At Sword's Point

Douglas Fairbanks fans may enjoy seeing Cornel Wilde, as D'Artagnan Jr., spearing soldiers by the dozen and merrily rolling them down stairwells, but for most others At Swords Point will be a somewhat ludicrous spectacle. Walter Ferris and Joseph Hofman have concocted a swashbuckling sequel to Dumas' The Three Musketeers that completely lacks the master's finesse and sense of suspense.

The setting for this is France in the days of the Fronde--1648--when a group of Parisians were trying to divest the Queen-mother and her ten year old son, Louis XIV, of power. In a thoroughgoing revision of history, the original Musketeers' children save the Queen from her precarious position, rescue the Sun King from a monestery, and save his sister from the clutches of a bonafide villain in the old style, the Duc de Laville. For additional merriment, Ferris and Hofman have provided that Athos, one of the original Three Musketeers, should have a daughter (Maureen O'Hara) who joins the revels at the Golden Cockerel.

Most of the entertainment, however, is at the director's expense. The swordplay is delightfully amateurish, and Miss O'Hara's lovemaking is delightfully deadpan. Most delightful of all, however, are the missed cues. At one point, Athos' daughter descends a staircase, stops and waits expectantly for the swordsmen who were supposed to surprise her.

Also at the R.K.O. is an English thriller, The Young Scarface, that gives a rather accurate picture of England's seamy side. It traces the bloody path of a razor wielding cut-throat as he hacks his way from London's slums to Brighton Beach. DAVID C.D. ROGERS