The Three Musketeers (1948)

The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is a classic Swashbuckler, starring Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan and Lana Turner as Milady De Winter. Other stars in the cast include Van Heflin, June Allyson, Gig Young, Angela Lansbury, and Vincent Price. It is one of the many, adaptations of the famous French book ‘Les trois mousquetaires’ by Alexandre Dumas père, and possibly the liveliest one, full of acrobatics, galloping horses, flapping cloaks, and sword fights with almost operatic intensity. Dumas’s story is followed quite faithfully, but the creative fantasy is in the theatrical way of depicting it.


Dutch postcard by van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 351, no. 6. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (M.G.M.) June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Dutch postcard by Foto Archief Film en Toneel, no. 3454. Photo: M.G.M. Van Heflin, Gene Kelly, Gig Young, and Robert Coote in in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 3. Photo: M.G.M. Van Heflin, Robert Coote, Gig Young, and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 4. Photo: M.G.M. Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Gene Kelly, Van Heflin, Gig Young, and Robert Coote in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 5. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 6. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 8. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

The good advice never to let himself be compromised with impunity

As in the book, the story of The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948) is set in 1625 in France. The young and inexperienced D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) leaves his home village in Gascony to become a musketeer in Paris in the service of His Majesty King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan). In his pocket, he has the letter of recommendation from his father (silent film star Robert Warwick), a former musketeer and friend of the current captain of the musketeers, Treville (Reginald Owen).

His father has taught him the art of fencing masterfully and gives him the good advice never to let himself be compromised with impunity. He is only too happy to follow this advice. Very soon, before he has even reached Paris, D'Artagnan gets into a confrontation with Rochefort (Ian Keith), Cardinal Richelieu's (Vincent Price) confidant, and his companion, the mysterious Lady de Winter (Lana Turner). At this first opportunity to preserve his honour in battle, he is unceremoniously struck down and robbed by Rochefort's henchmen, and his credentials are also taken from him.

Once in Paris, he not only meets his new friends and comrades-in-arms Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Gig Young), and Aramis (Robert Coote), but also his landlord's niece, Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson), and falls in love. Many adventures and entanglements lie ahead and in the path of the brave hero D'Artagnan. Driven by his desire to become the king's musketeer and to prove himself in battle, he falls into the clutches of both Queen Anne (Angela Lansbury) and cardinal Richelieu, experiences numerous dangerous situations, and sometimes needs his new friends to get away at all.

Nevertheless, he sets out to travel to England for the Queen's honour, to retrieve a jewellery box given away by the Queen's secret lover, Lord Buckingham (John Sutton), and to prevent Richelieu from plotting. To assist him, he is accompanied by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as well as his dull but loyal servant Planchet (Keenan Wynn). Shortly after D'Artagnan's return from England, Constance is kidnapped at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu. D'Artagnan makes a pass at Milady de Winter, discovers a delicate secret, and only just manages to save himself.

Constance is freed and taken to safety in England, shortly after which war breaks out, and our four friends are drawn into it. They overhear a conspiratorial meeting between the Cardinal and Lady de Winter in an inn. The latter is to travel to England and kill Buckingham. Planchet also travels to England at D'Artagnan's behest to warn Buckingham. Lady de Winter is convicted and is to be executed. Constance is appointed her guardian. Milady de Winter, after a lengthy psychological duel, manages to take out Constance as well as a guard and Buckingham and then escapes. Athos and D'Artagnan, who wanted to help Constance, arrive too late; after Constance dies in D'Artagnan's arms, they themselves also have only escaped.

Back in Paris, the four friends track down Lady de Winter, pronounce the death sentence on her, and have the prisoner executed. During their subsequent escape towards Spain, they are overpowered and arrested. Their fate seems to be sealed, but young D'Artagnan still has one trump card: the Countess's passport, personally sealed and signed by Cardinal Richelieu, with the note that everything the bearer of this letter undertakes will serve the good of the state. The king is not allowed to know the background of this letter - so Richelieu has to give in. Aramis receives permission to take up a clerical office. Porthos is allowed to marry richly, Athos gets his property back and D'Artagnan is to negotiate a peace offer with the enemy England on behalf of France.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 9. Photo: M.G.M. John Sutton as The Duke of Buckingham and Angela Lansbury as Queen Anne in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 10. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson as Constance Bonacieux and Gene Kelly as D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 12. Photo: M.G.M. Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 14. Photo: M.G.M. Vincent Price and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 15. Photo: M.G.M. Gene Kelly as D'Artagnan and Vincent Price as Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 16. Photo: M.G.M. Gene Kelly and Lana Turner in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 17. Photo: M.G.M. Lana Turner and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

