When Anchor Bay's extremely welcome two-disc collection of Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers arrived in my box o' DVDs to review, I was pretty damned excited. I hadn't seen either of the movies for years, and my strongest memories of them revolved entirely around Raquel Welch's abundant cleavage. This is not to say the movies themselves aren't memorable - they're both terrifically entertaining - it's just that Raquel's cleavage is even more so. However, I've also learned to appreciate such things as Richard Lester's comic timing and the alcohol-fueled acting chops of Oliver Reed, and this newfound broadening of my horizons made seeing the movies again all the more enjoyable.

The famed producing team of Alexandre, Michael and Ilya Salkind (the folks who brought us Superman: The Movie) were looking for a hit when they settled on Alexandre Dumas' famous tale of brawling Musketeers and royal intrigue. At first, they considered Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and Jerry Lewis for the titular heroes, then the Beatles (which I can totally see in my head) - but as much as I love Bob Hope, I'm glad they finally settled on the actors they did: Michael York (D'Artagnan), Oliver Reed (Athos), Frank Finlay (Porthos) and Richard Chamberlain (Aramis). The Salkinds hired Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, Help, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum) as director, and George MacDonald Fraser (who wrote the Flashman novels) to pen the script - wise moves all the way around. Originally, the project was intended as a single film, but late in the game, the Salkinds made the decision to split their one epic-length Musketeer movie into two shorter films (which apparently resulted in a barrage of lawsuits from angry actors who had only been paid to make one movie).

The first film, The Three Musketeers (subtitled The Queen's Diamonds) introduces D'Artagnan as he travels to Paris in hopes of becoming a Musketeer. He quickly runs afoul of Musketeers Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, scheduling duels with each of them in the same afternoon. Before D'Artagnan can make good on his plans for the day, a group of Cardinal Richelieu's guards arrive, and D'Artagnan stands with the three Musketeers to battle the bad guys (in a really cool fight scene). The sinister Richelieu (Charlton Heston), aided by his one-eyed right-hand-man Rochefort (Christopher Lee), manipulates the King to his own ends, which doesn't sit well with the Musketeers. Aw, hell - I think everybody knows the story - the Queen digs the Duke of Buckingham, and gives him a set of diamond studs (a gift from the King) to remember her by. Thanks to his weaselly underlings, Richelieu catches wind of this, and sets the Queen up to take a fall. It's up to D'Artagnan and the Musketeers to retrieve the diamonds and prevent the King from discovering his Queen's infidelity, and that means plenty of swashbuckling action.

The Four Musketeers (subtitled The Revenge of Milady) carries on with the story: D'Artagnan (now a Musketeer) and his three compatriots must foil the Cardinal's plot to have Milady De Winter (Faye Dunaway) assassinate the Duke of Buckingham. This movie is a little darker in tone, which seems more understandable when you think of the two movies as a whole, but still delivers a sizeable amount of laffs, fights, and cleavage.

A lot of the fun of these flicks comes from the scenes of raucous swordplay - the fights are staged as barely-controlled brawls, both acrobatic and clumsy at the same time (and according to the behind-the-scenes stuff on the discs, plenty of injuries were had by all). Of course, Richard Lester's knack for slapstick humor is a big plus, too, along with the great cast - and that brings us once again to the lovely Raquel Welch, whom I mention again mostly to have another excuse to run a framegrab.

The DVD is a stunner - the transfers of both films are absolutely gorgeous, and one can choose to watch them in 1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen (as God intended) or in Full Frame pan-and-scan. The Dolby Digital mono soundtrack kept my living room throbbing with Michel Legrand's rousing score and the sounds of clashing steel blades. Extras include "The Saga of the Musketeers" parts one and two, an entertaining look at the making of the movies, featuring interviews with many of the principle cast (and Raquel still looks great), "The Making of the Three Musketeers," a short behind-the-scenes promo, theatrical trailers, TV spots, radio spots, poster and still galleries, and talent bios.

Fans of epic swashbucklers are definitely gonna need to add this one to their collections (and fans of Raquel Welch will need it, as well).