Lucerne Movie
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Lucerne Movie
Reviews
Musketeer Movies
There are over 65 Musketeer movies in the Internet Movie Database.
Family Safe means, generally, a G or a PG rating of content, although many of these movies were produced before the ranking system was in place.
The
Three Musketeers, 1973
The classic version
directed by Richard Lester, staring Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard
Chamberlain, Michael York, Christopher Lee and Charlton Heston. The producers
filmed so much they released it as two movies: "The Three Musketeers",
and "The Four Musketeers". These two movies actually show the
Musketeers earning their pay as soldiers during the siege of La Rochelle.
Screen Play by George
MacDonald Frazer who wrote the Flashman novels.
Great Line: Porthos:
"May one delicately ask the cause in which we are expected to die?"
Aramis: "When you go on a campaign, does the King give his reasons? He says
Porthos fight, and you fight."
Porthos: "I do, I do."
Aramis: "Then let's go and be killed where we're told to. Is life worth so
many questions?"
The
Four Musketeers, 1974
The sequel to the 1973
"Three Musketeers", it was filmed at the same time. In the beginning
there is a great scene of the Huguenot firing squad trying to execute Rochefort
using matchlock muskets - Musketeering at its worst!
Great Line: "Only Porthos could invent a new way of disarming
himself".
Mistakes: Athos threatens Milady with a wheel lock pistol that has not been
spanned or cocked, and Milady can't tell that it's not ready for firing. Milady
also attempts to murder Buckingham with a cap lock pistol that could not be
earlier that 1840.
Return
of the Musketeers, 1989
Directed by Richard Lester,
it's still a sequel to the 1973 and 1974 movies and uses most of the same cast
and crew. Kim Catrall as Milady's daughter.
At
Sword's Point, 1952
Cornel Wilde, Maureen
O'Hara, Alan Hale, Jr.
Girl wants to become a Musketeer. Not the normal Musketeer story. Yes, the
Skipper was once a Musketeer - Porthos.
Family Safe. You might only be able to watch this one three times.
The
Lady in the Iron Mask, 1952
A new version of 'The Man
in the Iron Mask'. This is currently unavailable, so I haven't actually seen it.
Alan Hale, Jr plays Porthos for the second time.
The
Fifth Musketeer, 1979
Also known as "Behind
the Iron Mask". Sylvia Kristel, Beau Bridges, Ursula Andress, Lloyd
Bridges, Alan Hale Jr, Jose Ferrer, Rex Harrison.
The Skipper plays Porthos for the third time!
Literal title: "The
Daughter of d'Artagnan". d'Artagnan's daughter drags out retired Musketeers
to avenge the murder of her Mother Superior and expose a conspiracy.
Some nudity, dead nuns.
French language, English subtitles.
The
Three Musketeers, 1993
Tim Curry, Charlie Sheen,
Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell, Oliver Platt and Rebecca De Mornay.
A good variation on the Three Musketeers.
Great Line: "It's Porthos the pirate!"
Great Line: "With a flick of my wrist I can change your religion"
Great Line: "I love my work!"
Some female nudity.
The
Man In The Iron Mask, 1976
ITV (British TV)
production. Starring Richard Chamberlain, Patrick McGoohan, Louis Jordon, Jenny
Agutter, Ian Holm, Sir Ralph Richardson Family Safe
The
Man In The Iron Mask
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy
Irons, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu.
La
Femme Musketeer, 2004 (English)
Nastassja Kinski, Michael
York, John Rhys-Davies and Gerard Depardieu.
Good writing except for the many mistakes, good cast. D'Artagnan's daughter runs
off to be a Musketeer, dueling with the children of Porthos, Athos and
Aramis...meanwhile the original four have become traveling performers. This
actually works. Really.
The geography stinks as the
writers think that a person traveling from Gascony in the south west of France
to Paris would meet someone traveling from England to Paris.
The Musketeers actually ride off to war, but don't take Muskets. The
Cardinal’s Guards wear shiny vinyl uniforms and use 19th century cap lock
pistols. The Musketeers actually use three (count them) matchlock muskets, but
they don't have match, no smoke appears and the sounds are from bolt action
rifles. :-(
It's amazing how many
movies have people practicing sword play with sharp weapons.
As far as I can tell, this is an English movie. The only things French in the
movie are the title and the actor portraying the Italian, Mazarin. All the
Musketeers speak with English accents; the Italian has a French accent.
English Language, No subtitles
Family Safe.
The
Three Musketeers (Walt Disney)
Blurb: All For Fun And Fun
For All. Stars: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy.
Rated G
Family Safe but I could not watch the whole thing.
16th, 17th Century and Swashbuckler Movies
Shakespeare
in Love, 1998
Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey
Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Judy Dench...
