''The Gay Swordsman'' ( it, Il figlio di d'Artagnan) is a 1950 Italian

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Riccardo Freda Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror film, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films. Freda began directing ''I Vampiri'' in 1956. The f ...

and starring

Carlo Ninchi Carlo Ninchi (31 May 1896 – 27 April 1974) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1963. He was born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, and died on 27 April 1974 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Selected filmogra ...

Gianna Maria Canale Gianna Maria Canale (12 September 1927 – 13 February 2009) was an Italian film actress. Biography Canale was born in 1927 in Reggio Calabria. In 1947, she competed in the Miss Italia beauty contest, where she was runner-up to Lucia Bo ...

and

Franca Marzi Franca Marzi (18 August 1926 – 6 March 1989) was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 80 films between 1943 and 1977. Life and career Born in Rome as Francesca Marsi, after working in the revue, Marzi made her film debut in her early ...

Synopsis

The son of d'Artagnan, the hero of ''

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 f ...

'', does not wish to follow in his father's footsteps and retires to a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. However, when a crime is committed in front of him he feels compelled to become involved. Here he meets the Duke of Bligny and Linda, a pastry chef, with whom he falls in love. Raoul offers to track down and have the mysterious knight punished; but he tries to have him killed without result and so he is accused of having stolen the plan of operations against the Flemings to have him sentenced to death. Raoul will blow up the enemy fortress that blocks the way of the troops and entering the fortress with the Duke Bligny discovers that the mysterious knight is a duke, military adviser to his father.

Cast

as Marshall D'Artagnan *

as Linda *

as the Contessa *

Peter Trent Peter Francis Trent, (born 5 January 1946) is an English-born Canadian businessman and politician. He was mayor of Westmount, Quebec until his retirement in April 2017. He was first elected as councillor in 1983. He served as mayor from 1992 to ...

as Duke de Malvoisin *

Paolo Stoppa Paolo Stoppa Knight Grand Cross (6 June 1906 – 1 May 1988) was an Italian actor. Biography Born in Rome, he began as a stage actor in 1927 in the theater in Rome and began acting in films in 1932. As a stage actor, his most celebrated ...

as Paolo *

Piero Palermini Piero Palermini (1925–1996) was an Italian film actor. He was cast by Riccardo Freda in the 1949 swashbuckler, possibly due to a physical resemblance to the Hollywood actor Gene Kelly. Freda would come to regret this casting although Palermini w ...

as Raoul D'Artagnan *

Enzo Fiermonte Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer. Early life Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to D ...

as Viscount di Langlass

Release

''The Gay Swordsman'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by August Film on March 8, 1950. The film grossed a total of 201,000,000

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

domestically. The film was picked up for distribution overseas, with an article in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' from November 1950 stating that

Sol Lesser Sol Lesser (February 17, 1890 – September 19, 1980) was an American film producer. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1961. Biography In 1913, while living in San F ...

's company Principal Pictures International was going to import the film under the title of ''The Son of D'Artagnan''.The film was only released in late 1953 in the United States on the bottom end of double bills with the title ''The Gay Swordsman''.

Notes

* ^aOfficial ministry papers list the running time of the film as 102 minutes. Curti has described this as "highly unlikely", and stated the copy avilabale at the Spanish filmoteca ran at 86 minutes and had no signs of cuts.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* 1950 films Italian historical adventure films Italian black-and-white films 1950s historical adventure films 1950s Italian-language films Films directed by Riccardo Freda Films set in the 17th century Films set in France Films based on Twenty Years After 1950s Italian films {{adventure-film-stub