At Sword’s Point (1952)

Directed by Lewis Allen. Starring Cornel Wilde, Maureen O’Hara, Robert Douglas, Gladys Cooper, Alan Hale Jr., Dan O’Herlihy, June Clayworth, Blanche Yurka, Nancy Gates.

Frivolous, second-rate swashbuckler where the now-grown offspring of the Three Musketeers (and D’Artagnan) come to the rescue of Queen Anne (Cooper) while doing battle with a dastardly duke (Douglas). Heavier on sword fights and silliness than logic or storytelling, and finds room for some flimsy romance between two of the new Muskies (the child of Athos is a woman named Claire, played by O’Hara, who is laughably unconvincing pretending to be a man during her initial meeting with Wilde, Hale and O’Herlihy). Mild, fairly breezy escapism, but the story feels padded even at less than an hour-and-a-half, and nothing here is truly rousing with excitement or funny enough to induce real laughter. It’s a bit of a knock on Alexandre Dumas and his original texts when the opening narration makes reference to the tragic demise of the “great” Cardinal Richelieu. Completed in 1950, but its release was delayed two years.

51/100