The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers (1948) is George Sidney's swashbuckling take on Dumas, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Young D'Artagnan rides into Paris hungry for glory and manages to line up three duels in a single afternoon — against Athos, Porthos and Aramis.

The fights turn into a lifelong friendship instead. From there it's service to the king, the scandal of the queen's diamonds, a breakneck ride across France, and a deadly game with two opponents: the icy Cardinal Richelieu and the gorgeous, ruthless Milady. Gene Kelly turns D'Artagnan into an acrobat — his swordplay is choreographed like dance, all leaps across tables and chandeliers. Lana Turner plays Milady, Vincent Price is Richelieu, and a young Angela Lansbury is the queen.

MGM shot the whole thing in lavish Technicolor, with all the scale of big studio costume cinema. Sidney's version trades the novel's darkness for color, momentum and Kelly's sheer physical bravado, and on that front it has never really been topped. Stream The Three Musketeers (1948) online on iFILM.