The Four Musketeers deals with Milady's revenge, which is far more interesting than the whole Buckingham/Queen of France/jewels thing. You know, when I think of the top villains out there, I tend to overlook Milady de Winter, and that is a huge mistake. She is one of the best villains ever. I'm personally not that fond of Fay Dunaway, but I honestly cannot think of anyone better for this role. Her Milady has just the right kind of cold beauty, the right manipulative smarts to be playing a very unrepentant murderess. She is a worthy adversary, and I love Fay Dunaway in this movie.
(and she has great costumes)I had a copy of a young adult version of The Three Musketeers book growing up that I used to read over and over. Milady imprinted on me very strongly because I think she was one of the first female villains (outside of Disney and James Bond movies) that I'd ever encountered -- and she got executed for her crimes! That blew my mind when I was young. Somehow, I expected her to get off, just because she was a woman, and she didn't. There's something still a bit shocking about it to me, even if she is one nasty and deadly lady. It's been awhile now, but I think that was one of the things I liked least about the 1993 version -- they changed her character a bit and made her less evil and more sympathetic. Phooey. Wimps. That takes away the essence of what makes her such a great character!
Athos has always been my favorite Musketeer, and of course, the more Milady around, the more Athos. That is a good thing, particularly when it's Oliver Reed playing him. I really like Oliver Reed. He turns in such fascinating performances. He's compelling, dangerous, charismatic, and sexy, and hey, Athos is a perfect role for that. Reed and Dunaway play off each other beautifully in their one major scene, when they reunite. There are so many undercurrents between them, so much unsaid. The way Athos touches her cheek before he leaves, her reaction after he's gone.... It's absolutely perfect and just about my favorite scene in the movie.
All the things I expected of the 1973 movie and didn't find were in this one. This movie is also comedic to a certain extent (though tempered by more serious bits than the first movie has), but the humor is a lot more natural to the story (for the most part) in this one, instead of eye-rollingly over-the-top. I'm particularly fond of the more subtle background humor, like Aramis covering his shoulder with a handkerchief before leaning against a dirty wall. I love Constance and the key. I love Rochefort's (Christopher Lee) droll, "Why bother, I might die of old age," line, and Porthos: "This wine does not travel well." And Richelieu: "One should be careful of what one writes." I love the herd of goats crossing in front of the row of active cannons. I love the sense that this is a real world, not a set. I love the sword fight on ice, but then that's one thing both movies do very well -- the sword fights. This one has a great sword fighting finale. The sword fights here are much more realistic than the average film, with fighters using any weapon at their disposal, with longer pauses between short flurries of action. I'm surprised no one got more injured than they did on the making of this film. From the making of video on the DVD , it appears everybody did their own stunts/fights (for the most part), and it looks extremely dangerous.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much I loved the way this movie was shot. The angles and positioning, and lighting. Neat stuff, like this one shot across the interior of a two-storied inn, where you watch Richelieu enter the ground floor, pan up to Aramis and Porthos playing cards and Athos keeping watch across the way, and then Richelieu crosses in front of the camera, while Athos reacts across the inn... all in one take. There's a lot of scenes set up like that and I really appreciate it.
This is one I'd very much like to own on DVD and will have to pick up at some point.
6 comments:
This might surprise you, given my penchant for all things silly, but I completely agree with you on this one. The first film is too silly, often not to good comic effect; the second is more coherent, better paced and has better action and tension than the first. And good old Olly Reed is brilliant, of course.
As for the 1993 version, the only thing I liked about it was Oliver Platt as Porthos. Tim Curry is okay as Richelieu in places, but then he's always watchable. Everything else...meh.
Yeah, this second half is just great. Exactly what you said: more coherent, better action, tension, emotion, everything. And I really love the four musketeers. They mesh very well together. What surprised me in this one was how much I liked Frank Finlay as Porthos. He's rather vain and seems silly and easy to underestimate until it's action time, particularly at the end. He's actually wicked fast and expert with sword and pistol. Really loved him in this one.
Yeah, I really liked Oliver Platt too. He's an underrated actor. I don't think I've seen him give a bad performance. I liked Keifer Sutherland but he's got nothing on Oliver Reed for a proper Athos. (Nobody can compete with Oliver Reed.) Tim Curry is, as you say, always watchable. He just makes me grin no matter what he's in. We quote him in Red October all the time.
Christopher Lee is Rochefort?!? ("Isn't that a smelly kind of cheese?") I must see this again -- I had no idea who he was when I saw this in college.
Hee! Yes, and he's a marvelous Rochefort, though he cracks me up because he's so much taller and thinner than just about everyone else. He gets great droll dialogue to deliver with that awesome voice of his, and he gets sword fights with Athos AND D'Artagnan, so I'm happy on the action front.
DKoren,
I've been re-reading the novels, & while your first Musketeers are rather like your first Dr. Who, I've just seen a Russian version (cut into a movie from a miniseries, currently available on AmazonPrime, Tri mushketera (2013)) that comes close, close, close to being perfect -- but for very different reasons. The costumes are gorgeous, the music is Russian, and the settings are extravagantly beautiful - and it all takes place in summertime -- green everywhere! The Athos/Milady part of the plot is soft pedaled out of existence, but the romance between Buckingham and Anne is ramped waaaay up -- to great effect. Louis is a mix of 1973 popinjay and the 'real' Louis of the text....unsure of what he is to do, but trying "kingship" on for size, as it were. The best part is the D'Artagnan, who is very young, vigorous, and vertiginously happy most of the time. Like Dumas' book, this is D'Artagnan's story, and it stays focused on him, and the actor is wonderful. Nice swordfights, too!
I agree totally w/you & tillane on Oliver Platt in the 93 version -- he's channeling Errol Flynn, during the pirate bit most especially! Too bad they didn't find a place for him in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, cause he was totally wonderful, all over the map in that otherwise not very prepossessing film.
Loving your filmic reveries!
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I have not heard of the Russian film, but I really want to see that now! I don't have Amazon Prime, but I'll see what I can do about checking out this version, as it really sounds worthy. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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