TheLittleSongbird I have always been fond of The Three Musketeers, Man in the Iron Mask and of the swash-buckling tales in general. The Man in the Iron Mask(1939) shows perfectly why. Some of the effects are on the dated side and while looking gorgeous I found for my tastes Joan Bennett to be too blithe. However, the sumptuous costumes and sets more than make amends, as does the stirring score, beautiful cinematography, sword play that is as far away from clumsy as you can get and James Whale's direction, which is suitably sympathetic without it ever been plodding or overly-flamboyant. The script is witty and intelligent and the story is as compelling as you'd expect. Bennett aside, the performances are great. The Musketeers are well done and it was nice seeing Peter Cushing in his screen debut, but for me the standouts were the malevolent Fouquet of Joseph Schildkaut, Warren William's noble D'Artagnan and the altogether riveting dual-role performance of Louis Hayward as the arrogant, cruel Louis and the gentle, romantically helplessness of Phillippe. All in all, a swash-buckling adventure classic of the highest order. 9/10 Bethany Cox

MARIO GAUCI For the record, the film under review is universally considered the best and most "exhilarating" (to quote the late eminent British critic Leslie Halliwell) version, even if Whale himself apparently was not that fond of it (by this time, he had lost favor with the Hollywood bigwigs and basically had resigned himself to be a director-for-hire!). Still, I completely disagree with his unenthusiastic appraisal – as this is certainly one of his most impressive non-horror efforts and easily ranks among the Top 10 Swashbucklers ever to come out of Hollywood! The film was an independent production courtesy of Edward Small: he had already financed the definitive 1934 version of Dumas' THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (likewise a cinematic staple and a personal Holy Grail for me before finally watching it some 3 years ago) and would subsequently make the 1941 rendition of THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (again inspired by a Dumas tale and, like IRON MASK itself, involving twin protagonists). In fact, he would be the force behind no less than 7 swashbucklers throughout his career, including 2 original sequels to MONTE CRISTO – both, incidentally, starring the lead of this one i.e. Louis Hayward! Despite not having the backing of a major studio, the movie lasts for a generous 112 minutes (the IMDb mistakenly lists this as 96 but, then, it is 110 according to the "Leonard Maltin Movie Guide" and, as per the afore-mentioned Halliwell tome, 119!) and looks terrific indeed: sets are expansive, costumes lavish and the cinematography splendid. However, two other contributing factors to the film's overall success is a literate script by George Bruce and a remarkable (if essentially low-key) roster of actors to play the extensive cast of characters. Warren William is D'Artagnan and Alan Hale, Bert Roach and Miles Mander The Three Musketeers (from yet another Dumas perennial) – interestingly, the same year as this film saw a rather good musical spoof adaptation of that novel, but the best-remembered version was still 9 years away! To get back to Hale for a moment, his Porthos here came hot on the heels of another beloved folk character i.e. Robin Hood's best-known sidekick Little John – incidentally, his real-life son would recreate the elder Hale's 1939 role both in LADY IN THE IRON MASK (1952; in which Louis Hayward himself is now D'Artagnan) and in the inferior big-screen remake of IRON MASK retitled THE FIFTH MUSKETEER (1979; and which actually followed this very viewing)!! Joan Bennett had not yet attained artistic maturity (which would come via her noir phase during the next decade), Joseph Schildkraut makes for a wonderful dastardly villain, Walter Kingsford is a vaguely familiar character actor here relishing the opportunity to tackle a sizeable characterization, while Montagu Love is something of a genre fixture(!), Albert Dekker has an small but important early part as King Louis XIII and, though similarly restricted to the prologue, this was Nigel De Brulier's fourth and final appearance as Cardinal Richelieu since 1921 (and which had included the 1929 version of the same source material!). Finally, for horror-movie buffs, Whale regular Dwight Frye and future Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing (his debut!) turn up in bit parts here: though the former's is a speaking part (appearing as Schildkraut's valet), he receives no credit, whereas the latter – who only gets a couple of medium shots as one of the many soldiers at a tavern brawl – does!Anyway, the film throws in a variety of elements and, while it may stress some at the expense of others (notably romance and court intrigue vis-a'-vis its sporadic bursts of action), to my mind, there is little cause for complaint. That is unless one carps for a duel between the two Haywards, which was added for THE FIFTH MUSKETEER – a film that generally followed the George Bruce script here so scrupulously that his name ranks beside that of Dumas in the credits! As for the notion that Whale was so disinterested that he failed to imbue the film with any of his distinctive touches, suffice to say that the prison sequences feature shadowy lighting and a whipping (that particularly evokes a similar scene in FRANKENSTEIN [1931]), while the regal Hayward sensibly despairing – there's an oxymoron for you! – of being strangled by his overgrown hair once his head has been trapped in the (appealingly-designed) mask is a sure-fire display of his recognizable caustic wit (recalling THE INVISIBLE MAN [1933]'s observation that, to avert detection, he must be spotlessly clean at all times); another more broadly comic scene finds William hamming it up in the fashion of John Barrymore posing as Kingsford's doddering servant when soldiers arrive to arrest him. The climax, then, surprisingly sees the death of all four Musketeers, a driverless coach careening off the edge of a cliff, and the union (blessed with mutual love when once it was to be solely a marriage of convenience) between Spaniard Bennett and the 'new' French King.Interestingly, having recently rewatched Luis Bunuel's swan-song THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (1977), I was reminded of the ambivalent nature of its heroine during those scenes where Bennett here is confounded by the apparent contradictions within the personality of foppish King Louis XIV (who is to marry her against his will, whereas the more down-to-earth twin exhibits affection and consideration). By the way, another classic swashbuckler to split the central role was THE PRISONER OF ZENDA – whose finest incarnation emerged in 1937 and numbered among its cast Montagu Love! Finally, the TCM-sourced copy I watched sported rather low audio (so that I had to take the volume practically to the maximum in order to hear the dialogue) and, unfortunately, also suffered from a handful of minor jump-cuts!

