''The Three Musketeers'' (aka ''Three Musketeers'') is a 1933 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
film serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...
directed by
Armand Schaeffer and
Colbert Clark
Colbert Clark (August 31, 1898 – May 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He particularly specialized in making western films.Tuska p.196
As a producer at Columbia Pictures, Clark was responsible for resum ...
, and produced by
Nat Levine
Nat Levine (July 26, 1899 – August 6, 1989), was an American film producer. He produced 105 films between 1921 and 1946. He was personal secretary to Marcus Loew, formed Mascot Pictures in 1927, and merged Mascot with Herbert Yates's Re ...
for
Mascot Pictures
Mascot Pictures Corporation was an American film company of the 1920s and 1930s best known for producing and distributing film serials and B-westerns. Mascot was formed in 1927 by film producer Nat Levine. In 1936 it merged with several other ...
. The film serial was very loosely based on
Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel ''
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...
'', with the musketeers changed into three soldiers in the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
, and d'Artagnan being reconfigured as Lt. Tom Wayne (played by
John Wayne), a pilot in the United States military.
[Harmon and Glut 1973, p. 325.]
Wayne only received fourth billing behind
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Biography
Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...
,
Francis X. Bushman, Jr. and
Jack Mulhall
John Joseph Francis Mulhall (October 7, 1887 – June 1, 1979) was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years.
Early years
Mu ...
who play the three legionnaires. Lon Chaney Jr. had a co-starring role in the serial, mainly appearing in Chapter One.
Plot
In the harsh deserts of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, the French Foreign Legion provides a military presence. Lt. Tom Wayne is framed for the murder of Armand Corday, the brother of his fiancé. He vows to capture the real killer, a mysterious Arab
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
known only as El Shaitan. He encounters three bumptious legionnaires: Clancy, an Irishman always spoiling for a fight; Renard, a wily Frenchman; and Schmidt, a German who loves
sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
...
s). They are the surviving members of a Foreign Legion unit that was wiped out in an attack.
Nicknamed the "Devil of the Desert", El Shaitan remains a shadowy figure, hiding his face and his true identity, as a result of which many people are mistakenly suspected of being the
cult leader in the course of the serial, while other characters impersonate him for their own ends. At a meeting place called, "The Devil's Circle", El Shaitan commands a fanatic desert cult, a secret society formed to fight against the French authorities.
When Clancy, Renard and Schmidt are trapped by a horde of Berber tribesmen, Lt. Wayne quickly stops the attack using the machine gun mounted on his aircraft. The three legionnaires are in constant danger but Wayne comes to their rescue many times, acting as a modern-day d'Artagnan. Eventually the trio, with the aid of their new friend, triumph over their adversaries.
Cast
*
John Wayne as Tom Wayne
*
Ruth Hall as Elaine Corday
*
Jack Mulhall
John Joseph Francis Mulhall (October 7, 1887 – June 1, 1979) was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years.
Early years
Mu ...
as Clancy
*
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Biography
Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...
as Renard
*
Francis X. Bushman, Jr. (Ralph Bushman) as Schmidt
*
Noah Beery, Jr. as Stubbs
*
Al Ferguson as Ali, chief henchman
*
Hooper Atchley
Lemuel Hooper Atchley (April 30, 1887 – November 17, 1943) was an American film actor.
Atchley was the son of Mr. and Mrs. P. S. Atchley. He was a 1908 graduate of the Knoxville, Tennessee, school system.
Atchley's first professional ac ...
as El Kadur
*
George Magrill
George Magrill (January 5, 1900 – May 31, 1952) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 320 films between 1923 and 1952.
Magrill performed on stage before he began to work in films. Besides his acting, Magrill worked as a s ...
as El Maghreb
*
Edward Peil, Sr. as Ratkin
* Gordon de Main as Colonel Duval
*
William Desmond as Captain Boncour
*
Robert Warwick as Colonel Brent
*
Creighton Chaney (Lon Chaney, Jr.; credited as Armand Corday)
*
Robert Frazer as Major Booth.
''The Three Musketeers'' title card screenshot
Reception
Like many other serials, ''The Three Musketeers'' was re-edited into a feature film version when it was re-released. In 1946, Favorite Films Corporation edited the serial into a 60-minute feature film called ''
Desert Command''. The chapter screen titles were eliminated to create a more continuous flow.
Chapters
# The Fiery Circle
# One for All and All for One
# The Master Spy
# Pirates of the Desert
# Rebel Rifles
# Death's Marathon
# Naked Steel
# The Master Strikes
# The Fatal Cave
# Trapped
# The Measure of a Man
# The Glory of Comrades
Source:
John Wayne
During the 1930s, after starring in ''
The Big Trail
''The Big Trail'' is a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh.
In 2006, the United States Libra ...
'' (1930), its subsequent commercial failure meant that Wayne was relegated to minor roles in A-pictures, or starring, with his name over the title, in many low-budget
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did ...
Westerns, mostly at
Monogram Pictures and serials for
Mascot Pictures Corporation
Mascot Pictures Corporation was an American film company of the 1920s and 1930s best known for producing and distributing film serials and Western (genre), B-westerns. Mascot was formed in 1927 by film producer Nat Levine. In 1936 it merged wit ...
. Wayne would star in two other Mascot serials: ''
The Shadow of the Eagle
''The Shadow of the Eagle'' (a.k.a. ''Shadow of the Eagle'') is a 1932 American Pre-Code Mascot 12 episode film serial, directed by Ford Beebe and B. Reeves Eason and produced by Nat Levine.Farmer 1984, p. 325. The film stars John Wayne in his ...
'' (1932) and ''
The Hurricane Express
''The Hurricane Express'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code 12-chapter Mascot Pictures film serial. Written by Colbert Clark, Barney Sarecky, Wyndham Gittens, George Morgan, and J.P. McGowan, the serial was directed by Armand Schaeffer and J.P. M ...
'' (1932).
[Clooney 2002, pp. 195–196.]
See also
*
John Wayne filmography
*
List of American films of 1932
*
List of film serials
A list of film serials by year of release.
1910s
1920s
1930s
Films still exist from this point on unless noted otherwise:
1940s
1950s
See also
* Serial (film)
* List of film serials by studio
References
{{reflist
External linksSerial ...
*
List of film serials by studio
This is a list of film serials by studio, separated into those released by each of the five major studios, and the remaining minor studios.
The five major studios produced the greater number of serials. Of these the main studios are consider ...
*
List of films in the public domain in the United States
Most films are subject to copyright, but those listed here are believed to be in the public domain in the United States. This means that no government, organization, or individual owns any copyright over the work, and as such it is common property ...
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Cline, William C. "9. They Who Also Serve (The Citizens)"; "Filmography", ''In the Nick of Time''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984, .
* Clooney, Nick. ''The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen''. New York: Atria Books, 2002. .
* Harmon, Jim and
Donald F. Glut. ''The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1972. .
* Rainey, Buck. ''Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912–1956''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2010. .
* Shaheen, Jack G. ''Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People''. New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001. .
* Weiss, Ken and Ed Goodgold. ''To be Continued ...: A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973. .
External links
*
*
*
Download or view online
*
Episode 1on Google Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Musketeers, The
1933 films
1933 adventure films
American aviation films
American black-and-white films
1930s English-language films
Films based on The Three Musketeers
Films directed by Armand Schaefer
Mascot Pictures film serials
Films set in Africa
Films about the French Foreign Legion
Films produced by Nat Levine
American adventure films
1930s American films