Many people are familiar with the famous classic “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas, Sr.; and even though just as many of them are familiar with “The Man in the Iron Mask” by the same author, it might be surprising to find that not all of them actually know that it’s a conclusion to Dumas’ earlier classic Musketeer story. However, even fewer know that “The Man in the Iron Mask” is really NOT the immediate sequel ~ for that pleasure goes to a more rare work, entitled: “Twenty Years After,” which sees the Musketeers in their forties!
Even though all three versions have seen their way into comic books, “Twenty Years After” has only been made into a movie one time, and was itself part three of Richard Lester’s [of Superman II & III] “The Three Musketeers,” and “The Four Musketeers,” series back in the 1970’s, starring Michael York, and renamed it “Return of the Musketeers.” And he even made the movie around twenty years later!
1993 saw a revival of the Musketeer franchise with the release of Disney’s “The Three Musketeers,” starring Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Oliver Platt (and even of a few new comics on the stands as well). And even though the studio did not follow up with either “Twenty Years After” or “The Man in the Iron Mask,” movie maker Randall Wallace (writer of Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart”) took upon himself, just a few years later, to come out with an Iron Mask movie of the aging Musketeers!
Now that 2011 has arrived, and the dawn of a new Three Musketeer movie is in the making, will we again see the revival of the Musketeer franchise, and with a new release of the Iron Mask? Or, better still, will we ever see another version of “Twenty Years After” again? Of course, only time will tell, and may even depend on the success or failure of this new movie.
Even though more popular than the other stories, “The Three Musketeers” is certainly not more entertaining than the other two, but equally just as good and adventurous! I myself have actually read the entire Musketeer series by Dumas, and I can tell you first hand of how well written the tales are! At the end of “The Three Musketeer” novel, the four friends separate into different lives – only to be reunited again in “Twenty Years After.” Only difference, though, is that as time passed on, so did the closeness between the friendships stray! France was in a state of Civil War, and the Musketeers, despite their comradeship in the first story, find themselves on opposing sides! However, as true as “all for one, and one for all” did once ring, in the end they find themselves drawn back together in true friendship!
More people are familiar with the story line of “The Man in the Iron Mask,” but may be unaware that it’s actually the last part of the third story in the series! “Le Vicomte de Bragelonne,” to give it – its proper title, when translated into English, was broken up into several volumes, and they are as follows: “The Vicomte (Viscount) de Bragelonne;” “Louise de La Valliere;” who became Christine in Randall Wallace’s Iron Mask movie, “Ten Years Later;” and “The Man in the Iron Mask.” Even though separate volumes, they all come together as one complete story.
Again, I hope to see more Musketeer movies and their sequels in theaters and comics very soon, indeed!