucas and Margot Grahame (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.4618); Richard Lester's 1974 Twentieth Century-Fox production starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Raquel Welch; and the 1993 Buena Vista release, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell and Rebecca de Mornay. According to a 1962 news item in Daily Variety, Gene Kelly was planning to play D'Artagnan again in a Carlo Ponti production entitled Cyrano and D'Artagnan. The film, which was to co-star Peter Sellers as Cyrano, was never made.

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