The Three Musketeers (1921)

Whilst I did quite enjoy this adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel, I found it all just a bit too whimsical. "D'Artagnan" (Douglas Fairbanks) is desperate to join the famous King's Musketeers so travels to Paris where he alights on the three that his father would have definitely told him to avoid! Porthos (George Siegmann); Athos (Léon Bary) and Aramis (Eugene Pallette) soon have our young, but accomplished, swordsman embroiled in plots that reach the highest offices of state. It is in these lofty echelons of power that Nigel de Brulier (Cardinal Richelieu) in trying to mould the rather weak willed King Louis XIII (Adolphe Menjou) to his will. The only fly in his ointment is the wily, determined Queen Anne (Mary MacLaren). I was always slightly puzzled by the rather wholesome way this lady is portrayed, since almost all of her vulnerability - essentially the crux of the whole story - comes from her affair with the British Prime Minister - the Duke of Buckingham (Thomas Holding). When Richelieu cottons on to this, and discovers that his Queen has made a gift of some rather valuable jewels to her paramour, he sets out to bring her down in disgrace. Only our four intrepid cavaliers can save the day... The sets and costumes are super, Fairbanks and Pallette deliver plenty of swashbuckling action when called for, but the film just lacked too much by way of action for me (and there is a degree of shot repetition, too). du Brulier has no menace to him at all as the scheming Cardinal and so any sense of peril as the musketeers rally to their task is largely lost in a rather glorified costume drama. Another film that celebrates it's centenary this year, and certainly worth watching - it's just a bit disappointing, is all....