An outrageously entertaining yarn

Among the many American film versions of Alexandre Dumas' 'Les trois mousquetaires' (The Three Musketeer) are the 1914 Film Attractions Co. production, directed by Charles V. Henkel, the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks production, directed by Fred Niblo, the 1935 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. production, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Walter Abel, Paul Lukas, and Margot Grahame, Richard Lester's 1974 Twentieth Century-Fox production starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Raquel Welch; and the 1993 Buena Vista release, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, and Rebecca de Mornay.

This splashy 1948 MGM adaptation of The Three Musketeers was the third sound version and was also the first version in Technicolor. In 1947, a representative of the National Catholic Legion of Decency, an organisation that monitored the interests of the Church in motion pictures, objected to the characterisation of Cardinal Richelieu in the planned MGM adaptation of Dumas' story. In a letter to MGM producer Pandro S. Berman, the organisation stated its objection to the cardinal being portrayed as a "worldly and unscrupulous man" and urged the studio to remove the character from the film. Berman refused to remove the character from the film but promised he would use great caution in all sensitive matters pertaining to the story and in the film, Richelieu is never referred to as Cardinal Richelieu.

Berman also indicated that Constance, the married mistress of D'Artagnan in the novel, would be unmarried in the film version. While early sound versions of The Three Musketeers eliminated the deaths of Constance and Milady, this adaptation telescopes the novel's events to allow for these tragedies. According to AFI, screenwriter Robert Ardry was displeased with director George Sidney's irreverent approach to the Dumas story and objected to the spoof elements that were added to the film.

A biography of Gene Kelly noted that Belgian fencing champion Jean Heremans, who appears in the film as the cardinal's guard, taught Kelly how to fence. Kelly's biography also noted that during the filming of a bedroom scene, Kelly flung Lana Turner onto a bed with such force that she fell to the ground and suffered a broken elbow. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “True to form, MGM saw to it that Lana Turner, as Milady, was dressed to the nines and heavily bejeweled for her beheading sequence. Portions of the 1948 The Three Musketeers, in black and white, showed up in the silent film-within-a-film in 1952's Singin' in the Rain, which of course also starred Gene Kelly.”

The Three Musketeers opened to mostly favourable reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the film's unusual tongue-in-cheek approach. New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther noted that "more glittering swordplay, more dazzling costumes, more colors or more of Miss Turner's chest have never been seen in a picture than are shown in this one." And added: “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.”

In 1948, there was an Oscar nomination for Robert Planck in the category Best Cinematography/Colour. And a more recent review, Hans J. Wollstein at AllMovie: “The Three Musketeers remains an outrageously entertaining yarn, the Southern California locales perfectly standing in for 17th Century France and England.” And finally, Yvette Banek at her blog In so many words: “Lana Turner is really quite superb in her evilness. So evil that she is even photographed without make-up. Well, as 'without make-up' as MGM got, at any rate. Even then, she is exquisitely beautiful - especially when praying.”


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 18. Photo: M.G.M. Gene Kelly and Lana Turner in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 19. Photo: M.G.M. Gene Kelly and June Allyson in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 23. Photo: M.G.M. Lana Turner as Milady in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 25. Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson as Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 26. Photo: M.G.M. Lana Turner and June Allyson in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.


Belgian postcard by Victoria Biscuits Chocolats, no. 28. Photo: M.G.M. Lana Turner and Vincent Price in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948), based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

Sources: Bosley Crowther (New York Times), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Yvette Banek (In so many words), AFI, Wikipedia (Dutch, German), and IMDb.

Lana Turner

Blonde and voluptuous Lana Turner (1921-1995) was one of the most glamorous superstars of Hollywood's golden era. In the mid-1940s, she was one of the highest-paid women in the United States, and one of MGM's biggest stars, with her films earning the studio over $50 million during her eighteen-year contract with them. Unfortunately, her tumultuous private life sometimes overshadowed her professional accomplishments.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. (Uitg. J. Sleding N.V., Amsterdam). Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Victoria, Brussels, no. D 236. Photo: Eric Carpenter / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1950.