No Musketeers, but one of
the best movies ever made. You need to know "Romeo and Juliet" to
catch many of the jokes. There isn't a great deal of sword play, but what there
is, is excellent.
Great Lines: Countless.
Slight nudity, some bedroom scenes, references to female anatomy.
Romeo
and Juliet, 1968
Olivia Hussey, Michael
York. Possibly the best "Romeo and Juliet". Romeo and Juliet is before
the Musketeer period, but there is plenty of sword play and it was written in
the Musket time frame. This is the one to watch before "Shakespeare In
Love".
Great Lines: Too many too count.
Slight nudity, bedroom scenes.
Romeo
& Juliet, 1994
Geraldine Somerville,
Jonathan Firth, Jenny Agutter
Thames Television version.
Scaramouch,
1952
Stewart Granger, Elanor
Parker, Janet Leigh and Mel Ferrer. The famous Rafael Sabatini novel set in the
French Revolution. It's not actually in the Musketeer period, but it is too good
to ignore. Fair amount of sword play and a fencing lesson. This movie is
excellent.
Family Safe.
Cromwell,
1970
A rather one-sided (biased)
version of the English Civil War. Gunners may like the nice shot of a cannon
being mounted on a carriage. It's not as inaccurate as Hollywood usually makes
them...
Fairly Family Safe, if you don't mind Cromwell smashing up a church. But you
won't want to see it four times.
To
Kill A King, 2003
The DVD I am reviewing is
region 2 PAL/UK. It is supposed to be available in region 1 NTSC/USA (and Canada
& Japan). The dispute between Lord Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell over the
trial and execution of King Charles.
The text at the end is
under the impression that Cromwell created a great republic, however the writers
do recognize that Robespierre was his political heir...
No fighting, short bedroom
scenes.
The
King's Thief, 1955
Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom,
David Niven, George Sanders, Roger Moore. They are not really Musketeers, but
it's 17th century, Hollywood style.
Family Safe.
Sharpe's
Rifles
British TV series set the
Spanish campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. Thirteen two hour episodes. Very Good.
Slight female nudity, bad language.
Not really for children.
La
Reine Margot, 1994 (French) (Queen Margot)
Another Alexandre Dumas
novel, this time in 1572 and Massacre of St. Bartholomew. This is a real movie,
not an adult feature. Some sex and nudity, lots of violence and dead animals.
Queen Margot's mother is Catherine de Medici.
French Language, English subtitles.
Not for children!
The
Last Valley, 1970
Michael Caine, Omar Sharif,
Brian Blessed.
During the Thirty Years
War, a band of mercenaries occupy an isolated German valley for the winter. For
soldiers in this period, they have a shocking lack of firearms.
Cyrano
de Bergerac, 1950
Jose Ferrer, Mala Powers.
Famous swordsman woos Roxanne.
Cyrano
de Bergerac, 1990 (French)
Gerard Depardieu, Anne
Borchet.
Famous swordsman helps his friend woo Roxanne.
French language, English subtitles.
Le
Bossu, 1997 (French) (On Guard)
Literal title: The
Hunchback
Lagardère, a robber turned
bodyguard vows to avenge his employer's murder on his wedding day and protect
the man's infant son. Legardère hides the child for 16 years until fate forces
him to avenge the murder and restore the child's inheritance.
Slight male frontal nudity and a female breast.
French language, English subtitles, which you must manually activate on the DVD
version.
Well written.
By
The Sword Divided, 1983
A two season BBC TV series
set in the English Civil War. Ten episodes per season.
Family Safe
Only available in Region 2/PAL DVDs and PAL VHS tapes. You require a
multiregional VCR or DVD player to view this, or you may be able to play this on
your computer if you have a DVD drive.
The technical advisor was the founder of the Sealed Knot.
Well written.
Conqueror
Worm, 1968
Horror Movie
Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy
Fictional account of Mathew Hopkins, self styled 'Witch Finder General'. Hopkins
hunted 'witches' during the English Civil War. Hopkins profited from this
activity by keeping the accused possessions.
Vintage movie torture scenes seem tame by today's standards.
Elizabeth,
1998
Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey
Rush, Christopher Eccleston
Early life of Elizabeth I.
Family Safe
Elizabeth:
The Golden Age, 2007
Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey
Rush, Clive Owen
The story of Queen Elizabeth's relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh. Sequel to
Elizabeth (1998)
Family Safe
Elizabeth
R, 1971
Glenda Jackson
Acclaimed miniseries.
Alatriste,
2006
Spanish language, English
subtitles.
An attempt to turn seven Alatriste novels into one movie. They would have been
much better off doing one of the novels. Captain Alatriste is a sometimes
employed Spanish soldier.
Weapons use seems to be much more accurate than most movies.
This is a very dark movie.
This page last updated on
April 30, 2010.
This page created on
February 8, 2003.