Press Release The Three Musketeers (Warner Archive Collection) (1948) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[JimMiller]

How can you include Night of the Lepus on that list? It's one of the great comedies of all time.

Watching it can become rabbit-forming...

 

[RobertMG]

Oct 21 1948 New York Times review has me confused did the Bosely Crowther like it or not?
The abundant talents and resources of Alexandra Dumas, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Technicolor company and Lana Turner's couturier contribute just about equally to the over-all effect of Metro's splendiferous production of Dumas' "The Three Musketeers." More glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's cheat have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one at Loew's State. And for those who enjoy a surfeit of such flashy and fleshy displays, there isn't the slightest question that here is a heaping dish.But for those who have some slight affection for Dumas' exciting romance about court intrigues and high adventures in seventeenth-century France; for those who expect a moderate measure of poetry and style in a costume film, this onrush of million-dollar clichés and star-steam-rollering will be a staggering bore. And that prophecy does not lose sight of the comparatively pleasing job done by Gene Kelly in the leading role of the gay and athletic D'Artagnan.As Dumas' magnificent hero who virtually assumed the task of shielding the weak King Louis against the dark machinations of Richelieu, Mr. Kelly may not seem precisely the gentleman portrayed in the book but he is a fair comprehension of a vigorous and genial young man. Not since Douglas Fairbanks swung through the air with magic ease and landed on balconies and beefsteaks has a fellow come along who compares with that robustious actor in vitality and grace. And even though he is given more than he should have to do and often is permitted to clown in a rather childish way, he carries his heavy role lightly—and, what's more, he looks good in plush costumes.That's where the credit ends, however. As D'Artagnan's swashbuckling pals. Van Heflin, Gig Young and Robert Coote, are just three Hollywood boys in puffs and plumes. Indeed, Mr. Heflin's performance as the one who chronically cries in his beer when he isn't flashing his rapier is just this side of burlesque. June Allyson plays a nice small-towner as the Lady Constance, a slightly carpentered role, and Vincent Price is Hollywood-haughty as Richelieu, conspiculously without his Cardinal's robes.Completely fantastic, however, is Miss Turner as the villainess , the ambitious Lady de Winter who does the boudoir business for the boss. Loaded with blond hair and jewels, with twelve-gallon hats and ostrich plumes, and poured into her satin dresses with a good bit of Turner to spare, she walks through the palaces and salons with the air of a company-mannered Mae West. And she makes ardent love to her victims with elegant high-school hauteur. But wait till you see her as the luckless and tragic lady locked up in the London Tower, with lightning flashing on her pale beauty! Take it away, make-up man!Needless to say, Robert Ardrey has put together a script which has about equal portions of gymnastics and pomposity. And George Sidney has directed the former portions with such intensity that the headlong momentum of the fast scenes often runs into the slow. The consequence is a strange hooraw's nest of swashbuckling action and backstairs plots, all mixed up and indeterminate amid a fortune's worth of Hollywood sets.
THE THREE MUSKETEERS, screen play by Robert Ardrey; based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas; directed by George Sidney; produced by Pandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At Loew's State. Lady de Winter . . . . . Lana Turner D'Artagnan . . . . . Gene Kelly Constance . . . . . June Allyson Athos . . . . . Van Heflin Queen Anne . . . . . Angela Lansbury King Louis XIII . . . . . Frank Morgan Richelieu . . . . . Vincent Price Planchet . . . . . Keenan Wynn The Duke of Buckingham . . . . . John Sutton Porthos . . . . . Gig Young Aramis . . . . . Robert Coote Treville . . . . . Reginald Owen Rochefort . . . . . Ian Keith Kitty . . . . . Patricia Medina Albert . . . . . Richard Stapley



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/us/craig-rowland-idaho-sheriff-gun.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces&block=lone_trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=110388144&impression_id=4ea7d490-6727-11ec-959b-79c7052f9025&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool/91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1&region=footer&req_id=83975035&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=0_bandit-all-surfaces

 

[Randy Korstick]

This movie has been a favorite of mine since I 1st saw it on VHS back in 1985. Really looking forward to the Blu Ray it should look amazing after seeing how Ivanhoe turned out.

 

[Will Krupp]

Oct 21 1948 New York Times review has me confused did the Bosely Crowther like it or not?

I don't know if you actually MEANT to call him "THE Bosley Crowther" or not, but something about it makes me giggle and either way, I have enormous love for the fact that you did. I think I'm only going to reference him this way from here on out!

This movie has been a favorite of mine since I 1st saw it on VHS back in 1985. Really looking forward to the Blu Ray it should look amazing after seeing how Ivanhoe turned out.

Considering the weird gamma flaw (how did that ever get released?) on the DVD, this will be a major upgrade before it even gets out of the gate! I can't wait to see what they do with it.

 

[RobertMG]

I don't know if you actually MEANT to call him "THE Bosley Crowther" or not, but something about it makes me giggle and either way, I have enormous love for the fact that you did. I think I'm only going to reference him this way from here on out!



