The Three Musketeers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

The Three Musketeers Blu-ray Movie Review

Bros before hoes.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 24, 2022

George Sidney's The Three Musketeers is one of countless big-screen adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel and, while it doesn't succeed on all fronts, it at least has fun trying. Gene Kelly hams it up as the non-singing, non-dancing D'Artagnan of Gascony, who successfully joins the king's elite Musketeers after showing off his skilled swordsmanship and fearless bravery during proposed duels with Porthos (Gig Young), Athos (Van Heflin), and Aramis (Robert Coote). The Musketeers swear their allegiance to King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan) and Queen Anne (Angela Lansbury) and have a common enemy in Richelieu (Vincent Price) -- curiously not a Cardinal in this version, lest Catholics be offended -- with other wild cards like the Queen's lovely confidante Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson) and mysterious Countess de Winter (Lana Turner) trying their hardest to spice up a lot of otherwise soggy and uninteresting drama.

The swashbuckling action elevates this show to moderate heights during its woefully uneven 125-minute runtime, but The Three Musketeers clearly has trouble keeping all its balls in the air. When it's on, it's on: almost every swordfight, chase, or other action sequence commands attention, whether it's Gene Kelly (or at least his stunt double wearing a bad wig) leaping off 15-foot embankments, fearfully mounting horses mid-stride, or deftly scaling walls in a catlike manner usually reserved for Jackie Chan films. These absolutely blistering moments, which are sprinkled throughout and almost worth the price of admission alone, serve as the undisputed highlight of this film... save for perhaps its attention-grabbing (but hardly accurate) costume design and attractive Technicolor cinematography.

Running a pretty distant second is just about everything else, from the questionable non-Kelly casting choices to its almost impenetrably boring plot. The script's light tone rarely establishes any real threat, which extends to the mostly toothless portrayals of Richelieu and Countess de Winter, and a number of subplots either generate confusion or fizzle out with little fanfare. Despite what looks like a stacked cast (which also includes Keenan Wynn, Reginald Owen, John Sutton, and others), few characters leave much of an impression... including the Musketeers themselves, save for Van Heflin's Athos because of his over-the-top alcoholism. Some supporting characters, like Queen Anne herself, disappear halfway through. All told, it's much less than the sum of its parts, with Gene Kelly carrying most of the weight like a group project where one student really wanted to impress the class. Is that enough to save it? Not really... but if you've got nostalgic attachment to this one you'll probably forgive most of its flaws, which are admittedly smoothed over by great cinematography and lavish production design. It's clear that The Three Musketeers was a well supported project and quite popular in its day -- and for all I know, everyone had an absolute blast doing it -- but while a few highlights are there and most of its budget can be seen on-screen, this one's far from a certified classic.

Either way, those who love the film as-is will be absolutely over the moon for Warner Archive's outstanding Blu-ray presentation, which serves up yet another top-tier 4K-sourced restoration that plays to The Three Musketeers' stunning Technicolor strengths. (No surprise there.) A handful of decent era-specific bonus features, most of which are ported over from Warner Bros.' out-of-print 2007 DVD edition, round out this fundamentally solid catalog release.

The Three Musketeers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Just pairing the words "Warner Archive" with "original nitrate Technicolor negatives" pretty much guarantees a perfect result, and that's what we get with this lovingly restored production. The Three Musketeers is a lavishly-produced film with loads of color, beautiful lighting and cinematography, and flamboyant costume designs that all attract attention and make for a visually stunning experience from start to finish. Warner Archive's new 1080p transfer is sourced from a recent 4K scan of those sterling source elements with extensive automatic and manual cleanup, resulting in yet another purist-friendly presentation that balances a clean, pristine appearance with natural film grain and noticeable textures that toes the line carefully and quite likely surpasses original theatrical showings. Additionally, black levels and shadow detail are both nicely resolved with no obvious signs of posterization, banding, or compression artifacts, and the whole show is encoded nicely on a dual-layered disc that runs at a very high bit rate from start to finish. This is a top-shelf presentation that fans will absolutely adore and easily stands as this Blu-ray's strongest highlight.

The Three Musketeers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although the majority of this DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track sounds perfectly fine (and at the very least, preserves the modest original 1.0 mono mix faithfully), several short scenes and exchanges suffer from a tinny and sometimes gauzy distortion that renders portions of dialogue somewhat tough to decipher. This is likely an age-related or other source material issue and isn't too prolonged or distracting, but it's definitely noticeable at times; luckily, the included English (SDH) subtitles are on hand to clear up some of those issues. Aside from that -- and, of course, a somewhat strained high end during music cues -- it's a reasonably smooth and satisfying presentation, with rowdy and well-placed effects during action scenes and an overall solid dynamic range with no drop-outs or flagrant sync issues.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, but not the extras. This is pretty annoying since the DVD edition that most of them were sourced from did in fact have optional subtitles available. It's perhaps my only ongoing hang-up regarding Warner Archive releases, and one that I hope is addressed at some point.

The Three Musketeers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with original one-sheet poster artwork and no inserts of any kind. A handful of vintage bonus DVD-era features are also included; like most Warner Archive releases from this era, they're more for pre-show period entertainment than film-specific analysis.

• FitzPatrick Traveltalks Short: "Looking at London" (10:09) - This laid-back travelogue from "Voice of the Globe" James A. FitzPatrick takes a look at the sights of London rebuilding post-WWII. It's perfectly fine entertainment if you're up for it, and at the very least a pretty interesting time capsule.

• Tex Avery Cartoon: "White Price Fleadom" (6:57) - This emotional tale of a dim-witted dog and his flea companion gets pretty dark near the climax (think "Blue Cat Clues" from Tom and Jerry), but luckily ends on a sweet note. It's just one of many highlights from Warner Archive's outstanding Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 3 which, along with the other two, is well worth a purchase if you don't own it already.

• MGM Radio Promo (14:04) - A vintage piece featuring Lana Turner talking about the main feature.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:56) - This rousing vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

The Three Musketeers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

George Sidney's The Three Musketeers uses great action and beautiful Technicolor cinematography to stand out from the crowd... but its awkward pace, questionable casting, and a weak script spoil the party. It makes for a wildly uneven viewing experience, although the spectacular moves by Gene Kelly (and his obvious stunt double) might just be worth the aggravation. Warner Archive's Blu-ray provides support with another top-tier restoration and several era-specific bonus features... but unless you're a die-hard fan of this film or Gene Kelly, it's a "try before you buy" disc.