This film begins with a young man named "d'Artagnan" (Walter Abel) leaving his small village in France to join the King's Musketeers in Paris. Unfortunately, on the way there, he gets into a scuffle with a man named "Count de Rochefort (Ian Keith) and is subsequently knocked unconscious. After taking a couple of days to recover from his head wound, d'Artagnan quickly continues his journey to Paris to finally introduce himself to the leader of the King's Musketeers, "Captain de Treville" (Lumsden Hare). Naturally, being the son of a former King's Musketeer, d'Artagnan is warmly welcomed and subsequently accepts the privilege of becoming a cadet in that highly respected organization. But then, as fate would have it, while talking to Captain de Treville, d'Artagnan just happens to spot Count de Rochefort from a distance--and hurriedly dashes out of the room to settle a score with him. Unfortunately, on the way to confront him, he accidently offends three strangers within the course of only a few minutes and is challenged to a duel by each of them. Never one to back down, he proudly accepts their challenge. However, upon appearing at the stipulated place, he and his worthy opponents are confronted by a party of six men under the orders of "Cardinal Richelieu" (Nigel De Brulier) who have come to arrest them for violating the law prohibiting dueling. Recognizing that they are outnumbered, d'Artagnan joins his three opponents in a fight against Richelieu's men. Afterward, having acquitted himself quite nicely, he is welcomed by his three worthy opponents into the brotherhood of the King's Musketeers. What he doesn't know is that there is a great deal of political intrigue in Paris at this time and he will need the help of these three Musketeers to navigate through the pitfalls and survive from that point on. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a fairly entertaining action picture which successfully incorporated a little humor and intrigue into the mix as well. Admittedly, the script seemed a bit too vague at times and the movie itself was quite dated. But even so, I still found it to be good enough for the time spent, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
Review of The Three Musketeers
