The Three Musketeers - The Queen's Diamonds (1973)
(The Three Musketeers)
Country: PAN
Technical: col 107m
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway
Synopsis:
Young D'Artagnan quits his farm in Gascony and journeys to Paris to become one of the king's musketeers. Almost at once he finds himself embroiled in defending the queen against Cardinal Richelieu's machinations towards provoking war with Protestant England, which he does with the aid of three new musketeer friends: Athos, Porthos and Aramis.
Review:
The Lester/Salkind version, filmed as one but released as two films, is a peculiar affair. The mixture of lame slapstick and Pythonesque humour with very real, bleeding wounds nonchalantly given tops off a rather quirky, British-style dose of Dumas, a fact further enhanced by Cassel's popinjay accent as the King of France and the presence of stalwart comic comeos (Milligan, Kinnear, Bewes, Thornton). However, the principal casting has never really been bettered, and it is only a pity that they have precious little to sink their dramatic chops into, with Lester content to mount a series of knockabout brawls and acrobatics, as if mindful of Gene Kelly's example. Even the duel with Rochefort is undermined by having it take place at night, with shuttered lanterns providing the necessary tension. The handsome production, partly shot in Spain, leads to some interestingly conceived scenery between Paris and the Channel, and Legrand's score only takes flight when plundering the classics.
(The Three Musketeers)
Country: PAN
Technical: col 107m
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway
Synopsis:
Young D'Artagnan quits his farm in Gascony and journeys to Paris to become one of the king's musketeers. Almost at once he finds himself embroiled in defending the queen against Cardinal Richelieu's machinations towards provoking war with Protestant England, which he does with the aid of three new musketeer friends: Athos, Porthos and Aramis.
Review:
The Lester/Salkind version, filmed as one but released as two films, is a peculiar affair. The mixture of lame slapstick and Pythonesque humour with very real, bleeding wounds nonchalantly given tops off a rather quirky, British-style dose of Dumas, a fact further enhanced by Cassel's popinjay accent as the King of France and the presence of stalwart comic comeos (Milligan, Kinnear, Bewes, Thornton). However, the principal casting has never really been bettered, and it is only a pity that they have precious little to sink their dramatic chops into, with Lester content to mount a series of knockabout brawls and acrobatics, as if mindful of Gene Kelly's example. Even the duel with Rochefort is undermined by having it take place at night, with shuttered lanterns providing the necessary tension. The handsome production, partly shot in Spain, leads to some interestingly conceived scenery between Paris and the Channel, and Legrand's score only takes flight when plundering the classics.
(The Three Musketeers)
Country: PAN
Technical: col 107m
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway
Synopsis:
Young D'Artagnan quits his farm in Gascony and journeys to Paris to become one of the king's musketeers. Almost at once he finds himself embroiled in defending the queen against Cardinal Richelieu's machinations towards provoking war with Protestant England, which he does with the aid of three new musketeer friends: Athos, Porthos and Aramis.
Review:
The Lester/Salkind version, filmed as one but released as two films, is a peculiar affair. The mixture of lame slapstick and Pythonesque humour with very real, bleeding wounds nonchalantly given tops off a rather quirky, British-style dose of Dumas, a fact further enhanced by Cassel's popinjay accent as the King of France and the presence of stalwart comic comeos (Milligan, Kinnear, Bewes, Thornton). However, the principal casting has never really been bettered, and it is only a pity that they have precious little to sink their dramatic chops into, with Lester content to mount a series of knockabout brawls and acrobatics, as if mindful of Gene Kelly's example. Even the duel with Rochefort is undermined by having it take place at night, with shuttered lanterns providing the necessary tension. The handsome production, partly shot in Spain, leads to some interestingly conceived scenery between Paris and the Channel, and Legrand's score only takes flight when plundering the classics.