The Three Musketeers (1969 film)

1969 Canadian TV series or program

The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
Genre	Television film
Based on	The Three Musketeers
Story by	Peter Raby
Directed by	John Hirsch
Starring	Colin Fox Powys Thomas Kenneth Welsh James Blendick
Music by	Raymond Pannell
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
Production
Producer	David Gardner
Running time	2 hours
Production company	Stratford National Theatre
Original release
Network	CBC
Release	March 19, 1969 (1969-03-19)

The Three Musketeers is a 1969 Canadian television film based on the Stratford National Theatre's adaption of Alexandre Dumas's 1844 novel The Three Musketeers. It stars Kenneth Welsh as d'Artagnan. The Three Musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, are played by Powys Thomas, James Blendick and Colin Fox.

Premise

A young man named d'Artagnan leaves home to travel to Paris, with the intention to join the Musketeers. Although d'Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age — Athos, Porthos and Aramis — and gets involved in affairs of the state and court.

Cast

Colin Fox as Aramis
Powys Thomas as Athos
Kenneth Welsh as d'Artagnan
James Blendick as Porthos
Leo Ciceri as Cardinal Richelieu
Martha Henry as Lady Sabine DeWinter
Eric Donkin as (King) Louis XIV
Christopher Walken as Felton

Background

The film was based on a play previously performed by the Stratford Natiional Theatre in 1968. The film was shot on location entirely in Toronto over a thirteen day shoot in January 1969. Director John Hirsch said "we didn't want to capture the words as much as the flavor, it's the action that counts, the energy, the vitality". Hirsch also highlighted the fourteen separately staged fights, and praised Peter Raby for an "extraordinary achievement of condensing the whole novel into two hours".

Reception

The Calgary Herald said "watching the film wasn't what you would call a chore ... it was fast paced and overloaded with action ... the story was almost secondary ... it was the swashbuckling that really mattered". The Toronto Star criticized the film, saying, "where film has so often failed to capture the spectacle, the action, the intrigue, the ardor, and above all the plumed and extravagant glamor, why expect television to succeed ... bringing the Stratford National Theatre production of the Three Musketeers to the small screen, CBC-TV provided a fatiguing demonstration of the perfectly obvious". The Province opined that it was "one of the biggest, most complex and spectacular dramas ever produced by CBC ... The Three Musketeers rivals in scope to last season's 2 hour production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

References

Raby, Peter (1977). The Three Musketeers: Adapted from Alexandre Dumas' Novel. France: Dramatists Play Service. p. 4.
^ The Week On TV (March 14, 1969). "Festival Preview Of Playhouse Director". The Province. p. 53.
^ Shiels, Bob (March 20, 1969). "The Three Musketeers". Calgary Herald. p. 15.
Cohen, Nathan (March 20, 1969). "Television's Three Musketeers No Credit To Stratford Or The CBC". The Toronto Star. p. 23.

External links

The Three Musketeers at IMDb

The d'Artagnan Romances by Alexandre Dumas

Characters

Films

The Three
Musketeers

The Three Musketeers (1916)
Les Trois Mousquetaires (1921)
The Three Musketeers (1921)
The Three Musketeers (1932)
The Three Musketeers (1933)
The Three Musketeers (1935)
The Three Musketeers (1939)
The Three Musketeers (1942)
The Three Musketeers (1946)
The Three Musketeers (1948)
Blades of the Musketeers (1953)
The Three Musketeers (1953)
The Three Musketeers (1961)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
The Four Musketeers (1974)
The Three Musketeers (1993)
The Musketeer (2001)
The Three Musketeers (2011)
3 Musketeers (2011)
The Three Musketeers (2013)
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023)
The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023)

Twenty Years
After

The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
Musketeers Twenty Years After (1992)

The Vicomte of
Bragelonne

The Iron Mask (1929)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
Uthama Puthiran (1940)
Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
The Count of Bragelonne (1954)
The King's Prisoner (1954)
Uthama Puthiran (1958)
Le Masque de fer (1962)
The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years After (1993)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Other sequels

At Sword's Point (1952)
The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan (1962)
Revenge of the Musketeers (1994)
The Return of the Musketeers, or The Treasures of Cardinal Mazarin (2009)

Animated

The Four Musketeers (1936) Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936) The Three Musketeers (1974) Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) Barbie and the Three Musketeers (2009) Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (2021)
Tom and Jerry	The Two Mouseketeers Touché, Pussy Cat! Tom and Chérie Royal Cat Nap

Television

Series

Live-action	The Three Musketeers (1954) The Three Musketeers (1966) The Mind Robber (1968) d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) Young Blades (2005) The Three Musketeers (2009–10) (puppetry) The Musketeers (2014)
Animated	The Three Musketeers (1968) Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (1981) The Three Musketeers Anime (1987–89) The Return of Dogtanian (1989) Albert the Fifth Musketeer (1993–94)

Films

Live-action	The Three Musketeers (1959) The Three Musketeers (1969) The Man in the Iron Mask (1977) La Femme Musketeer (2004)
Animated	The Three Musketeers (1973) The Man in the Iron Mask (1985) Dogtanian: Special (1985) The Three Musketeers (1986) Dogtanian: One For All and All For One (1995)

Games

Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer
The Three Musketeers (1987 video game)
The Three Musketeers (2006 video game)
The Three Musketeers: One for All!

Musicals

The Three Musketeers (1928)
3 Musketiers

Other
adaptations

The Three Mesquiteers Dog in Boots The Three Must-Get-Theres The Three Mouseketeers (comics) The Three Musketeers (South Korean adaptation) Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (video game)
Khaavren Romances	The Phoenix Guards Five Hundred Years After The Viscount of Adrilankha The Baron of Magister Valley

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