The 5th Musketeer
An appealing cast of film veterans makes this 1977 action-adventure version of Alexandre Dumas'sThe Man In the Iron Maskparticularly watchable. Lloyd Bridges co-stars as swordsman Aramis, one of several Musketeer tutors of young and brave Phillippe (Beau Bridges, Lloyd's son), who doesn't know he's the identical twin brother of King Louis XIV. Captured by Louis, his features briefly disguised by an uncomfortable iron mask, Phillippe is forced to play his villainous sibling in an assassination scenario designed to fool France into believing its mad emperor is dead. Phillippe, however, turns the tables, and with the aid of Aramis, Athos (Jose Ferrer), Porthos (Alan Hale Jr.), and D'Artagnan (Cornel Wilde), makes a bold attempt to take his country's destiny in hand. Also on view are Rex Harrison, Ursula Andress, and Olivia DeHavilland; the star wattage and attractive settings compensate somewhat for director Ken Annakin's stiff and unimaginative direction.--Tom Keogh