Although I’m planning to make next month a “Euro-Cult” marathon, I chose to watch this very stylish Italian swashbuckler now to augment my viewing of Allan Dwan’s musical version of THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1939) since the former is a prequel to (and an alternate take on) the classic Alexandre Dumas tale. I’ve always been partial to spin-offs of famous yarns myself and, as a matter of fact, the film takes the viewpoint of Milady De Winter (where we’re even told of her life before acquiring that title). Dumas himself would utilize his famous Musketeers characters in at least three other novels – “The Man In The Iron Mask”, “Twenty Years After” and “The Executioner of Lille” which is what this film is an adaptation of and was indeed the film’s original Italian title (although it was changed internationally to make the connection with the popular swashbuckling classic that much more clearer); incidentally, back in Hollywood they were contemporaneously filming in Technicolor an adaptation of “Twenty Years After” under the title AT SWORD’S POINT with Cornel Wilde and Maureen O’Hara! Vittorio Cottafavi is a prolific and largely unsung genre director with a distinctly pictorial style which is well in evidence here, right from the arresting pre-credit sequence that cleverly gives a foretaste of a crucial moment from the climax: the entrapment of Milady in a barn by the titular executioner and the four musketeers. Atypically for swashbucklers, therefore, the events leading up to her capture then unfold in flashback. The film proves interesting in both plot (a compelling and largely unfamiliar narrative laden with romance, intrigue and action – but where characterization is still given its due) and execution: Cottafavi’s use of shadowy lighting and mobile camera-work is particularly effective, while giving the whole a breathless pace.Nominal male star Rossano Brazzi is belatedly introduced as the Comte De Fer who immediately falls for Milady (formerly Anna de Beuil and soon-to-be Duchess of Buckingham) and later pursues her as an embittered but dashing Athos of the King’s Musketeers. Sensual brunette Yvette Lebon is perfectly cast as the cold-blooded woman who escapes her life of drudgery in a convent by enslaving every man she meets including the executioner’s younger brother (Armando Francioli) who hangs himself in a prison cell when she abandons him for a life of political intrigue under the direction of Rochefort (Massimo Serato) who’s often bemused by Milady’s audacity and resourcefulness.Jean-Roger Caussimon as the Executioner of Lille is the only man able to resist her and for this she demands Rochefort for his life. His lovely young daughter (Maria Grazia Francia) not only sees her uncle destroyed by Milady but also her own fiancé and, during the afore-mentioned opening, she herself is at the mercy of Milady’s dagger before the latter’s timely come-uppance. While Richelieu is often mentioned throughout, he doesn’t make a personal appearance this time around and, similarly, the other famous musketeers get very little mileage here (where D’Artagnan is, besides, unaccountably presented as both blond and fey!); incidentally, another peculiar historical detail is the English army’s depiction as a bunch of kilt-wearing Scots! The whole exhilarating brew is propelled by a fine score, alternating between moody and rousing, by Renzo Rossellini. Unfortunately, the VHS copy I watched (culled from a late-night Italian TV screening) suffered from yet another spell of distracting extraneous noise on the soundtrack!

Spoilers! Yvette Lebon in a fine performance as Milady de Winter, her talent not being wasted like they were in some of the Italian productions. She is lovely but unfortunately a little long in the tooth for the role.Rossano Brazzi as Count de le Fere aka Athos an excellent portrayal. Rossano not only played the character with dignity and nobility but also was good looking like the character in the novel The Three Musketeers.Something else I appreciated about this version was it revealed the Executioner of Lille's hatred of Milady after all she ruined his brother future and got him branded along with herself. The Executioner's hatred for Milady is mentioned at the end of The Three Musketeers Novel. A Russian version,French version and the 1999 video stage play also reveal the executioner's hatred of Milady. Her early life as a novice in a nunnery is also shown in this version.The first film I know of to actually do so. A life she hated and who could blame her. The story isn't perfect but it does uncover much of the mystery of the character of Milady de Winter. This is an extremely rare version to find on video. Hopefully it will be released on DVD or some rare copies turn up at websites like Aflam.ws or SinisterCinema.com which has not only rare horror/scifi but adventures as well. I ordered the Revenge of the Musketeers 1963 loose adaptation of the Twenty Years After with Fernando Lamas and Mask of the Musketeers (Aka Zorro and the Three Musketeers) with Gordon Scott and from Something Weird Video I purchased Secret Mark of D'Artagnan with George Nader. American formatted European versions of Musketeer Movies usually for sale at these sites. I recommend this film to any Musketeer fan and for anyone interested in another take on Milady's side of things see Arielle Dombasle's 2004 take on the character in Milady.

This movie has the advantage to start from the viewpoint of a woman, the later Mylady, comtesse de Fer (Yvette Lebon) who is imprisoned in a convent. The director Vittorio Cottafavi knows how to point the camera in her face. That face shows all the possible expressions a woman can have: fear, anger, love, despair and love? Does this woman really love somebody? I doubt it and that is the crucial theme of the story: women are dangerous. Yvette Lebon is so beautiful in this movie that everybody must fall in love with her. So she is invited by the comte de Fer (Rossano Brazzi). She has the skill to push all her lovers into marriage. The hangman (Jean-Roger Caussimon) is a special person in the movie because he only intervenes at the end of the beginning and he is the brother of her first lover. She will never go with him back to the lieutenant, who made her escape from the convent, by her free will. The story is not in a straight line and you never are sure what will happen next, what makes it better than the other musketeer-films. The historical background is correct in the details: the uniforms and even the regimental colours. Justice was hard at that time and the hangman can take the place of his brother but why is he so sure that his brother will come back? He takes a great risk by doing this. Fleeing justice must have been a hazardous operation in France of the 16th century and Lady De Winter will be confronted with her past and her future by a story-teller. One detail seems not to be so relevant as it appears: when condemned the prisoners (Mylady and the lieutenant) received the mark of the King's Justice in the form of a Lys burned into the shoulder but this is never recorded later in the movie. It is also confusing for whom lady De Winter is spying and why Louis XIII wants her to be executed at the end or why comte de Fer becomes another person in the movie (Athos). The sword-fighting is virtuose and gives a sportive flavour to the movie. The brilliant script gives this movie a more accurate idea of what happened under the government of Cardinal de Richelieu than most of the other movies of the musketeer-family. In any way when Mylady prays for forgiveness she says the truth when she claims that she is not responsible for all her sins but that destiny can be so cruel.