Swashbucklers Unbuckled

The Movie: “The Three Musketeers”

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The Setup: Remake of Alexandre Dumas’ story of 17th-Century French adventurers--the Musketeers, played by Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Platt--special guards of Louis XIII (Hugh O’Conor). Chris O’Donnell portrays a Musketeer wanna-be.

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The Costume Designer: John Mollo, who won Oscars for “Star Wars” and “Gandhi.” His other work includes “Alien,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan.” He has also written several books on military wardrobe and weaponry.

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Inspiration: Period paintings seen in books and in the Louvre, including works by Le Nain, Hals and Champagne.

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The Look: Simple, unfussy costumes bring the 17th Century to life without weighing it down in gold brocade. It’s not “Masterpiece Theatre” accuracy-wise, but it’s not meant to be.

The Musketeers go without finicky lace collars, blousey breeches and complicated doublets (jackets with defined waists). Instead, the Musketeers dress in sandy beige and brown leather, suede and cotton garb. Most memorable are their wide, feathered hats and macho over-the-knee boots folded down at mid-calf. “You don’t even want to notice what they’re wearing,” Mollo said. “You’ve got to simplify the details and make sure you have a clean, simple line.”

Gowns worn by Queen Anne (Gabrielle Anwar), Milady De Winter (Rebecca De Mornay, above) and Constance (Julie Delpy) are fairly unadorned too. Sleeves aren’t nearly as puffy as they might be, and lace edging is left to a suggestion.

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Hit: Clearly drawn heroes and villains. The good guys, Musketeers, wear vivid blue tunics. The bad guys, Cardinal Richelieu and his guards, wear red ones. The rotten Rochefort (Michael Wincott) is Darth Vader-ish in a black doublet shot with gold threads, black cape and trousers. The good King Louis and Queen Anne wear soft gold, blue (him) and pink (her) silks and brocades and modest jewelry. They’re filthy rich, but only to a point.

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We Could Live Without: De Mornay’s excessively bust-baring gowns.

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Quoted: The filmmakers were “a bit nervous about too many collars and hats and feathers because hardly any of the actors had been in a period film before and the director (Stephen Herek) had never made a period film, so we had to streamline it a bit,” Mollo said. “I suppose the result is a bit more like ‘Star Wars’ than any other previous ‘Three Musketeers’ movie.”

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Excellent Hair Day: All principals, male and female, go wigless and au naturel. That means the Musketeers’ tresses move with their swashbuckling leaps and falls. Their facial hair may be a bit on the scrawny side, but at least it isn’t affixed with glue (a major irritation in the recent “Gettysburg”). The women make do without the period ringlets; their long tresses (and possibly a fake bun or two) appeal to modern eyes.

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Sources: The principals’ clothes were custom-made at Costume d’Arte in Rome, also the source of 1,500 additional rental costumes. Men’s thigh-high boots came from Pompeii shoemakers in Rome.