For those of you who have been following my adventures in film on CineTV, you’ve probably figured out I like movie serials. This time around I am writing about The Three Musketeers (1933), a movie serial that has very little to do with Alexander Dumas' excellent novel except the name and referring to the group of heroic French Foreign Legionnaires as The Three Musketeers and the main hero as d’Artagnon (John Wayne) a few times. This 12 chapter serial has a running time of about 3.5 hours, and I watched it over the course of a few evenings with Jasmine, the wonderdog, as my Bonnie Bride and Little Miss were off in California visiting the in-laws. (Yes, they had a great time with my Bonnie Bride's family!)
The Three Musketeers poster - IMDB
The Three Musketeers takes place in North Africa, and deals with French controlled territory as the Legionnaires attempt to foil an Arab uprising led by a mysterious figure known only as El Shaitan. In the opening of the first chapter of the serial, U.S. Army aviator, Lieutenant Tom Wayne, played by John Wayne, flies in to rescue the few remaining Legionnaires from an Arab attack. Wayne is in North Africa to visit his girl friend, Elaine Corday (Ruth Hall), and her brother, Lt. Armond Corday (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Armond is on officer in the Legion, and has fallen in league with El Shaitan. Hopefully that is enough of the plot to give you an idea of what’s going on.
Bushman, Hatton and Mulhall as the Legionnaires - IMDB
Although not what I would consider to be a great movie serial as it is inconsistant in the cliffhangers and their resolutions, it is a fun serial to watch, and, for me, an important one to watch as it stars both John Wayne during his early Poverty Row acting career, and Lon Chaney, Jr. Both actors made several movie serials, this one being the last of three such films for The Duke (I have copies of all three, one of them is a compiled movie release instead of in the serial format), I think this is the only time these two actors worked together. Darn shame as I like both actors.
John Wayne as Lt. Tom Wayne - IMDB
It is showing its age when it comes to the story; it does have some good points, mostly around the problems that Lt. Wayne faces in clearing himself of being in league with El Shaitan and the murder of his friend Armond, plus winning back the love of Elaine who believes Wayne did commit the murder of her brother. There are numerous plot twists as to who is El Shaitan, with many suspects paraded before us, including the Arab leader, El Kadur (Hooper Atchley) as well as another officer in the Legion, and toss in an American Intelligence officer, Major Booth (Robert Frazer), and you have a pretty good mystery on your hands. The film relies heavily on stock footage of El Shaitan’s meetings, resulting in continuity errors which is noticeable when watching the serial over the course of a few evenings.
Lon Chaney, Jr. as Armond - IMDB
For me, watching The Three Musketeers was a bit of a personal quest, not just because I got hooked on movie serials growing up in the ‘70s when a late night movie host (Al Radka) started showing these on Saturday nights, but because I am also lifelong John Wayne fan, and I knew The Duke had made several serials. It wouldn’t be until the rise of DVDs that I was able to obtain a copy of The Three Musketeers and watch it. In preparing to write this review, I watched it for the second time, and although I do like this serial, it is not the best example of what a great serial is.
On a positive note, much of the acting is very good, including many of the various supporting actors in the serial, especially Atchley and Chaney. If, like me, you are a fan of old movie serials or a John Wayne fan, give it a run. Otherwise, you may want to pass on this one. If you have never watched a movie serial, I would suggest checking out one of the other serials I have reviewed, like The Masked Marvel, or any of the Buster Crabbe serials.
That’s it for this time around as I continue my journey through vintage movie serials.
Thanks for stopping by.
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