The Three Musketeers (1933 serial)
| The Three Musketeers | |
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| Directed by | Armand Schaeffer Colbert Clark |
| Produced by | Nat Levine |
| Written by | Norman Hall Colbert Clark Ben Cohn Wyndham Gittens |
| Starring | Jack Mulhall Raymond Hatton Francis X. Bushman Jr John Wayne |
| Music by | Lee Zahler |
| Editing by | Ray Snyder |
| Distributed by | Mascot Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 7, 1933 |
| Running time | 12 chapters (210 min) |
| Language | English |
The Three Musketeers is a 1933 film serial produced by Mascot Pictures which updates Dumas' The Three Musketeers by setting the story in contemporary North Africa. The Musketeers are soldiers in the French Foreign Legion, and D'Artagnan (renamed Lt. Tom Wayne and played by John Wayne), is a pilot in the United States military.
The serial is in the public domain.
In 1946 Republic Pictures edited the serial into a feature film called Desert Command.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
When Lt. Wayne is framed for the murder of his fiancé's brother, Armand Corday (Lon Chaney, Jr.), he vows to capture the real killer, a mysterious Arab terrorist known only as El Shaitan. He is aided by the Three Musketeers: Clancy (an Irishman always spoiling for a fight), Renard, and Schmidt (who loves sausages). Nicknamed the "Devil of the Desert",[2][3] El Shaitan leads a desert cult and a secret society against French authorities, with a meeting point called Devil's Circle.[4][5] He remains a shadowy figure, hiding his face and his true identity, as a result of which many people are mistakenly suspected of being El Shaitan, while other characters impersonate him for their own ends.
[edit] Cast
- Jack Mulhall as Clancy
- Raymond Hatton as Renard
- Francis X. Bushman, Jr. (Ralph Bushman) as Schmidt
- John Wayne as Tom Wayne
- Ruth Hall as Elaine Corday
- Creighton Chaney (Lon Chaney, Jr.) as Armand Corday
- Hooper Atchley as El Kadur
- Gordon de Main as Colonel Duval
- Robert Frazer as Major Booth and El Shaitan, leader of The Devil's Circle, whose main objective is to destroy the French Foreign Legion. Frazer played both El Shaitan and Major Booth but El Shaitan's real identity turned out to be one of the other suspects. Cline considers this "all quite confusing."[6]
- Noah Beery, Jr. as Noah Stubbs
- Al Ferguson as Ali
- Edward Peil, Sr. as Ratkin
- William Desmond as Captain Boncour
- George Magrill as El Maghreb
- Robert Warwick as Colonle Brent
[edit] Production
The Three Musketeers was loosely adapted from the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père and updated to a contemporary time period. The Three Musketeers are legionnaires in the French Foreign Legion: Clancy (Irish), Renard (French) and Schmidt (German). The D'Artagnan character is Tom Wayne, an American aviator played by John Wayne, who rescues the three from attacking Arabs while flying over the desert.[7]
[edit] Chapter titles
- The Fiery Circle
- One for All and All for One
- The Master Spy
- Pirates of the Desert
- Rebels' Rifles
- Death's Marathon
- Naked Steel
- The Master Strikes
- The Fatal Cave
- Trapped
- The Measure of a Man
- The Glory of Comrades
Source:[8]
[edit] See also
- John Wayne filmography (1926-1940)
- List of film serials
- List of film serials by studio
- List of films in the public domain
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038466/
- ^ Ken Weiss, Edwin Goodgold, "To be continued ...", NY: Bonanza Books, 1972, 341 pages, ISBN 0517166259 9780517166253 (p.43).
- ^ Buck Rainey, Serial film stars: a biographical dictionary, 1912-1956, McFarland, 2005, 851 pages, ISBN 0786420103, 9780786420100 (page 542).
- ^ Jim Harmon, Donald F. Glut, The great movie serials: their sound and fury, Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1972, 384 pages, ISBN 038509079X 9780385090797 (p.326).
- ^ Jack G. Shaheen, Reel bad Arabs: how Hollywood vilifies a people, NY: Olive Branch Press, 2001, 574 pages, ISBN 1566563887, 9781566563888 (p.488).
- ^ Cline, William C.. "9. They Who Also Serve (The Citizens)". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc.. pp. 143. ISBN 078640471X.
- ^ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut. "13. The Classics "You Say 'What Dost Thou Mean By That?' and Push Him Off the Cliff"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 325. ISBN 9780713000979.
- ^ Cline, William C.. "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc.. pp. 207. ISBN 078640471X.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Three Musketeers (1933 serial) |
[edit] Download or view online
- The Three Musketeers is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Episode 1 on Google Video
- FreeMooviesOnline:
| Preceded by The Whispering Shadow (1933) |
Mascot Serial The Three Musketeers (1933) |
Succeeded by Fighting with Kit Carson (1933) |
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