Passable swashbuckler with adventures , emotion , intrigue and spectacular fencing . At the begining of the movie a group of conspirators led by Duke of Montserrat (Georges Marchal) dressed up as friars in a church , but there shows up D'Artagnan who fights in sword-crossing against them . He escapes and stumbles through the neighborhood , unsurprisingly living nearby the Duke Monserrat's niece (Alessandra Panaro) . As D'Artagnan finds himself in a bedroom with Diana and Carlota (Magali Noel) who nurse the musketeer back to health . After that , his usual enemy Cardinal Richelieu assigns him a dangerous mission : thwart a scheme to overthrow Louis XIII. D'Artagnan promises to discover the true culprits , a cunning band of villainous conspirators against the French King by cutting a cross into their foreheads to later identify them as villains . This plot is led by the treacherous nobleman Georges Marchal , and other aristocrats : Savignac (Franco Fantasia) , Montfort (Raf Baldassarre) and the religious Hugonots and the Queen Mother Maria de Medicis herself . Then D'Artagnan joins his friend Athos (Mario Petri) and both of whom face off a lot of dangers , risks , and fencing . In fact , the film is partially on historical events about the long confrontation between Maria of Medicis and her son Louis XIII supported by Richelieu . In 1616 Marie's rule was strengthened by the addition to her councils of Armand Jean du Plessis (later Cardinal Richelieu), who had come to prominence at the meetings of the Estates General. However, her son Louis XIII, already several years into his legal majority, asserted his authority the next year. The king overturned the pro-Habsburg, pro-Spanish foreign policy pursued by his mother, ordered the assassination of Concini, exiled the queen to the Château de Blois and appointed Richelieu to his bishopric. After the death of his favourite, the duke of Luynes, Louis turned increasingly for guidance to Richelieu. Marie de' Medici's attempts to displace Richelieu ultimately led to her attempted coup; for a single day, the "Day of the Dupes", in November 1630, she seemed to have succeeded; but the triumph of Richelieu was followed by her self-exile to Compiègne in 1630, from where she escaped to Brussels in 1631 and Amsterdam in 1638.
This Spaghetti adventure dealing with two musketeers D'Artagnan and Porthos as likable protagonists is plenty of action , thrills , court intrigue , spectacular pursuits and a lot of sword-play . Meanwhile , two gorgeous and swooning damsels Alessandra Panaro and Magali Noel fall for the attractive muskeeters , George Nader and Mario Petri . This D'Artagnan is decently starred by George Nader (1921-2002) . George Nader's luck changed when Italian directors persuaded him to go overseas to star an adventure movie and later on , he continued to play several other genres . He took a chance and jumped from B American movies to costumed Italian adventure , Swashbuckler , Eurospy and thriller genres . As the starred some acceptable B movies , as in America as Italy , such as Lady Godiva, Sins of Jezabel , Robot Monster , The duplicators , The house of 1000 dolls , Beyond Atlantis . Here George Nader steals the show by riding , executing bounds and leaps , twists and throughly enjoys himself . As D'Artagnan pulls off a fencing trick (that's why the film's original title) with which he will mark the traitors' foreheads and carrying out an elaborate a scar in the shape of a "X" . He is accompanied by Mario Petri as Porthos who easily steals the spectacle as the veteran and sympathetic musketeer . As well as an agreeable support cast full of ordinary secondaries of the Italian genres of the sixties and seventies such as : Raf Baldassarre , the regular arms-master : Franco Fantasia who here proves splendidly his skills , his brother Andrea Fantasia and Massimo Serato has a nice little character as Cardinal Richelieu, as he has a few scenes as the resourceful and astute Cardinal . Colorful cinematography by Alvaro Mancori , though an alright remastering being necessary . Carlo Rustichelli's moving musical score is another enjoyable addition to this costumer film .
This picture was regular but professionally directed by Siro Marcellini who was a good craftsman who made all kind of genres , and especially adventure movie , though with no originality . Marcellini was a nice artisan who who wrote and directed Westerns titled ¨L'uomo Della Valle Maledetta" or "Man of the Cursed Valley" and ¨Lola Colt¨ but his speciality was the adventure genre such as "The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules" , I Cavalieri del Diablo¨, "The Two Rivals" and "The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan" .
