The Three Musketeers (1939)

Pleasant musical comedy

This film takes the familiar Three Musketeers story and adds musical numbers and slapstick routines from the Ritz Brothers. It has a good cast both in the lead and minor roles, but it never reaches the heights in terms of entertainment. The songs are pleasant but undistinguished and this includes the opening song sung by Don Ameche and then reprised throughout the film at various times. The comedy routines from the Ritz Brothers are fairly amusing.

The film looks quite handsome with its appealing lead players,costumes and sets. The film is not long at 72 minutes and it is a pleasant way to pass that time if you enjoy this genre, which I do. December 18, 2007

All for Fun

Pauline Kael, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks all love the Ritz Brothers, and I do, too. Comedy's notoriously difficult to analyze (one man's belly laugh is another fella's blank stare), so I'm at a loss to tell you why these guys crack me up -- but they're consistently enjoyable, even when handed the feeblest material (i.e., THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES). Here, with some cheerfully second-rate songs to sing and surrounded by a first-rate production, they're great fun. According to the DVD notes, this was a low-budget effort for Fox, but they spent their nickel well: the movie looks swell. A nice surprise to see Don Ameche as a swashbuckling musical lead; Gloria Stuart is lovely and intelligent, as always, and Binnie Barnes makes a dry, enjoyable (and quite comely) Lady De Winter. And the storytelling here's remarkably efficient. Even with the addition of the Ritz crackers, the songs, and assorted comic horseplay, all the bones of the Dumas classic are there in a brisk 74 minute film. Certainly not the best, or best-known, version of this oft-lensed tale, but a highly enjoyable one for the entire family. Worth checking out. November 23, 2007

One for all and all for The Ritz Brothers!

I do not understand why The Ritz Brothers are not better known. They could out-sing and out-dance most, if not all, other comedy teams. Sure their brand of humor is a matter of individual taste, but what humor isn't?
This is 72 minutes of unadulterated fun, partially faithful to Dumas' great novel, elaborately designed, wonderfully produced by Darryl Zanuck, and creatively directed by that ol' professional Allan Dwan. The supporting cast of Lional Atwill, John Carradine, Binnie Barnes, Gloria Stuart, Douglas Dumbrille, Miles Mander, etc. are superb, and more than support the dashing and vocally adept Don Ameche (okay, so he's no Allan Jones), and the hilarious Ritz Brothers. Yeah, they fit right in to my "matters of taste." Give them a try. 20th Century Fox needs to release more films on DVD of this wonderfully zany, incredibly talented trio. September 19, 2007

The movie has charm...but how well you like it may depend on how well you like the Ritz Brothers

Darryl Zanuck does to The Three Musketeers what Mr. Joyboy does to the loved ones at Whispering Glades Mortuary. They sure look well groomed and well cared for, but I wouldn't want to embrace them enthusiastically. They're just a little...well, stiff. The story goes that Zanuck in 1939 thought the time was right for a movie full of laughs, slapstick and songs, all done on the cheap but looking good. What else could have come to Zanuck's mind than Dumas' The Three Musketeers, especially since there were no rights to pay for. There's still the skeleton of the story. The Queen of France (Gloria Stuart) has given an emerald brooch to the Duke of Buckingham as a remembrance token. Cardinal Richelieu (Miles Mander) discovers this and sets up a nasty surprise for her which will ensure his power over the King. But that young man from Gascony who is eager to become a King's Musketeer, D'Artagnan (Don Ameche), learns of the plot while falling in love with one of the Queen's attendants, Lady Constance (Pauline Moore). He enlists the three Musketeers he was going to duel with and off they go to retrieve the brooch, save the Queen, foil the Cardinal's plan and frustrate the Cardinal's beautiful agent, Lady de Winter (Binnie Barnes).

However, the real three musketeers are given about three minutes of screen time. Taking their place in mistaken identity are three lackeys...the Ritz Brothers. Although Don Ameche makes a likable enough fighting and singing D'Artagnan, this Three Musketeers lives or dies on how funny you think the Ritz Brothers are. They were big stuff in the Thirties, but faded fast in the early Forties. They were loud, anarchic and could do some fine precision dancing. In this film, their stomping routine with metal plates strapped fore and aft is first rate. Since the movie only lasts about 72 minutes, there's a lot of the Ritz Brothers.

Ameche is assured, pleasant and, as he was throughout most of his career, bland. He was a popular leading man in the Thirties and Forties, but never quite found a firm grasp on top stardom. Everyone liked him, he went home at 5 p.m. to his wife and kids, didn't drink and he always knew his lines. By the time the Fifties were underway he was doing a lot of television and had a success on Broadway as the lead in Cole Porter's Silk Stockings. He was largely forgotten until, improbably, he hit stardom in the movies one more time. With Trading Places in 1983, Cocoon in 1985 and Things Change in 1988, Ameche, now as an older star character actor, was on top again. He stayed there until his death in 1993 at age 85. It's a nice story.

Ameche is both blessed and cursed in the movie. He's blessed because he has a chance to show what a skilled singer he is, from the Musketeers' march to an odd traveling song to his declaration of love for Lady Constance. He's cursed because these are some of the most mundane songs imaginable. Here's Ameche singing with his head through a hole in a wooden door to Constance:

And if my song could make you say you love me,
Then heaven would be bright above me.
With words and music straight from my heart,
My song would tell my love for you, my lady.

While he's singing this song, Pauline Moore as Constance looks as if d'Artagnan must have had too much garlic on his escargots. It's an awkwardly acted and staged scene.

But here's a toast to Lady de Winter, a spy to die for. And she'll help you. de Winter is one of the great characters in the book and she usually steals the scenes she has in the many movie versions. Lana Turner and Faye Dunaway were memorably murderous and stunningly beautiful as Milady. With Lady de Winter's fondness for causing others to die and with her cool delight in using men's lust to achieve her ends, one can only assume that she never had enough love as a child. Binnie Barnes plays her and does a great job. Barnes is blond and beautiful, and her de Winter would just as soon skewer D'Artagnan as make love to him. Binnie Barnes said once, "I'm no Sarah Bernhardt. One picture is just like another to me as long as I don't have to be a sweet woman."

How well you enjoy this movie probably depends on how well you enjoy the Ritz Brothers. The movie is dated, the humor is broad, the songs aren't very good. Still, The Three Musketeers has a lot of good natured charm. The DVD transfer is just fine. There are a couple of inconsequential and very short extras that feature the brothers. July 12, 2007

Good Story. Good Songs. Realism & Fun.

Realistic-adventure and slapstick-comedy normally do not mix, but here they do, because there is a good story, and the film is carefully balanced so the realism brings you right back to the story after limited comedy.

This film has a fitting hero, sword fights, a couple very good songs, a little romance, and surprisingly, some good comedy.

The Ritz brothers sometimes give that silly, cross-eyed, look, that Martin Short can do, that looks so silly, you just want to slap them for looking so silly This is a fun and lively film, yet with realism that makes you wonder, if it did not really happen that way. An excellent, charming, film.

Another great version of "The Three Musketeers" that you have never heard of is "At Sword's Point- 1952" with Alan Hale Jr., Cornell Wilde, and Maureen O'Hara.
April 25, 2007

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