Film Review
Episode Breakdown
Episode 1: L'Auberge de Meung
D'Artagnan sets off for Paris to become a musketeer. En route, in the village of
Meung, he thwarts an attempt to ambush the Queen's lover, the English Lord Buckingham.
Episode 2: Les Mousquetaires de M. de Tréville
D'Artagnan shows his courage and becomes a musketeer.
Episode 3: La Lingère du Louvre
Cardinal Richelieu engages the greedy M. Bonacieux to spy on his wife Constance, the Queen's
linen maid.
Episode 4: Pour l'honneur de la Reine
Realising that she has made an error by giving some jewels to her secret lover Buckingham,
Queen Anne sends the musketeers off to England to recover them.
Episodes 5 & 6: Les Ferrets de diamant
Arriving in England ahead of the musketeers, Richelieu's agent Milady de Winter recovers
the Queen's jewels. D'Artagnan has to act fast to prevent Richelieu from fulfilling his
scheme to expose the Queen's infidelity...
Episode 7: Le Bal des Echevins
At a state ball, the Queen desperately awaits the return of the musketeers with the jewels
which will save her honour...
Episode 8: Le Pavillon d'Estrées
Richelieu's ally Rochefort intends to take revenge on d'Artagnan by kidnapping his beloved
Constance Bonacieux...
Episode 9: Les conquêtes de d'Artagnan
D'Artagnan learns the terrible secret of Milady's identity, just before war breaks out
between England and France...
Episode 10: L'Auberge du Colombier Rouge
The four musketeers are caught up in the siege of Rochelle, unaware that Milady and the
Cardinal have laid plans to have them killed...
Episode 11: Le conseil des mousquetaires
After a fierce battle against the Rochelais, the musketeers send a message to Lord de
Winter to warn him about his sister's treachery. Has Milady's luck finally run out?
Episode 12: Milady prisonnière
Imprisoned in Lord de Winter's castle, Milady finds a way of using her charms to improve
her fortunes. Buckingham is to be her next victim...
Episode 13: Le Couvent de Béthune
Milady takes refuge in a convent where she meets Constance Bonacieux, and finds yet another
opportunity to avenge herself against d'Artagnan...
Episode 14: La vengeance des mousquetaires
D'Artagnan and his three friends finally turn the tables on their evil enemy, Milady de
Winter. They can spare her no mercy...
Henri Diamant-Berger's insanely ambitious 1921 production of
Les Trois mousquetaires is
both a superlative example of silent cinema and a rollicking good action adventure
film of its time. In its day, is was one of the most lavish and spectacular films to have
been made and it proved to be a huge success, not just in France, but across the world.
The film production company Pathé took a huge gamble by engaging the young Diamant-Berger
(then only 27 years old, and this his first directing job) and giving him a budget of
2.5 million francs (a colossal sum in those days) to make what we might now call a super-production.
The gamble paid off: not only was the film a commercial success, earning prestige for
both Pathé and its director, but it also stands as a work of great artistic merit,
setting a high benchmark for future historical adventure films.
Most subsequent adaptations of Dumas's novel (in particular
André Hunebelle's 1953 film)
pale in comparison with this stylish and energetic silent version.
In his later career, Diamant-Berger rarely (if ever) lived up to the standard of this colossal first feature,
but he had some success in the mainstream with such lowbrow fare as
Arsène Lupin détective (1937)
and
Messieurs les ronds de cuir (1959).
In its original form,
Les Trois mousquetaires was shown in serial form, consisting
of twelve one-hour long episodes, with one episode being shown each week.
The film's subsequent history is almost as remarkable as the story it tells. As
part of the Nazi purge, all known copies of the film were destroyed during World War II
and it was long believed that the film was lost forever. Then, in 1995, the director's
grandson, Jérôme Diamant-Berger, unexpectedly uncovered an English copy of
the film.
Although the surviving film was in a very poor state (the spools having deteriorated so
badly that it was not possible to play it back on a projector), it was possible to salvage
it, thanks to recent advances in film restoration technology. The film was finally
brought back to life after a process of painstakingly meticulous restoration, involving
repairing the original print and copying it onto a new film (having corrected for distortions
caused by shrinkage of the original film). Digital conversion allowed further imperfections
(such as scratches and uneven contrast) to be corrected. This patient hard
work is reflected in the resulting image quality, which is probably as close as it is
possible to get to how it would have been in the 1920s.
