The Three Musketeers is a 1933 American pre-Code film serial directed by Armand Schaeffer and Colbert Clark, and produced by Nat Levine for Mascot Pictures.Weiss and Goodgold 1973, p. 43. The film serial was very loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel The Three Musketeers, with the musketeers changed into three soldiers in the French Foreign Legion, and d'Artagnan being reconfigured as Lt. Tom Wayne (played by John Wayne), a pilot in the United States military.Rainey 2005, p. 542.Harmon and Glut 1973, p. 325.

Wayne only received fourth billing behind Raymond Hatton, Francis X. Bushman Jr. and Jack Mulhall who play the three legionnaires.Harmon and Glut 1972, p. 326. Lon Chaney Jr. had a co-starring role in the serial, mainly appearing in chapters one and ten.Weiss, Ken and Ed Goodgold. To be Continued ...: A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973. .

Plot In the harsh deserts of North Africa, the French Foreign Legion provides a military presence. Lt. Tom Wayne is framed for the murder of Armand Corday, his fiancé's brother. He vows to capture the real killer, a mysterious Arab terrorist known only as El Shaitan. He encounters three bumptious legionnaires: Clancy, an Irishman always spoiling for a fight; Renard, a wily Frenchman; and Schmidt, a German who loves sausages. They are the surviving members of a Foreign Legion unit that was wiped out in an attack.

Nicknamed the "Devil of the Desert", El Shaitan remains a shadowy figure, hiding his face and his true identity, as a result of which many people are mistakenly suspected of being the cult leader in the course of the serial, while other characters impersonate him for their own ends. At a meeting place called "The Devil's Circle", El Shaitan commands a fanatic desert cult, a secret society formed to fight against the French authorities.

When Clancy, Renard and Schmidt are trapped by a horde of Berber tribesmen, Lt. Wayne quickly stops the attack using the machine gun mounted on his aircraft. The three legionnaires are in constant danger but Wayne comes to their rescue many times, acting as a modern-day d'Artagnan. Eventually, the trio, with the aid of their new friend, triumph over their adversaries.

Cast

John Wayne as Tom Wayne Ruth Hall as Elaine Corday Jack Mulhall as Clancy Raymond Hatton as Renard Francis X. Bushman Jr. (Ralph Bushman) as Schmidt Noah Beery Jr. as Stubbs Al Ferguson as Ali, chief henchman Hooper Atchley as El Kadur George Magrill as El Maghreb Edward Peil Sr. as Ratkin Gordon de Main as Colonel Duval William Desmond as Captain Boncour Robert Warwick as Colonel Brent Creighton Chaney (Lon Chaney Jr.) as Armand Corday Robert Frazer as Major Booth.

Reception Like many other serials, The Three Musketeers was reedited into a feature film version when it was rereleased. In 1946, Favorite Films Corporation edited the serial into a 60-minute feature film called Desert Command. The chapter screen titles were eliminated to create a more continuous flow."Profile:'Desert Command' (1946)."IMDb.com, 2019. Retrieved: July 8, 2019.

Chapters

The Fiery Circle One for All - and All for One! The Master Spy Pirates of the Desert Rebel Rifles Death's Marathon Naked Steel The Master Strikes The Fatal Cave Trapped The Measure of a Man The Glory of Comrades Source:Cline 1984, p. 207.

John Wayne During the 1930s, after starring in The Big Trail (1930), its subsequent commercial failure meant that Wayne was relegated to minor roles in A-pictures, or starring, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. Wayne would star in two other Mascot serials: The Shadow of the Eagle (1932) and The Hurricane Express (1932).Clooney 2002, pp. 195–196.

See also John Wayne filmography List of American films of 1933 List of film serials List of film serials by studio List of films in the public domain in the United States

References Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Cline, William C. "9. They Who Also Serve (The Citizens)"; "Filmography", In the Nick of Time. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984, . Clooney, Nick. The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen. New York: Atria Books, 2002. . Harmon, Jim and Donald F. Glut. The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1972. . Rainey, Buck. Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912–1956. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2010. . Shaheen, Jack G. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001. . Weiss, Ken and Ed Goodgold. To be Continued ...: A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973. .

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