michaeljayklein All in all, a solid film with some excellent cinematography, uniformly excellent cast and good direction (except the romantic scenes--James Whale always was a bit stiff in that department). I thought the musical score was just adequate, even though it was nominated for an Oscar that year.Blink and you miss Albert Dekker (credited) at the opening and Peter Cushing (credited and his first screen appearance) as one of the soldiers in the scene where the soldiers first encounter the musketeers (Cushing has no lines). Dwight Frye (not credited) can be spotted as a valet about 3/4's of the way in. He has a few lines but we are so used to seeing him as "Fritz" in Whale's Frankenstein movies that he's not easy to recognize (he's a little heavier looking in this film for one thing).Hayward was a good choice for the dual roles. A good actor, there was always something rather unpleasant at times about his looks while at other times he looked quite handsome--I think he was used to great advantage here for that reason.Almost all the leads were independent artists, not contracted to any particular studio, so it was rather weird seeing Warners' top character man Alan Hale in this (not that they give him a whole lot to do!) I'm guessing that some footage from the 1920s version of this film with Douglas Fairbanks was incorporated into at least one scene--the king showing the newborn prince from his balcony early in the film.After seeing this, I began to wonder if Stan Lee or Jack Kirby did not draw inspiration for their "Dr. Doom" comic book character from the iron mask shown in this film.

dougandwin Gosh I loved this film when I saw it many years ago as a young kid, and when I saw it much later on TV, I have to say I still enjoyed it greatly. Louis Hayward was excellent and Joan Bennett was truly beautiful, with the Three Musketeers (all a bit long in the tooth!) led by Warren William as D'Artagnan lots of fun, while Joseph Schildkraut was his usual malevolent villain. The scenes of the twins together were well done, and James Whale directed with his good sense of entertainment - if you get the chance to see it on DVD or Video, grab it as it is a gem from the really Golden Years. I have seen the remake with Guy Pearce, and found that enjoyable too, but must stress any resembalnce to this oldie, was purely coincidental.