I know you meant the Dumas-based films. Are you familiar with this non-Dumas effort?
Unexpectedly sympathetic slant on the cat-loving Cardinal and his trendsetting facial hair, making him the hero of the story with nary a Musketeer on screen. In the title role, George Arliss is masterfully manipulative as he schemes for and against Louis XIII (Edward Arnold) and others to unify France.
You’re right; I was especially thinking of the 1973/1974 films, with Charlton Heston as Richelieu. I’ve not heard of that film, but I may have to take a look.
Careful!
It was a dark and stormy night; Cardinal Richelieu maniacally cackled as he tightened his grip on the chains around poor D’artagnan’s throat, how dare the impudent Musketeer accuse him of Not being a villain.
Richelieu is the villain- sorta- he is solidly pro France and of course pro-Church. The Musketeers like romance and chivalry. The Cardinal is machiavellian, but not evil.
I guess if there’s a villain in Three Musketeers it’s Milady DeWinter. Basically, an amoral assassin whom we learn had ties to Athos some years earlier. I would agree that while the Cardinal’s goals don’t align with the interest of the protagonist, he’s not an actual villain.
I can see that!
Not that I disagree with anything said about Richelieu (and I keep coming back to his overwhelmingly evil/slimy portrayal by Tim Curry, so I fully understand how different versions will have a different answer) but given we only get three possibilities per the OP, how do you rate the book version @mbh? I tend to view him as an antihero - he’s willing to bend and break the rules, but his goals of a greater France aren’t entirely selfish. For that matter, D’Artagnan isn’t exactly morally upright himself, though in entirely different ways.
I would go with antihero. In some respects, you could argue that he is more heroic than the musketeers. Judged by the morality of the time, the queen’s flirtation with Buckingham was, at best disloyal, possibly treason.