American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. CL/Personality # 107.


Italian postcard by CCM, no. 2. Photo: MGM.


Italian postcard, no. 347.

A show-business legend and part of Hollywood mythology

Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Mildred Francis Turner in Wallace, Idaho, in 1920 or 1921. Her parents were Mildred Frances (Cowan) and John Virgil Turner, a miner. Both were still in their teens when she was born. In 1929, her father was murdered and it was shortly thereafter her mother moved her and the family to California.

Turner's discovery is considered a show-business legend and part of Hollywood mythology. One version erroneously has her discovery occurring at Schwab's Pharmacy. By her own account, as a junior at Hollywood High School, Turner skipped a typing class and bought a Coca-Cola at the Top Hat Malt Shop located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place.

There she was spotted by William R. Wilkerson, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. He asked her if she was interested in appearing in films, to which she responded: "I'll have to ask my mother first." With her mother's permission, Turner was referred by Wilkerson to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx.

In December 1936, Marx introduced Turner to film director Mervyn LeRoy, who signed her to a fifty-dollar weekly contract with Warner Bros. In 1937, 17-years-old Lana entered the film world, and made her debut in the crime drama They Won't Forget (Mervyn LeRoy, 1937). She attracted attention with her small role as a murder victim. After that followed parts in the historical comedy The Great Garrick (James Whale, 1937) and A Star is Born (William A. Wellman, 1937) with Janet Gaynor.

In 1938 she had another supportting part in Love Finds Andy Hardy (George B. Seitz, 1938) starring Mickey Rooney. The film made her known as 'The Sweater Girl'. (Some sources say otherwise). Her auburn hair was bleached for Idiot's Delight (Clarence Brown, 1939). She was withdrawn from the film, but the fact that she had become a blonde not only changed her screen image but gave her such an outgoing, swinging personality that Hollywood called her 'the Nightclub Queen'.

One of her first lead roles was in Dancing Co-Ed (S. Sylvan Simon, 1939), a vehicle for 28-year-old bandleader Artie Shaw. The two married, but their highly publicised marriage only lasted four months. Turner became a popular pin-up, especially with American soldiers fighting overseas, and her image appeared painted on the noses of U.S. fighter planes, bearing the nickname 'Tempest Turner'.

In 1941 she starred in the Western Honky Tonk (Jack Conway, 1941), her first major hit. It was the first of four films in which she would star opposite Clark Gable. She was now firmly entrenched in the film business. She had good roles in such films as the Film Noir Johnny Eager (Mervyn LeRoy, 1941), the musical Ziegfeld Girl (Robert Z. Leonard, 1941) with Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland, the horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Victor Fleming, 1941), the romantic war drama Somewhere I'll Find You (Wesley Ruggles, 1942) with Gable again, and Week-End at the Waldorf (Robert Z. Leonard, 1945).

If her career was progressing smoothly, however, her private life was turning into a train wreck, keeping her in the news in a way no one would have wanted. Upon separating from Shaw, Turner married actor-turned-restaurateur Stephen Crane, but when his earlier divorce was declared invalid, a media frenzy followed. They remarried, but divorced in 1944. In the meanwhile their daughter Cheryl was born.


Italian postcard in the '100 Artisti del Cinema' series by Edizione Elah 'La Casa delle Caramelle', no. 30. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for They Won't Forget (Mervyn LeRoy, 1937). Vendetta is the Italian title for the film.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1280. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Love Finds Andy Hardy (George B. Seitz, 1938) with (back row) Cecilia Parker, Ann Rutherford, Judy Garland, Gene Reynolds, Lana Turner and (front row) Mary Howard, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden and Mickey Rooney.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1281. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Love Finds Andy Hardy (George B. Seitz, 1938) with Mickey Rooney, Ann Rutherford, Judy Garland and Lana Turner.


Dutch postcard, no. 3114. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Ziegfeld Girl (Robert Z. Leonard, Busby Berkeley, 1941) with Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland.


Belgian Collectors Card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 173. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. Publicity still for The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946) with John Garfield.