In restoring the film, Jérôme Diamant-Berger and his collaborators took a
number of executive decisions which risked upsetting the purists. One of the problems
with the original English copy of the film was that many scenes from the original film
had been cut whilst others had been moved around (often quite clumsily). The
restoration team attempted, as far as possible, to restore the film to its original form,
but they also decided to remove the captions and replace them with subtitles (for dialogue)
and voice-over (for commentary). This reduced the length of the film considerably
and put it in a form that would be more acceptable to a modern cinema audience.
Another innovation was the addition of background sound (such as the sound of horses),
to complement the film's new musical score (specially commissioned from composer Gréco
Casadesus). The film was re-structured into 14 episodes, each of around 26 minutes
in length.
Whilst some elements of the restoration have aroused controversy (particularly the removal
of the captions), it does allow a new generation to fully appreciate one of the classic
works of French cinema. The quality of the restored images and the sheer scale of
the original film (which combines the lyrical beauty of Dumas's novel with the pace and
drama of a great historical adventure film) makes this a surprisingly modern film.
Frequent use of exterior locations (including breathtaking shots of French countryside)
gives the film a striking naturalistic feel, often to the extent that you sometimes have
the impression that you are watching a documentary on the life and times of Louis XIII
rather than a film drama based on a 19th century novel.
Despite his inexperience as a film-maker, Henri Diamant-Berger shows a real flair in directing
both the spectacular action scenes (some involving hundreds of extras) and the more intimate
scenes. What is perhaps most surprising about this film is its sheer range - it
encompass almost every possible style of cinema, whilst preserving a consistency which
respects the style and content of the original novel. Whilst parts of the film are
hysterically funny (for example, Monsieur Bonacieux' frequent falls from grace), it is
equally heart-wrenchingly poignant in other places (notably the shockingly tragic Episode
13). In one episode, the film is racing along at a frantic pace as our heroes
surmount seemingly insurmountable odds to thwart their enemies' evil plans. In the
next episode, we have court intrigue, tender romance and some light-hearted comedy.
It is this variation in style which makes the film so entertaining and enthralling, making
it possible to watch the film in its new episode format in fourteen separate sittings
or all six hours of the film in one go with the same pleasure.
Another notable feature of the film, which also contributes greatly to its charm and
ability to hook the audience, is the richness of the characterisation. Almost every
character in this film has a clearly defined identity and set of traits which makes them
instantly believable and recognisable. You would expect this for the main characters
(d'Artagnan, his musketeer chums, Milady, etc), but the same is also true for lesser characters
(Planchet, Bonacieux, Falton, Giovanni - even the executioner, who only appears in a few
scenes). Diamant-Berger shows consummate skill in framing his characters in
such a way that their gestures alone betray their motives, their past, their thoughts.
The esteemed stage actor Charles Dullin appears in a minor role, just a few
years before he made his mark on cinema in two other lavish period productions, both
directed by Raymond Bernard -
Le Miracle des loups (1924)
and
Le Joueur d'échecs (1927).
Most striking is Claude Mérelle's sinister portrayal of the venomous Milady de Winter,
a creation which must rank as one of the all-time greatest female villains in film history.
Aimé Simon-Girard's portrayal of d'Artagnan is also one of the film's highlights,
and it is no surprise that Diamant-Berger chose him to reprise the role in his 1933 re-make
of the film. Simon-Girard is every bit the classic film hero in this film
- the French equivalent of Douglas Fairbanks. Notably, the actor refused to be doubled
and undertook all of his own action stunts (of which there are plenty) for this, his most
famous film role in an otherwise lacklustre career.
As a result of a remarkable restoration, cinema enthusiasts across the world have another
opportunity to experience and enjoy Henri Diamant-Berger's 1921 version of
Les Trois
mousquetaires. Not only is this possibly the finest film adaptation of Alexandre
Dumas's oft pillaged novel (which, unlike many adaptations, retains the beauty, energy
and eloquence of the original novel), but it is also a near-perfect example of the serial
film and a definitive classic of the silent era.
© James Travers 2002
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Henri Diamant-Berger film:
Les Trois mousquetaires (1933)