| The Three Musketeers | |
| Director: | Alan Dwan |
| Producer: | Raymond Griffith (associate producer) |
| Screenplay: | William A. Drake M. M. Musselman Sam Hellman Ray Golden (special material) Sid Kuller (special material) |
| Starring: | Don Ameche The Ritz Brothers |
| Music: | David Buttolph Samuel Pokrass |
| Cinematography: | Peverell Marley |
| Editing: | Jack Dennis |
| Distributor: | 20th Century Fox |
| Runtime: | 73 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Three Musketeers is a 1939 musical comedy film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's 1844 novel The Three Musketeers directed by Alan Dwan and starring Don Ameche as d'Artagnan, with the Ritz Brothers as his cowardly helpers. While the film can be found online, it did have an original copyright notice and renewal.[1] [2]
Music: Samuel Pokrass, lyrics: Walter Bullock.
Frank Nugent, critic for New York Times, wrote, "That isn't a buzzing in your ears you've been hearing; it's Dumas, fils, spinning in his grave as the Ritz Brothers play his 'Three Musketeers' ... It seems ironic that Mr. Zanuck's first attempt to deal reverently with a classic—in every respect but the Ritzes' share in it—should be impeded by its very reverence to the classic. The trouble, it appears, is that his burlesques are too serious and that his serious efforts are too often burlesques."[3]
In the Leave it to Beaver episode, "The Book Report" (1963), young Beaver Cleaver gets in trouble at school when he is assigned to write a book report about the Dumas novel, but instead of actually doing his homework and reading it, just watches the movie on television and bases his report on the film's comedic scenes and Ritz Brothers' zany antics.