AT SWORD'S POINT (1951). Directed by Lewis Allen. In 1648, the Queen of France, fearing a dastardly plotter, sends for the three musketeers. (She's on her deathbed but in reality, Anne of Austria lived more than another 20 years). Since the musketeers are old or dead, their sons take over.

D'Artagnan Junior (Cornel Wilde), Aramis and Porthos come to the rescue, along with Athos' daughter, that fine French swordswoman Maureen O'Hara, and save the Queen's daughter and the young King (Louis XIV, not identified) from the clutches of a villainous nobleman. Silly swashbuckler is broadly structured and acted -- like a kiddies' matinee. You expect movies to take liberties with history, but outrageous simplifications and changes are more than irresponsible. In "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas and its sequels, "20 Years Later" and "The Viscount of Bragelonne," it takes another 30 years for the original Musketeers to start dying out. (Edwin Jahiel)