THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1948 FILM)

'''The Three Musketeers''' is a Technicolor 1948 adventure film adaptation of the classic novel ''The Three Musketeers'' by Alexandre Dumas, père. It starred Gene Kelly, Van Heflin, June Allyson, Vincent Price, Angela Lansbury, and Lana Turner.

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Plot summary

Plot summary

D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly), an inexperienced Gascon youth, travels to Paris to join the elite King's Musketeers. On his journey, he runs afoul of a mysterious stranger at an inn and is knocked unconscious and robbed of his letter of introduction from his father to de Treville (Reginald Owen), the commander of the Musketeers. When he awakens, he continues on to the city.
There, he believes he has been insulted by three Musketeers, Athos (Van Heflin), Porthos (Gig Young) and Aramis (Robert Coote), in three separate incidents; he challenges each to a duel. When they show up at the appointed place, the master swordsmen are amused by the newcomer's audacity. Before they can begin however, they are interrupted by Richelieu's men, who try to arrest D'Artagnan's opponents. Outraged that the three are greatly outnumbered, he joins them in dispatching their foes. As a result, he is welcomed into the Musketeers.
Later, D'Artagnan rescues (and falls in love with) Constance Bonacieux (June Allyson), a confidante of Queen Anne (Angela Lansbury). The Queen had been given a magnificent matched set of diamond studs by her husband, King Louis XIII (Frank Morgan). Foolishly, she had given two of them to her English lover, the Duke of Buckingham (John Sutton).
Richelieu (Vincent Price) concocts a scheme to increase his influence with the king by discrediting the Queen. He arranges a ball and suggests to the king that his wife wear the diamonds. D'Artagnan and his three friends volunteer to travel to England to retrieve the jewels, but along the way, they are ambushed by the Cardinal's men and one by one, they are forced to stay behind to hold off their pursuers. Finally, only D'Artagnan and his servant Planchet (Keenan Wynn) are left to reach the duke.
He finds that Richelieu had sent the beautiful Lady de Winter (Lana Turner) to work her wiles on the duke and steal the studs. Fortunately, the duke's jeweler is able to make replacements quickly and D'Artagnan races back to France. On the way back to Paris, he collects his comrades. They arrive just in time to save the Queen from disgrace.
Richelieu has Constance arrested and assigns de Winter to try to seduce D'Artagnan to enlist in his service. D'Artagnan pretends to be enamored by her to learn where Constance is being held, but begins to fall in love with de Winter. Then he accidentally learns her darkest secret: she has been branded, the mark of a common criminal. This earns him her unrelenting hatred.
Meanwhile, the Queen succeeds in freeing Constance and sends her to Buckingham for safety. Seeking revenge, de Winter follows, but is caught and is placed in the custody of Constance. When the latter lets down her guard, de Winter kills her and escapes. Caught once again by the Musketeers, she is revealed to be the faithless wife of Athos. She begs for mercy, but finds none from her husband, who still loves her despite her many crimes, nor from D'Artagnan, mourning Constance. Seeing this, she calms herself and walks with dignity to her execution.