Le Saboteur
Active member
Yet another thread that doesn't seem to exist despite the half a million adaptations that exist across film, television, and animation. Feel free to discuss any of the various incarnations!
I have a special fondness for the Disney's The Three Musketeers. It bears almost zero resemblance to that most famous of books, but I was sufficiently entertained. Oliver Platt's turn as Porthos in particular stands out, as does Michael Wincott's portrayal of Rochefort. Gabrielle Anwar could do no wrong since that Richard Grieco classic, If Looks Could Kill!
I digress, though. I would contend that none of the English-language versions are any good. The steam punk-esque elements of 2011's The Three Musketeers (helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson) weren't entirely objectionable in concept, but that film should have never been greenlit. Following his work in Pirates, Orlando Bloom should have been a natural. He had his moments, but they were too far and few.
The '48 version with Gene Kelly has some great comedic elements, but the sword fighting is off putting because they're clearly using fencing foils.* Which is unconscionable. If there's anything in the Western tradition that compares to the martial arts' ...well, filmability, it's sword fighting.
*-Sport fencing is only peripherally related to actual blade combat. Staging a convincing swordfight is a damn hard thing to do because the people involved really need to look like they know what they're doing. See Rob Roy's climatic duel for a modern classic. Alatriste too.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a commendable with John Malkovich and Leonardo diCaprio is a commendable piece of work, but it's, like, a chapter in the sequel 20 Years After; otherwise known as Book 2 of the d'Artagnan Romances. Had they done more it could have been something truly exceptional.
The Richard Lester directed version - both parts - come the closest, but something about it seems stuck in the seventies. It might be the heavy use of facial makeup in other an otherwise excellent pair of films.
The French version with Mylene Demongeot as Milady de Winter and Gérard Barray as d'Artagnan was equally well done, but it's been dogs years since I've seen it. I don't think it ever made the jump to digital.
For me, the biggest problem is length. The first book is absolutely sprawling that it lends itself far better to a longform series. It seems that somebody at The Beeb had a similar idea and commissioned a ten-part mini series set to debut in the UK presently. (Finally!)
From Left to Right: Athos (Tom Burke), Porthos (Howard Charles), d'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino), and Aramis (Santiago Cabrera).
Generally speaking, I like the look. It's updated of course, but it still feels very much of the period in spirit at least. Though, I can't help but think that Aramis walked off the set of a Western.
It won't be a faithful adaptation of the book, but all new adventures per the series' showrunner.
Stop in on the official site for further information.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pmDWE8Jy9EE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I have a special fondness for the Disney's The Three Musketeers. It bears almost zero resemblance to that most famous of books, but I was sufficiently entertained. Oliver Platt's turn as Porthos in particular stands out, as does Michael Wincott's portrayal of Rochefort. Gabrielle Anwar could do no wrong since that Richard Grieco classic, If Looks Could Kill!
I digress, though. I would contend that none of the English-language versions are any good. The steam punk-esque elements of 2011's The Three Musketeers (helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson) weren't entirely objectionable in concept, but that film should have never been greenlit. Following his work in Pirates, Orlando Bloom should have been a natural. He had his moments, but they were too far and few.
The '48 version with Gene Kelly has some great comedic elements, but the sword fighting is off putting because they're clearly using fencing foils.* Which is unconscionable. If there's anything in the Western tradition that compares to the martial arts' ...well, filmability, it's sword fighting.
*-Sport fencing is only peripherally related to actual blade combat. Staging a convincing swordfight is a damn hard thing to do because the people involved really need to look like they know what they're doing. See Rob Roy's climatic duel for a modern classic. Alatriste too.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a commendable with John Malkovich and Leonardo diCaprio is a commendable piece of work, but it's, like, a chapter in the sequel 20 Years After; otherwise known as Book 2 of the d'Artagnan Romances. Had they done more it could have been something truly exceptional.
The Richard Lester directed version - both parts - come the closest, but something about it seems stuck in the seventies. It might be the heavy use of facial makeup in other an otherwise excellent pair of films.
The French version with Mylene Demongeot as Milady de Winter and Gérard Barray as d'Artagnan was equally well done, but it's been dogs years since I've seen it. I don't think it ever made the jump to digital.
For me, the biggest problem is length. The first book is absolutely sprawling that it lends itself far better to a longform series. It seems that somebody at The Beeb had a similar idea and commissioned a ten-part mini series set to debut in the UK presently. (Finally!)
From Left to Right: Athos (Tom Burke), Porthos (Howard Charles), d'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino), and Aramis (Santiago Cabrera).
Generally speaking, I like the look. It's updated of course, but it still feels very much of the period in spirit at least. Though, I can't help but think that Aramis walked off the set of a Western.
It won't be a faithful adaptation of the book, but all new adventures per the series' showrunner.
IGN said:The series will use the book as a foundation, but not follow the trajectory of the original story faithfully. "I didn?t want to adapt the book," Hodges said. "The book effectively becomes a serial, and this is a series this is a series of new adventures. But what it does do is take themes, ideas, all clearly characters from the book, and use them in ways that sometimes are familiar from the book and sometimes very, very different to the book, but it isn?t an adaptation of the book, and it doesn?t follow the famous story that has been adapted a number of times. I wanted to do something completely new."
Stop in on the official site for further information.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pmDWE8Jy9EE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>