In the prologue the four musketeers stand in a framing device, as a medieval stage booth, and D'Artagnan steps forward and speaks to the audience, then steps back and resumes his position with the other three, who remained motionless; after the mid-point intermission, the same situation is repeated, with D'Artagnan speaking again to the audience, finishing with the words, "once more, once more . . . ", after which the film resumes with the title card "20 years later". These were the first lines of dialogue ever spoken on film by Douglas Fairbanks, in his last silent film.