4k Movie, Streaming, Blu-Ray Disc, and Home Theater Product Reviews & News | High Def Digest
Film & TV All News Blu-Ray Reviews Release Dates News Pre-orders 4K Ultra HD Reviews Release Dates News Pre-orders Gear Reviews News Home Theater 101 Best Gear Film & TV
Ultra HD : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
Release Date: May 8th, 2023 Movie Release Year: 1973

The Three Musketeers (1973) - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (UK Import)

Overview -

Endlessly witty, punchy and wily, director Richard Lester returned from a five-year hiatus that started in the late 1960s to refresh his signature style with the equally witty, punchy and breathless 1973 adaptation of The Three Musketeers. StudioCanal provides this swashbuckling historical epic with a brand-new 4K presentation aided by Dolby Vision HDR. The transfer itself is a night-and-day difference from previous subpar transfers, although with some reservations. Add a nice handful of supplements, including a great interview with film historian Neil Sinyard, and you have a Highly Recommended release!

A swashbuckling triumph, the Musketeers films directed in the early 1970s really show Richard Lester’s versatility as a director and have been admired by everyone from Quentin Tarantino to Steven Soderberg.

In 17th Century Paris, young, naïve and energetic D’Artagnan (Michael York, Cabaret, Murder on the Orient Express) leaves home to seek his fortune as a swordsman. Making friends with the three musketeers: world-weary Athos (Oliver Reed, Women in Love, Oliver!), comically arrogant Porthos (Frank Finlay, Casanova, The Comedy Man) and chivalric Aramis (Richard Chamberlain, The Thorn Birds, King Solomon’s Mines), he is invited to join them in their efforts to thwart the aristocratic schemer Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston, The Agony and the Ecstasy, El Cid). Richelieu plots to prove the infidelity of the Queen (Geraldine Chaplin, Doctor Zhivago, Talk to Her) to King Louis XIII (Jean-Pierre Cassel, Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Murder on the Orient Express) in order to increase his own power…. Whilst attempting to foil the Cardinal’s plans, D’Artagnan finds himself also juggling affairs with both the charming Constance Bonancieux (Raquel Welch, One Million Years BC, She) as well as the passionate Milady De Winter (Faye Dunaway, Chinatown, Bonnie & Clyde), a secret agent for the Cardinal….

Originally conceived as a vehicle for The Beatles, it was ultimately decided that the Fab Four‘s personalities risked overshadowing the characters and the idea was shelved. Throughout production, Richard Lester insisted on secrecy from cast and crew for fear that his ideas may be stolen by any of the four other adaptations of the book that were also in production at the time. However, the film was both a critical and commercial hit on release and garnered Raquel Welch a Best Actress Golden Globe.

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray
Video Resolution/Codec:
2160p HEVC/H.265
Special Features:
Original UK trailer
Release Date:
May 8th, 2023

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

As I mentioned above, Richard Lester was returning to the director’s chair after quite some time directing commercials and trying to find financing for some passion projects. That was when the idea of The Beatles starring as The Three Musketeers in a big-budget project. And since Lester had plenty of experience working with them on A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, it made sense to hire the man. That of idea of The Beatles soon fell out of favor, but Lester stuck around and stayed with the project. He teamed with novelist-turned-screenwriter George MacDonald Fraser to develop a treatment for both The Three Musketeers and its sequel, which they originally planned to be one four-hour movie.

The movies got split up somewhere along the way, though the duo’s particular penchant for eschewing pomp and circumstance while caring deeply about story stayed firmly in place. The result is my personal favorite adaptation of the source material. I’ve got another Richard Lester movie tattooed on my upper right arm, so I may be a bit biased here.

The Three Musketeers is a pretty faithful adaptation of the source material, but Lester and his knack for poking fun at the power structures that define modern society is in truly rare form. Big physical gags abound in the film, almost like the canvas given for his Beatles movies was begging for something more expansive, plus he had an absolutely stacked cast to work with, including Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Charlton Heston, Christopher Lee, Faye Dunaway, Michael York and Lester’s good friend, Roy Kinnear. And on top of all that, Lester found so many different provocative ways to add a bit of cynicism to the proceedings. After all, a lot of people get stabbed and murdered in the story.