Considering the weird gamma flaw (how did that ever get released?) on the DVD, this will be a major upgrade before it even gets out of the gate! I can't wait to see what they do with it.

yep "THE Bosley Crowther" by all means use it! He like the rest of the reviewers to this day must say negative things even in reviews they love - drives me nuts! Reminds me of one of my job reviews they use to do and then base the salary increase on yearly they would rave about me then give the zinger and I would say to my supervisor "u had to throw that in there and ruin a great job review?" and she would say "Management tells us to do it because they always feel there is room for improvement!"

 

[Capt D McMars]

yep "THE Bosley Crowther" by all means use it! He like the rest of the reviewers to this day must say negative things even in reviews they love - drives me nuts! Reminds me of one of my job reviews they use to do and then base the salary increase on yearly they would rave about me then give the zinger and I would say to my supervisor "u had to throw that in there and ruin a great job review?" and she would say "Management tells us to do it because they always feel there is room for improvement!"

"Management tells us to do it because they always feel there is room for improvement!" ~ or just try to keep you in line, LOL!!!

 

[RobertMG]

"Management tells us to do it because they always feel there is room for improvement!" ~ or just try to keep you in line, LOL!!!

Or do not make the raise on salary too high

 

[lark144]

Oct 21 1948 New York Times review has me confused did the Bosely Crowther like it or not?
The abundant talents and resources of Alexandra Dumas, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Technicolor company and Lana Turner's couturier contribute just about equally to the over-all effect of Metro's splendiferous production of Dumas' "The Three Musketeers." More glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's cheat have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one at Loew's State. And for those who enjoy a surfeit of such flashy and fleshy displays, there isn't the slightest question that here is a heaping dish.But for those who have some slight affection for Dumas' exciting romance about court intrigues and high adventures in seventeenth-century France; for those who expect a moderate measure of poetry and style in a costume film, this onrush of million-dollar clichés and star-steam-rollering will be a staggering bore. And that prophecy does not lose sight of the comparatively pleasing job done by Gene Kelly in the leading role of the gay and athletic D'Artagnan.As Dumas' magnificent hero who virtually assumed the task of shielding the weak King Louis against the dark machinations of Richelieu, Mr. Kelly may not seem precisely the gentleman portrayed in the book but he is a fair comprehension of a vigorous and genial young man. Not since Douglas Fairbanks swung through the air with magic ease and landed on balconies and beefsteaks has a fellow come along who compares with that robustious actor in vitality and grace. And even though he is given more than he should have to do and often is permitted to clown in a rather childish way, he carries his heavy role lightly—and, what's more, he looks good in plush costumes.That's where the credit ends, however. As D'Artagnan's swashbuckling pals. Van Heflin, Gig Young and Robert Coote, are just three Hollywood boys in puffs and plumes. Indeed, Mr. Heflin's performance as the one who chronically cries in his beer when he isn't flashing his rapier is just this side of burlesque. June Allyson plays a nice small-towner as the Lady Constance, a slightly carpentered role, and Vincent Price is Hollywood-haughty as Richelieu, conspiculously without his Cardinal's robes.Completely fantastic, however, is Miss Turner as the villainess , the ambitious Lady de Winter who does the boudoir business for the boss. Loaded with blond hair and jewels, with twelve-gallon hats and ostrich plumes, and poured into her satin dresses with a good bit of Turner to spare, she walks through the palaces and salons with the air of a company-mannered Mae West. And she makes ardent love to her victims with elegant high-school hauteur. But wait till you see her as the luckless and tragic lady locked up in the London Tower, with lightning flashing on her pale beauty! Take it away, make-up man!Needless to say, Robert Ardrey has put together a script which has about equal portions of gymnastics and pomposity. And George Sidney has directed the former portions with such intensity that the headlong momentum of the fast scenes often runs into the slow. The consequence is a strange hooraw's nest of swashbuckling action and backstairs plots, all mixed up and indeterminate amid a fortune's worth of Hollywood sets.
THE THREE MUSKETEERS, screen play by Robert Ardrey; based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas; directed by George Sidney; produced by Pandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At Loew's State. Lady de Winter . . . . . Lana Turner D'Artagnan . . . . . Gene Kelly Constance . . . . . June Allyson Athos . . . . . Van Heflin Queen Anne . . . . . Angela Lansbury King Louis XIII . . . . . Frank Morgan Richelieu . . . . . Vincent Price Planchet . . . . . Keenan Wynn The Duke of Buckingham . . . . . John Sutton Porthos . . . . . Gig Young Aramis . . . . . Robert Coote Treville . . . . . Reginald Owen Rochefort . . . . . Ian Keith Kitty . . . . . Patricia Medina Albert . . . . . Richard Stapley



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/us/craig-rowland-idaho-sheriff-gun.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces&block=lone_trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=110388144&impression_id=4ea7d490-6727-11ec-959b-79c7052f9025&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool/91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1&region=footer&req_id=83975035&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=0_bandit-all-surfaces

