Many critics and film scholar credit Douglas Fairbanks for setting the foundation of swashbuckling genre in Hollywood by playing titular protagonist of his 1920 hit The Mark of Zorro. Fairbanks, who had by that time already achieved stardom, albeit in comedies, apparently decided to follow the same path and chose ultimate swashbuckling classic of world literature as his next project. It was The Three Musketeers, famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, which was in 1921 adapted into eponymous film directed by Fred Niblo.
The film, which was produced and co-written by Fairbanks, represents relatively faithful adaptation of literary source. Plot is set in 1625 France and begins at the court of King Louis XIII (played by Adolphe Menjou), where his scheming prime minister Cardinal Richelieu (played by Nigel De Brulier) sees King’s consort, Queen Anne of Austria (played Mary MacLaren) as the last obstacle on his path to complete power. The queen has been object of infatuation by English Duke of Buckingham (played by Thomas Holding), so Cardinal tries to use it to discreetly suggest scandalous that Queen might be his lover. Queen doesn’t help her cause by giving diamond brooch to Duke as a sign of affection. In the meantime, D’Artagnan (played by Fairbanks), son of the petty noble from Gascony, arrives to Paris in hope that he would join famed unit of King’s Musketeers. While he is initially unsuccessful in that, he befriends three Muskeeters – Athos (played by Léon Bary), Porthos (played by George Siegmann) and Aramis (played by Eugene Palette). He also meets Queen’s seamstress Constance Bonacieux (played by Marguerite De La Motte) and falls in love with her. She agrees to help the Queen and goes to England in order to retrieve the diamonds from Duke before the royal ball in Paris where Queen is supposed to wear them. On the way D’Artagnan and his friends are pursued by Cardinal’s Guards and D’Artagnan later had to deal with villainous Come de Rochefort (played by Boyd Irwin) and Milady De Winter (played by Barbara La Marr).
The Three Muskeeters is the novel with most screen adaptations in history. That makes each of such films to compete with plenty of films that are very likely to be better. Even with such considerations and even with technical limitations of early 1920s, like the lack of sound and colour, taken into account, The Three Muskeeters represents a disappointment. The most positive thing that can be said of the film is that the huge budget was well-spent and 17th Century France is meticulously and convincingly recreated. Fred Niblo, prolific director of silent era, does solid job in mass scenes, but his style is otherwise wooden and unimaginative, with use of formulaic static shots. Fairbanks, who has already built reputation of an action star, takes opportunity to show some great stunt work and physical skill relatively late in the film. Lack of action, on the other hand, shows his limitations as a proper actor. Being 38 years old and having to play youth didn’t help film either. Impression is, on the other hand, slightly improved by the rest of the cast, most notably Nigel De Brulier as sinister but intelligent villain. Unlike us, who have much better choice and other version of Three Muskeeters for comparison, the audience in 1921 had better reasons to be impressed with Niblo’s film, which, unsurprisingly, became a big hit. Fairbanks maintained his stellar reputation and in 1929 repeated the role of D’Artagnan in The Iron Mask, a sequel which was partially made with sound. While watchable and at times quite entertaining, this version of The Three Muskeeters is most likely to please only the hard core cinephiles and those most enthusiastic about silent cinema.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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