The Complete Musketeers

 

                 Picture:  Sound: Extras:  Film:

 

Three Musketeers (1974)   B         C+       B        B

Four Musketeers   (1975)   B         C+       B        B

 

“Two DVD’s for one and one DVD for all”

 

 

Both the 1973 Musketeer films entitled The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers are finally available on DVD together in one set, the way that they were intended to be.  Both films were shot at the same time, so The Four Musketeers essentially acts as a second act, rather than a sequel.  The actors/actresses actually sued director Richard Lester for allegedly not telling them that it was going to be two movies.  They won the case against him, but ended up getting less money than being paid for doing both.  Acting school does not teach math. 

 

The flavor that has been added to these films that make them standout against the many other versions of the classic Dumas tale is the fact that these films incorporate more humor than anything else.  Rather than take the material too seriously, it makes for a decent period piece with twice the laughs.  Leading the cast is Michael York as D’Artagnan, Oliver Reed as Athos, Richard Chamberlain as Aramis, Frank Finley as Porthos, and the beautiful Raquel Welch as Constance de Bonancieux. 

 

Our storyline focuses mainly on the character of D’Artagnan, who in the first film is attempting to fit in with the king’s musketeers, but ends up in quarrel with three of the men, by the time the second film picks up, he has won their favor and is an established member, making them four strong.  Add in some beautiful ladies, corrupt officials, a lot of swordplay, and a fair amount of laughter and we have ourselves an evening of fun-filled entertainment.  Both films hold up strong, even after all these years.  They are still quite enjoyable and it’s always nice to see just plain action without all the special effects.  Plus, it is equally refreshing getting the story more to the original tale since more modern films (1998’s Man in the Iron Mask, Disney’s bizarre 1993 Three Musketeers) have tainted the market. 

 

Director Richard Lester has a knack for capturing humor as proven in both his Beatle films Help! and A Hard Days Night.  Again he proves this with these two films especially using Charlton Heston as the evil Cardinal Richelieu.  Adding more to this already strong cast is Faye Dunaway as Milady de Winter and Christopher Lee playing Count de Rochefort.  You can always count on Lee being a Count. 

 

Both films are presented here in their respectable 1.77 X 1 aspect ratios, which have been anamorphically enhanced.  These two titles were previously available on DVD separately through Fox Lorber, which showcased the film in poor “pan & scan” prints with a 2.0 mono soundtrack.  There were no supplements on the Fox Lorber DVD’s either and demonstrated all the quality problems that have been associated with that company before such as The Man Who Fell To Earth, which Anchor Bay revisited and brought forth a much superior version.  Thanks to Anchor Bay once again, they did the same job here giving the films their intended widescreen presentations, a better 2.0 mono soundtrack, and extras! 

 

The picture quality here on both films is a notch above what they were like from Fox Lorber.  A lot of the color problems are fixed here, detail looking much better, and the overall presentation much more suitable.  Sound is still a bit of a problem with this 2.0 mono soundtrack sounding similar to the one also on the Fox Lorber discs.  Why these films were not remixed for 5.1 is anyone’s guess. 

 

There is a ‘making of’, which is broken into two parts.  Part one is on Disc One, with the film and part two is on Disc Two, with that film.  The material fits with the film and is surprisingly better than many of the behind-the-scenes that go along with so many films nowadays.  Especially considering back when this film was released there was not a lot produced of this nature.  Both discs also contain trailers, TV spots, radio spots, stills galleries, and some other material. 

 

Anchor Bay did a good thing by releasing this sought after films together in one set.  Not only that, but they incorporated a few extras for the fans and even despite some of the drawbacks with the sound, the picture looks better this time around.

 

 

-   Nate Goss