The Magnavox Theater (TV Series) The Three Musketeers (1950) User Reviews

Good production but only half the story!

[FromBookstoFilm · 6/10 · 20 February 2007]

This version was quite good but it could have been better if they added another 60 to 90 minutes to it.This little known Musketeer gem of a film has a great cast. It to borrowed from other versions. Namely the 1921 silent film Milady in this version is not only the Cardinal's Spy.She is also a lady in waiting to the queen. Milady's character has been fused with the character of another spy from the Three Musketeers novel Madame de Lannoy. Rochefort's character has been fused with Jussac an idea used a decade later in the Maximillian Schell and Vincent Price 1960 Hallmark Hall of Fame Version. Robert Clarke and John Hubbard were very well cast as D'Artagnan and Athos both could act and both were handsome men just like in the novel. Marjorie Lord as Queen Anne and Constance turn in good performances. Don Beddoe does a good job as King Louis XIII but he was on the Frank Morgan vein with only one exception - his performance was better. Peter Mamakos is a fine Rochefort reminiscent of Lionel Atwill's 1939 Count de Rochefort in 20th Century Fox Three Musketeers. Kristine Miller's Milady de Winter performance was much like a three way cross between Lana Turner(1948),Margot Grahame (1935) and Rebecca DeMornay (1993) in other words-EXCELLENT. It's a shame that they didn't have a part two because then she could have played Milady to the limit. Actor Keith Richards was good but like Onslow Stephens in the 1935. He was not Aramis. The Actor playing Porthos was very much like the Alan Hale and Alan Hale II portrayals very good. Paul Cavanaugh was excellent in the role of Cardinal Richelieu. One problem though-Cardinal Richelieu was not an attractive man but Paul Cavanaugh turned in a fine performance.Performance much like Vincent Price's. Another must for a Musketeer collector who wants only half the story and appreciates the Musketeer films of the 1920's,1930's and the 1940's which the 1950 screenwriter of this production definitely borrowed from!

Good

[jrjcat · 4 March 2001]

This was the first televised version of the novel.It was released to tv first in 1950 and released theatrically as Sword of D'Artagnan.Robert Clarke does a fine job as D'Artagnan he physically resembles the character described by Dumas in his novel.John Sutton brings nobility to the character of Athos.Mel Archer and Keith Richards do well as Porthos and Aramis.Kristine Miller is perfect as Milady de Winter.Paul Cavanaugh excellent as the crafty Cardinal Richelieu.Lyn Thomas and Marjorie Lords turn in good performances as Constance and the Queen.If you liked the Gene Kelly 1948 version,the Don Ameche 1939 and the Walter Abel 1935 you will enjoy this one.

Cloak and dagger for Boetticher

[searchanddestroy-1 · 17 February 2023]

The surprise here is to watch a Budd Boetticher's film, short film actually, a Tv episode, which is not a western or a mystery yarn, as we could guess, but a THREE MUSKETEERS intrigue. That will be the only film of this kind in the filmography of Boetticher; a western specialist, who did not make any science fiction nor horror film either. There is nothing special here, just a rare gem to discover, if you are a Boetticher's fan. And I am sure there are many of them all over the moviegoer world, planet. That's not the best stuff about this topic I have ever seen. I am also sure that after this one, the director chose not to make any more costume adventure films anymore.