The Three Musketeers (film, 1948)

D'Artagnan , a naive Gascon youth, with a letter of recommendation from his father, travels to Paris to join the royal musketeers. He meets a mysterious lady in a roadside inn. He enters into a fight with one of Milady Winter's guards. As a result of this fight, by order of my lady, D'Artagnan was beaten with sticks. A letter to the captain of the royal musketeers de Treville has been lost forever.

Arriving in Paris, D'Artagnan goes to de Treville, but during a conversation with him one of the tavern acquaintances appears, and the young man rushes after him in pursuit. On the way, he accidentally receives duel challenges from three musketeers: Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Having met at the place of the duel, his rivals are surprised at the courage of D'Artagnan. Even before the start of the fight, people of Richelieu appear, who are ordered to arrest the musketeers. D'Artagnan rushes to the aid, outraged by numerical superiority. As a result, the musketeers take him into their ranks.

Later, D'Artagnan saves and falls in love with Queen Anne's confidante - Constance Bonacieux. Contrary to the original source, she is not the wife of the haberdasher Bonacieux, but only his relative. Cardinal Richelieu uses the indiscretion of the queen, who gave her lover, the duke Buckingham, diamond pendants to start a war with Britain. He persuades the king to arrange a ball at which the queen must wear the pendants presented by the crowned spouse.

Musketeers are sent to the UK for pendants, but en route are ambushed by Richelieu guards. Only D'Artagnan and his servant are able to get to Buckingham in Great Britain, having previously taken possession of the letter of recommendation of His Eminence. Milady has already managed to kidnap two pendants, but the duke’s jeweler quickly makes a replacement, and D'Artagnan returns to France in time to save the queen from shame.

Admiring the ingenuity of D'Artatian, Richelieu is going to entice him to serve him, kidnapping Constance. D'Artatyan falls under the spell of milady, trying to find out where Constance is. Athos convinces him that milady is actually his former unfaithful wife Charlotte (Rampling?), But D'Artagnan only believes him after he sees with his own eyes the stigma on the shoulder of an insidious seducer.

Between Britain and France, a war breaks out for the fortress of La Rochelle. The Queen manages to free Constance, and she sends her to Buckingham. Under the guise of peace talks, Richelieu orders Milady to kill Buckingham, but the musketeers manage to warn the duke with the help of Planchet. Milady goes to jail, but she manages to escape, killing Constance, and then Buckingham, but the musketeers again take her prisoner. Calls for mercy are in vain and the conspirator goes to execution.

• Gene Kelly - D'Artagnan
• Van Heflin - Athos
• Gig Young - Porthos
• Robert Coot - Aramis
• Frank Morgan - King Louis XIII
• Vincent Price - Richelieu
• Lana Turner - Milady
• Angela Lansbury - Queen Anne
• June Allison - Constance Bonacieux
• John Sutton - Duke of Buckingham
• Reginald Owen - de Treville
• Ian Kate - Rochefort
• Patricia Medina - Kitty
• Richard Wyler - Albert
• Keenan Wynn - Planchet
• Norman Leavitt - The Musketon
• Albert Maureen - Bazin
• William Philips - Grimaud
• Jill Perkins - Felton
• Dick Simmons - Earl de Ward

• Director: George Sidney
• Producer: Pandro S. Berman
• Screenwriter: Alexander Dumas the father (novel)
• Operator: Robert Plank
• Composer: Herbert Stothart

• Fearing the indignation of the Catholics, the MGM studio carefully avoided mentioning that Richelieu was a cardinal . ^[one]
• Contrary to other adaptations of the novel, the Lille executioner executed Milady not with a sword, but with an ax. Moreover, the execution scene itself, in accordance with the requirements of the then Hays Code , is cut out.
• The film adaptation contains all four of the servants of the musketeers: Grimaud, Musketon, Bazin and Planchet. Moreover, they all fulfill the honorable role of the squire of the protagonists, transporting their bulky muskets behind them.
• There is no scene in the film of the siege of the bastion of Saint-Gervais, defended by the musketeers during the siege of La Rochelle .