The chance of learning of an obscure "Peplum" while leafing through Leonard Maltin's Film Guide on one day and coming across the film in its entirety on "You Tube" on the next is very remote
but this is exactly what just happened to me with this Italian variation on the classic Alexandre Dumas tales - in its original language but with hardcoded Greek subtitles, no less! While my rating agrees with the one bestowed on it by the genial American film critic, I have to say that overall this was a rather half-hearted entry in the prolific screen adventures of the altruistic quartet
so much so that only two of them (D'Artagnan and Porthos) put in an appearance here, they are on Cardinal Richelieu's side this time around(!) and, worse still, all that the 40-strong band of villainous conspirators against the French King seem prone to do are meet in various mansions around Paris to discuss what their next move shall be! Consequently, D'Artagnan is forced to show his eminence a secret fencing trick (as per the film's original title) with which he will mark the traitors' foreheads and rout them out
alas, it is nothing more elaborate than a scar in the shape of an "X"!
If the plot (co-written by the American Milton Krims!) is no great shakes, the solid production values and interesting cast make up for that: the enemies of France take to meeting dressed up as friars in a church at the start of the film – which is how we first meet D'Artagnan (George Nader)!; at the same time, we are also introduced to his main antagonist here, treacherous nobleman Georges Marchal (in his official "Peplum" appearance) – whose niece (Magali Noel), unsurprisingly, lives nearby, still roots for the King and nurses the musketeer back to health and right into her heart! True to formula, she also has a swooning maid who falls for Porthos' gruff charm – who, incidentally, had been whisked out of his farmyard retirement by D'Artagnan earlier on. Massimo Serato only has a few scenes as the resourceful Cardinal but easily steals every one of them from under the noses of his colleagues; Carlo Rustichelli's rousing score is another welcome addition to the generally pleasing if unassuming mix. In conclusion, director Marcellini only helmed a handful of movies and I should be watching the Gianni Maria Canale-starring THE DEVIL'S CAVALIERS (1959) before this Epic Easter marathon has run its course; besides, Marchal had already appeared in previous adaptations of "The Three Musketeers", namely as D'Artagnan to Gino Cervi's Porthos in Andre Hunebelle's 1953 eponymous film version.
