Cast:
Douglas Fairbanks (d'Artagnan), Adolphe Menjou (Louis XIII), Léon Bary (Athos), George Siegmann (Porthos), Eugene Pallette (Aramis), Mary MacLaren (Anne of Austria), Nigel De Brulier (Cardinal Richelieu), Thomas Holding (Duke of Buckingham), Marguerite De La Motte (Constance Bonacieux), Willis Robards (Captain de Treville), Boyd Irwin (Comte de Rochefort), Barbara La Marr (Milady de Winter), Lon Poff (Father Joseph), and Walt Whitman (d'Artagnan's Father) Directed by Fred Niblo (#1677 - The Mark of Zorro)
Review:
Surprise! It is time to do another themed August - Action August! Throughout the month, I will cover a variety of action movies, from old-fashioned to the current times. The goal is to cover a minimum of ten features with wide degrees of action that isn't just reserved for the United States, so let's see where that road takes us...
If you remember correctly, Hollywood loves their book adaptations, particularly if they can find some fighting in the prose to put into its feature. This is the case with this film, an adaptation of the 1844 novel of the same name, which had been written by Alexandre Dumas (the elder Dumas is referred to as père [French for father] to distinguish him from his son of the same name). Musketeer Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan proved the inspiration for Dumas, as Gaiten de Courtilz de Sandras had utilized d'Artagnan for his own novel with certain fiction. Dumas wrote two further novels that were published in serial form involving the Musketeers that are called The d'Artagnan Romances (1844, 1845, 1847-50); the first novel has the most adaptations, although the third novel in The Vicomte of Bragelonne has had numerous adaptations as well, generally adapting the third part of the book in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (since the book in general has 268 chapters). The movie was apparently set to be shot in France, but time constraints and the decision of Fairbanks to not travel abroad meant that the movie would be done in the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios lot in Hollywood with a few exterior shots in France. Edward Knoblock served as the adapter for the material from film to screen, while Lotta Woods served as scenario editor while Douglas Fairbanks was uncredited for his writing of the screenplay, and Fairbanks also served as producer. Fairbanks, De La Motte, De Brulier, and Bary would reprise their roles for The Iron Mask (1929).
If you've seen The Mark of Zorro (1920) or his later work with Robin Hood (1922), you pretty much know what you are going to get with Fairbanks in terms of swashbuckling dazzlement. Granted, at 120 minutes it does run a bit long for comfort, but it is a useful comfort that generally rewards the patience of its viewer with dazzling costumes and select moments of action with swords that does pretty much what you would expect from a silent era movie without troubles. Fencing expert H.J. Uyttenhove choregraphed the fight scenes, which worked well right up until one had to tell Fairbanks to try to be orthodox about handling a rapier, which results in him jumping around with a certain kind of energy that could make a fencer go mad but make others go wild. Imagine a 38-year-old going around with a blade and not having a degree of fun show once, particularly since it is a silent venture where Fairbanks thrived best. Since he is the one behind a loose adaptation of the material (in other words, a sanitization meant to send the folks home happy), it results in a fairly engaging experience, one in which he is the main attraction without making it sound like an ego-trip for the sake of chewing all of the attention, moving with energy in ways that would make an audience member await adventure avidly. The others are by and large fine at the costume stuff in never doddering their eyes, with Menjou courting the camera well enough to go with De Brulier and his invasive presence behind the scenes. Siegmann and the other two title members are mainly there to accompany action shots, but they do okay, if only because the whole point is to watch Fairbanks with company. MacLaren, De La Motte and La Marr make quality contrasts to one another in grace and guile, and generally one doesn't lose things in the shuffle. The action with the blades proves quite diverting and never seems to override one's senses or suspension of disbelief. The action film has been around since film began, right down to The Great Train Robbery (1903). The action film has had many faces over a century, whether involving swashbuckler adventures or war-adventures or with jidaigeki films or with detective features. As a whole, The Three Musketeers maintains a worthy level of excitement with its rendition of the swashbuckler that makes it a useful piece to consider in the history of action films or with the history of its actor/producer/writer in Douglas Fairbanks that makes for a fair recommendation for those into silent cinema or to see the seedlings of action cinema take shape.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment