The Prisoner of Zenda ***** (1937, Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Madeleine Carroll, David Niven, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, C Aubrey Smith) – Classic Movie Review 4,650

Ronald Colman stars in the rousing 1937 swashbuckler movie The Prisoner of Zenda – the first sound version and definitive film of Anthony Hope’s classic novel. 

Director John Cromwell’s most satisfying and extremely rousing 1937 swashbuckler The Prisoner of Zenda is the first sound version of Anthony Hope’s classic 1894 novel and 1896 play of Ruritanian derring-do, following the classic silent movie of The Prisoner of Zenda in 1922 with Ramon Novarro.

The Prisoner of Zenda stars Englishman abroad Ronald Colman, whose grave demeanour and dignified charisma are ideally showcased in twin roles.

Colman plays the identical distant cousin of a fictitious country’s would-be king called Major Rudolf Rassendyll, who falls for a lady, Princess Flavia (Madeleine Carroll), when he is made to impersonate the would-be foreign king, Rudolf V, the Prisoner of Zenda. Rudolf is kidnapped before his impending coronation and if he is not at the ceremony, he will forfeit the crown to his older half-brother. So Rassendyll risks his life to impersonate Rudolf, but Flavia is betrothed to the real Rudolf and might suspect something odd about her new fiancé!

Douglas Fairbanks Jr, playing the villainous Rupert of Hentzau, leads a clutch of wonderfully attractive support performances in the beautiful, thrilling David O Selznick production that knocks spots off the other sound versions in 1952 The Prisoner of Zenda and 1979 The Prisoner of Zenda. It is still the definitive film version of the book.

Raymond Massey (Duke of Strelsau), Mary Astor (Antoinette de Mauban), David Niven (Captain von Tarlenheim) and C Aubrey Smith (Colonel Zapt) add the tastiest of star support performances.

Also in the cast are Byron Foulger, Montagu Love, Torben Meyer, Ben Webster, Charles Halton, Spencer Charters, Francis Ford, Ralph Faulkner, Alexander D’Arcy, Wilhelm von Brincken, Philip Sleeman, Eleanor Wesselhoeft, Evelyn Beresford, D’Arcy Corrigan, Carl Esmond, Byron Foulger, Charles K French, Otto Fries, Lawrence Grant, Lillian Harmer, Boyd Irwin, Emmett King, Howard Lang, Ian Maclaren, Russ Powell, Henry Roquemore, Al Shean, Leslie Sketchley and Pat Somerset.

The screenplay is by John L Balderston, adapted by Wells Root from Hope’s novel, with dramatisation by Edward Rose. There is additional dialogue by Donald Ogden Stewart and uncredited script contributions by Ben Hecht and Sidney Howard.

Alfred Newman received the first of his 45 Oscar nominations for Best Original Music Score, while Lyle R Wheeler was nominated for Best Art Direction.

The Prisoner of Zenda is the movie that opened the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, on 2 November 1937, a Royal Premiere performance with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in attendance. It started with the National Anthem, followed by the Odeon News Reel, Disney cartoon Hawaiian Holiday, then the feature. Proceeds went to the Empire Cancer Campaign and the National Trust for Scotland.

The cinema closed on 10 January 2018 for a full refurbishment at a cost of around £15 million, which happily sees the building retained as a single screen cinema with stalls and circle levels, and maintains its character, along with its Compton organ. It reopened on 21 December 2018, with a greatly reduced seating capacity, enhanced foyer and bar areas, escalators to the circle, reclining Luxe seats, and the first commercial Dolby Cinema screen in the UK.

The 1952 version of The Prisoner of Zenda is virtually a shot-by-shot remake, with the same shooting script, dialogue and film score.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,650

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