The team that generates steam

Lana Turner's most sultry and effective turn to date was the femme fatale in the Film Noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946). She portrayed Cora, a young and ambitious woman married to a stodgy, older owner of a roadside diner (Cecil Kellaway), who falls in love with a drifter (John Garfield) and their desire to be together motivates them to murder her husband.

The film, based on the debut novel of James Cain, was a tremendous success, and it made Turner one of Hollywood's brightest stars. Bosley Crowther, film critic of The New York Times, gave the film a positive review and lauded the acting and direction of the film: "Too much cannot be said for the principals. Mr. Garfield reflects to the life the crude and confused young hobo who stumbles aimlessly into a fatal trap. And Miss Turner is remarkably effective as the cheap and uncertain blonde who has a pathetic ambition to 'be somebody' and a pitiful notion that she can realize it through crime."

In August 1947, only moments after having completed filming of Cass Timberlane (George Sidney, 1947), Turner agreed to appear as the female lead in Homecoming (Mervyn LeRoy, 1948). In this World War II-set romantic drama, she was again paired with Clark Gable, portraying a female army lieutenant who falls in love an American surgeon (Gable). She was the studio's first choice for the role, but they were reluctant to offer her the part, considering her overbooked schedule. Homecoming was well-received by audiences, and Turner and Gable were nicknamed 'the team that generates steam'.

Turner was at the zenith of her film career, and was not only MGM's most popular star, but also one of the 10 highest-paid women in the United States, with annual earnings of $226,000 (equivalent to $2,400,000 in 2018). In late 1947, Turner was cast opposite Gene Kelly as Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1947), her first Technicolor film. Her popularity continued through the 1950s in dramas such as The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952) with Kirk Douglas.

After a sabbatical, Lana Turner returned with Peyton Place (Mark Robson, 1957). The adaptation of Grace Metalious' infamous best-seller about the steamy passions simmering beneath the surface of small-town life was hugely successful. Turner's performance won her an Academy Award nomination.

The following year she made international headlines when her lover, gangster Johnny Stampanato, was stabbed to death by her teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane. Crane was eventually acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide, but Turner's reputation took a severe beating.

Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life (1959) was Turner's last major hit. Sirk's final melodrama has an engaging and emotional story with romance, ambition, friendship, love and rejection. The subplot of Turner's black housekeeper Annie (Juanita Moore) who is rejected by her light-skinned daughter (Susan Kohner), in a time when the colour of people was a watershed, is still heartbreaking. Imitation of Life was one of the biggest hits of the year, and the biggest of Turner's career: she owned 50% of the earnings of the picture.

Her final starring role in Madame X (David Lowell Rich, 1966) opposite Ricardo Montalban, earned her a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress. Her final film, Witches' Brew (Richard Shorr, Herbert L. Strock, 1980) with Teri Garr, a semi-comic remake of the horror classic Weird Woman (Reginald LeBorg, 1944), was shot in 1978 but not widely released until 1985.

In 1982, she published an autobiography, 'Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth', and also began a stint as a semi-regular on the TV soap opera Falcon Crest (1982-1983). Her daughter, Cheryl Crane, also wrote a book about her life with her mother, her mother's 7 husbands and numerous boyfriends and living in Hollywood. 'Detour: A Hollywood Story' was published in 1988.

In 1992 Lana Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer. After spending the majority of her final decade in retirement, Lana Turner died in 1995, at the age of 74. She bequeathed her companion and housekeeper her entire trust estate, valued at almost $2 million, including her apartment in Century City and rights to all income producing assets. She changed the beneficiary of her trust estate in the last years of her life, from her daughter to her housekeeper, and instead left her daughter a cash bequest of only $50,000.


Belgian collectors card by Chocolaterie Clovis, Pepinster. Collection: Amit Benyovits.


French postcardby Editions P.I., Paris, no. 22 D. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), 1953.


Dutch postcard. Photo: MGM.


German postcard by ISV, no. D 16. Photo: Star Press.


Belgian Collectors Card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 168. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Homecoming (Mervyn LeRoy, 1948) with Clark Gable.


Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C 209. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C 307. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for A Life of Her Own (George Cukor, 1950).


Belgian Collectors Card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Belgian Collectors Card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


American postcard by Dexter Press, Pearl River, N.Y., no. 61952. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for The Merry Widow (Curtis Bernhardt, 1952).


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 408. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM).


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2983. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM).

Source: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.