At Sword's Point (1952)

Sixteen forty-eight and France is in hot water. Robert Douglass and his goons are plotting against the ailing old queen. The number of queens against whom Robert Douglass had plotted are too numerous to count.Time to muster the Four Musketeers -- Athos, Porthos, Aramis, D'Artignan, Paramus, Pasaic, and Patterson -- except that they are either dead or ridden with gout. So the sons of the three musketeers join forces along with the daughter of Athos, Maureen O'Hara at her most ravishing. She's been trained in swordplay and is dressed in masculine garb so at first the others take her for a boy. That's a novel touch.I couldn't make it to the end. It's supposed to be a good-hearted tale of derring-do but it doesn't hold a candle to Errol Flynn's best swashbucklers. It isn't that Cornell Wilde, as the son of D'Artignan, doesn't know how to wield a sword. He was on the fencing team at Columbia University. But he must have been forced to unlearn whatever he knew of fencing and instead learned the arts of fighting with furniture and holding off hordes of swordsmen with a single blade.The costumes are colorful and the hills of California make a serviceable substitute for France but, how to put this?, the atmosphere of action and jollity seems forced. The musketeers laugh uproariously at the corniest remarks. Except when fighting, they laugh in a most unbuttoned manner. They laugh at each other. They laugh at the enemy. They laugh when they're at death's door. Made me feel like the only person at the party who wasn't stoned.It is, however, full of gaudy action and a romance between Wilde and O'Hara. That's about as far as I got. The direction is terrible. The actors don't have a chance in this misguided effort. The kids should enjoy it, though, if they can put up with the absence of the kind of brutal violence they've seen on the screen lately.

Sons of the Musketeers is set in France with the elderly French Queen worried about threats to her throne and her son's succession to the throne from the Duc de Lavalle sends out for a call for help from the Musketeers who helped her out many years ago.The now elderly musketeers send their sons. Athos who sends his daughter Claire (Maureen O'Hara) herself a fine swords-woman who comes in disguised as a man.The story has plenty of intrigue, backstabbing and swordplay. There is some knockabout comedy such as the sleeping arrangements for the Musketeers junior before Claire does her reveal.There is plenty of cut and thrust and some nifty stunt work. Even Maureen O'Hara is good with the sword and looks ravishing with her long leathers boots on and full on Technicolour.The film is not too long but there is still too much sword fighting against overwhelming odds before the musketeers give up, escape, fight against overwhelming odds and Lavalle always seems to have the upper hand until the conclusion of the film. It does look like padding to a flimsy story.

"At Sword's Point" contains homages to "The Three Musketeers" and some common conventions for such films. Placed in 1648, it starts with Queen Anne of France (Gladys Cooper) worried about threats to her throne and her son's succession to the throne. The Duc de Lavalle (Robert Douglas) is stirring up the nobles, who are circling like sharks. The queen has hidden her young son in a monastery to keep him safe from Lavalle. Since Lavalle is unable to find the prince, he resorts to plan B: he will marry Princess Henriette (Nancy Gates). But Henriette despises him and the queen resists all threats. She attempts to contact Spain for assistance, but all her messengers are killed en route by Lavalle. Time is of the essence, because the queen is sick.She decides to reach out to her trustworthy four musketeers from the past: Athos, Aramis, Porthos and D'Artagnan. If you have not seen "The Three Musketeers" (1935), you should probably watch that film first. By now the musketeers are older men. Each sends his son in his place, except Athos who sends his daughter Claire (Maureen O'Hara), a fine swordswoman.This story is full of intrigue, swordplay and clever twists, even if it departs from history. Nods to "The Three Musketeers" include the passing of the father's sword to the son. Also, when the musketeers meet, there is swordplay among them to establish their abilities. (It should be noted that the swordplay and stuntwork in this film is quite good. Maureen O'Hara displays an athleticism that few actresses could match.) Moroni Olsen plays the aged Porthos--the same role he played in the 1935 film.The film uses the common convention of a woman passing as a man--something that just has to be accepted because there is no way anyone would mistake Maureen O'Hara for a man simply because her hair is under a hat and she is wearing men's breeches.Shot in Technicolor, this film is a colorful addition to the "Three Musketeers" canon. The acting is solid and the action scenes are worth seeing.

French history has often been altered for Hollywood films, and here, it is the tale of the attempted take-over of the throne by an evil cardinal and his hold on the aging Queen who is acting as a regent for her young son, Louis. The cardinal demands to marry the Princess in order to gain power, and that is where the musketeers come in, this time joined by the sword fighting Maureen O'Hara. She has the stamina of all the musketeers together, giving a feminist aspect to the predictable tale. Leading musketeer Cornel Wilde gets the pleasure of both sparring and romancing her, making this also a variation of Taming of the Shrew where the finale has O'Hara in triumph.Robert Douglas is an appropriate villain with Gladys Cooper a noble yet regal ailing Queen. Wasted in a generic role is European stage legend Blanche Yurka as a tavern owner without the secret menacing of "A Tale of Two City's" wine shop owner Madame DeFarge. A sly wit dominates the screenplay, and the Technicolor photography is stunning, particularly for O'Hara. But, as her oft-costar John Wayne once said about someone else, she'd look good in a burlap bag.