D’Artagnan (York) sets out for Paris in the 17th century with the grand plan of joining the elite Musketeers. To get their attention, D’Artagnan antagonizes Athos (Reed), Aramis (Chamberlain) and Porthos (Frank Finlay), while also making an enemy out of Rochefort (Lee). Naturally, Cardinal Richelieu (Heston) is scheming to undermine the Duke of Buckingham (Simon Ward) and the Queen of France (Geraldine Chapin), while Milady (Dunaway) is scheming as well.

Although Lester is known for the Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film and how that defined the approach to his other films, we find the director trying to execute swashbuckling action while making it wily and comical. The result is a very weird concoction, with jokes thrown around as people get stabbed and blood squirts out of their wounds, though the narrative beats somehow land harder thanks to this approach. The distinction between comedy and drama takes on a bit of a futile mood, like all these people are fighting and fucking with each other just to get by. It’s exhausting!

Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of Dick Lester’s The Three Musketeers and I hope to see it continue to fascinate audiences for decades. There’s not many adaptations of Dumas’ work as funny and yes, even horny, than Lester’s version. And hell, there may not be another with a more dire look at the legends that pervade through history.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays
En garde! The Three Musketeers is presented as a two-disc (4K & Blu-ray) release from StudioCanal UK with a thick black case for the discs and a slipcover encasing it all. The 4K disc is a BD100, while the standard Blu-ray is a BD50. Both discs boot up to standard menu screens with options to play the film, select chapters, set up audio and video, as well as explore bonus features. Please note that the standard Blu-ray is Region B locked.

NOTE: Images are not disc-sourced. We haven't been able to pull images from discs yet, but as soon as we can we'll circle back and update this review and hopefully add a video sample as well.

Video Review

Ranking:

The Three Musketeers was shot on Eastman 10T 5254 35mm stock and with Panaflex cameras and lenses from Panavision, thus the film was a really great candidate for the 4K treatment. Although no source details for the new 4K restoration have been provided with the release, I dug up some information on the web and it looks as if this restoration was sourced from the original negative. As someone who has seen The Three Musketeers on a 35mm theatrical release print, I can say with certainty that this is the best the film has ever looked in terms of overall fidelity. Film grain is exposed wonderfully and much of the film is soft because of spherical lenses, and it was a grand pleasure to see that upheld in this presentation.

Now, for the reservations. This 2160p, HEVC-encoded presentation has a very good color grade overall, though some shots fare better than others. The scenes shot day-for-night have a bit of a teal wash to them, although it doesn’t overwhelm the presentation like it did in the new StudioCanal-produced 4K transfer of King Kong (1976). Flesh tones in general look wonderful and the soft whites native to the production design gain some incredible detail with the new 10-bit color depth. Optical effects are nice and dated when exposed to 2160p and if there was any DNR used in the presentation, it’s very, very light. Overall, this is a very pleasing presentation that easily jumps ahead of previous DNR-laden releases.

Audio Review

Ranking:

This new release includes three different LPCM 2.0 mono tracks in English, French and German. That beautiful, expansive Michel Legrand score comes through as rich and vibrant as it should. Dialogue is balanced nicely and is always clean, plus the source seems to be in terrific condition. No tininess can be heard in the peaks, which is always nice.

Special Features

Ranking:

The Three Musketeers even gains a nice selection of supplements with this 4K upgrade, including an interview with film historian Neil Sinyard that goes deep on Lester’s career up to the making of The Three Musketeers. Sinyard posits Lester’s playful style within the whole of UK filmmaking from that period and has a great story about how David Lean reached out to Lester after being impressed by Petulia (1968). The other supplements look to be vintage, but they’re no less fun to watch.

  • Interview with Neil Sinyard (HD 31:20)
  • The Saga of the Musketeers (SD 23:10)
  • The Making of the Musketeers Vintage EPK (SD 6:47)
  • Original US trailer (SD 3:02)
  • Original UK trailer (HD 2:36)

Richard Lester’s adaptation of The Three Musketeers rides high in stunning 4K from StudioCanal with a new 4K and Blu-ray release that easily pulls ahead of all previous releases. Although I have some minor reservations about the transfer, it’s true that this is the best the film has ever looked at home, plus some special features help to highlight the film’s unique brilliance. This release comes Highly Recommended!