I loved the swashbuckling films I grew up with on television, The Three Musketeers and The Scarlet Pimpernel were stories I actually searched out so I could read the source material. Remember: “Never judge a book by its movie.” While there have been many versions of various stories I hate to admit that my favorite version of The Three Musketeers was the 1948 version with Gene Kelly as d’Artagnan. Yes, it is rather hokey, but it was the one I remember seeing first, so it became my favorite. Something about the simpleness of the 1940’s movie, in which they aren’t trying to make it gritty reality. In high school I even bought a fencing foil. I had it for years and used it as a pointer in my class, until another teacher complained to the principal. What a sourpuss!
