The 5th Musketeer (1977)

An appealing cast of film veterans makes this 1977 action-adventure version of Alexandre Dumas's The Man In the Iron Mask particularly watchable. Lloyd Bridges co-stars as swordsman Aramis, one of several Musketeer tutors of young and brave Phillippe (Beau Bridges, Lloyd's son), who doesn't know he's the identical twin brother of King Louis XIV. Captured by Louis, his features briefly disguised by an uncomfortable iron mask, Phillippe is forced to play his villainous sibling in an assassination scenario designed to fool France into believing its mad emperor is dead. Phillippe, however, turns the tables, and with the aid of Aramis, Athos (Jose Ferrer), Porthos (Alan Hale Jr.), and D'Artagnan (Cornel Wilde), makes a bold attempt to take his country's destiny in hand. Also on view are Rex Harrison, Ursula Andress, and Olivia DeHavilland; the star wattage and attractive settings compensate somewhat for director Ken Annakin's stiff and unimaginative direction. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

I love the musketeer-stories.

Since I was a kid, some 50 years ago, I am fascinated by the Alexandre Dumas stories about the Musketeers. First by reading the books and later by watching the movies. The 5th musketeer is well filmed and the story is very captivating though somewhat different from the book "The man with the iron mask". I am still waiting for a DVD of the movie "The return of the musketeers" (1989). January 18, 2008

Good swashbuckler, but the "uncensored" version should have been released

It's frankly beyond me why the so-called "uncensored" version has never been released in the U.S., even with this new DVD version. I have seen the full-length version on Region 2 DVD (readily available for anyone with a DVD player capable of running Region 2 discs), and, as other reviewers have noted, the "juicy" scenes truly don't have anything that would be particularly shocking in this day and age. (If one considers the sight of the beauteous Ursula Andress and Sylvia Kristel in the nude to be a tremendous shock, one probably needs to get out more. :) ) More to the point, the uncut version (which, by the way, is available in English) makes more sense and flows better than the "censored" version - to the tune of 15 minutes' worth of additional footage, most of it _not_ sex-related. Several important conversations, as another reviewer noted, are sliced up because one scene or another showing a little more of Kristel or Andress than was considered proper were removed to get a PG rating in the US. A shame.

If you can get ahold of the uncut version and can play it, do so. This is quite a good movie with lots of good performances, including turns by several mainstays of classic Hollywood - the great Rex Harrison in one of his last roles and Olivia de Havilland as the mother of Louis XIV, to name two. There's all the sword action you could expect from a Musketeers movie. Andress drips sex and menace as the scheming mistress of King Louis, while Kristel (best known, of course, as Emmanuelle) is sweet and winsome as the Spanish princess dispatched to marry the King who ends up falling for his lookalike. Beau Bridges makes a good foppish Louis, but I'm not sure he's quite dashing enough to play Philippe, the lookalike; however, he gives it the old college try and acquits himself decently. August 9, 2007

Fun movie with an amazing cast

Just look at the cast for this fun and entertaining adaptation of "The Man in the Iron Mask" story. Not only do we have Beau and Lloyd Bridges, but also Rex Harrison, Olivia De Havilland, Jose Ferrer, Cornel Wilde and Ursula Andress but there are also actors who have achieved even greater fame since this movie was released in the 1970s such as Ian McShane and Sylvia Kristal.
The Dumas story had been adapted for the screen before and since (in the weak Leonardo DiCaprio movie), but never has it been so much fun and so entertaining to watch.
The crew were obviously all having a great time making this movie and it really shows, there is humor, action and suspense right to the last moment and the DVD transfer is a good one that will not leave you dissapointed.
One reservation I do have is the lack of extra's for the price tag. We are only given a smattering of trailers for movies such as "From Here to Eternity" and "Lawrence of Arabia"...Still, this is a great movie and well worth adding to your collection. July 23, 2004

great cast, beautiful costumer that fizzles

This movie is loaded with stars, Ian McShane, Ursula Andress, Beau Bridges (in the duo role) and Lloyd Bridges, Alan Hale Jr., Cornel Wilde, Rex Harrison, Olivia de Havilland and Jose Ferrer. The costumes are scrumptious and the locale work all help this movie along. It?s good to see the old 50s movie stars having one last swashbuckle! Bridges is miscast and nearly sinks the movie, and the directing is stiff, but everyone does a good turn in the old Man in the Iron Mask story. McShane seems to have fun as Fourquet.

The much-filmed Dumas tale has the Philippe, twin brother of the King of France, raised and protected by the Musketeers. Fourquet, acting for the King, has the twin arrested and hidden by the iron mask. He plans to use the twin as a decoy in public, and kill him with a bomb. Then when the King surprisingly survives the attempt, it?s supposed to make everything believe he is invincible. Only the musketeer is Johnny-on-the-spot to foil the plot, save their ward and then pull the switch by stuffing Louis the King in the iron mask and place Philippe on the throne of France.

It?s a good transfer. Just a shame the younger Bridges hurt the effort in the dual role and the directing could not have been stronger.
July 20, 2004

Why censor?

I have a copy of the full version of this movie on VHS and was looking forward to owning a copy on DVD. After receiving a copy of the DVD, I noticed the PG rating. To my dismay, I found that they had censored the 'juicy' parts of the movie. The 'juicy' parts actually portrayed the relationships between the King and his mistress and that between the future Queen and the King's twin brother. I did not find the 'juicy' parts to be offensive in any way but rather it contributed to the storyline as a whole. For censoring the movie, I give it 3 stars. However, I must commend the Studio for the quality of the transfer. The video quality is relatively good compared to the tape version but the audio quality in some parts of the DVD could be improved. I hope that the Studio will produce the full version in due course. July 15, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...