The Bosley Crowther didn't like much of anything, he was a curmudgeonly curmudgeon, or maybe that was from working at the NYTimes, where in the film reviews, the sentences are always a mix of a positive with a negative, so the ads can't excerpt a sentence. Janet Maslin was a master at this. A typical remark of hers was, for I believe, "Buckaroo Banzai": "The film would have been wonderful if it wasn't so infantile." You have the same tendency in this review of "The Three Musketeers". His editor probably said, "MGM spends a lot of money in advertising, so say something nice." So he mixes in praise of Gene Kelly and the Technicolor lensing among the brickbats. But basically, he didn't get it, not at all, especially Van Heflin's masterful performance as Porthos, which goes from comedy to tragedy and back again, in the winking of an eye, as does the film. Stylistically and tonally, the film may be a bit of a chameleon, but I think it does this masterfully. But I imagine it was too subtle for the Bosley.

 

[RobertMG]

The Bosley Crowther didn't like much of anything, he was a curmudgeonly curmudgeon, or maybe that was from working at the NYTimes, where in the film reviews, the sentences are always a mix of a positive with a negative, so the ads can't excerpt a sentence. Janet Maslin was a master at this. A typical remark of hers was, for I believe, "Buckaroo Banzai": "The film would have been wonderful if it wasn't so infantile." You have the same tendency in this review of "The Three Musketeers". His editor probably said, "MGM spends a lot of money in advertising, so say something nice." So he mixes in praise of Gene Kelly and the Technicolor lensing among the brickbats. But basically, he didn't get it, not at all, especially Van Heflin's masterful performance as Porthos, which goes from comedy to tragedy and back again, in the winking of an eye, as does the film. Stylistically and tonally, the film may be a bit of a chameleon, but I think it does this masterfully. But I imagine it was too subtle for the Bosley.

I remember reading the great book on Goldwyn where he was unhappy with one of the reviews done on one of his films and he complained to Salzbuger the owner of the Times who promptly ordered a better review - after it was printed and the staff complained Salzburger made it a huge deal that he would never do that again.

 

[lark144]

I remember reading the great book on Goldwyn where he was unhappy with one of the reviews done on one of his films and he complained to Salzbuger the owner of the Times who promptly ordered a better review - after it was printed and the staff complained Salzburger made it a huge deal that he would never do that again.

In Maslin's case, she wrote a mixed review of a Cocteau film which played at the Carnegie Hall Cinema back in the late 70's, when she was switched from writing about pop music to movies. And she said a few nice things, which were excepted and placed in an ad. And she was so upset, from then on, she wrote her reviews so they would be purposely confusing, so they would have to print the entire review, but you could never tell whether she liked the film or not.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Or do not make the raise on salary too high

...like a real living wage, LOL!!!

 

[An Elvis Fan]

Normally, I'd be to the moon with the news of a new Gene Kelly Blu, I'm a huge fan of his, but this was my least favorite of his films. I guess it's the sudden mood change of the film, from a light comedy at the beginning, to a heavy drama towards the end that I don't care for. Although I'm happy for those who like this for its release, I never bought the DVD so the Blu-ray will be a pass from me.

 

[Thomas T]

I guess it's the sudden mood change of the film, from a light comedy at the beginning, to a heavy drama towards the end that I don't care for.

Did you have the same problem with the Richard Lester film version(s)? Specifically The Four Musketeers which covers the last half of the 1948 film. It also went from comedy to dark.

 

[bujaki]

The novel begins with the comic misadventures of the young d'Artagnan; proceeds with the adventure of the stud diamonds of the Queen; and as the machinations of Richelieu and his minions (Rochefort, and most important, the lethal Milady de Winter) intensify, the plot grows darker. It's unavoidable. This ain't the Ritz Brothers!

 

[An Elvis Fan]

Did you have the same problem with the Richard Lester film version(s)? Specifically The Four Musketeers which covers the last half of the 1948 film. It also went from comedy to dark.

I’ve never seen the Lester versions but I understand where you are coming from. It’s just me. I enjoy a comedy more than I do a heavy drama. I did see the Ritz Brothers version and I did find that amusing. I’m more of a comedy/musical person. I’m hoping For Me and My Gal will be released eventually!

 

[ahollis]

And “For and My Gal“ does not have drama? No spoilers but Kelly’s character is not very redeemable. IMHO

 

[lark144]

And “For and My Gal“ does not have drama? No spoilers but Kelly’s character is not very redeemable. IMHO

You're being kind. When I was a child and saw "For Me and My Gal" I refused to see any more Gene Kelly movies for a long time.

 

[roxy1927]

Many of those MGM melodramas under Louis B are very dark. There is a lot of pain and loss in them.

 

[An Elvis Fan]

Yes, For Me and My Gal is very dramatic, but it is a musical and it does have somewhat of a happy ending. At least the leading lady was not killed off in that one. Don't get me wrong. I like dramas but I lean more towards musical comedies.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Did you have the same problem with the Richard Lester film version(s)? Specifically The Four Musketeers which covers the last half of the 1948 film. It also went from comedy to dark.

I think he's commenting as a Gene Kelly fan...