#Rupert Hentzau (Prisoner of Zenda)

[ecoustsaintmein]

Nate Mann has the face and demeanour of a late 1880s debonair American adventurer/traveller who goes to Europe for funsies, before getting mistaken as European royalty by the proletariat, and accidentally proceeded to get entangled in court intrigues and swashbuckling exploits, which may or may not include swordfighting.

#nate mann #this is very specific #did i just describe the whole plot of 'The Prisoner of Zenda'? #you bet i did #do you think he would be perfect as rudolf rassendyl? probably #but honestly? i think he would even be amazing as rupert of hentzau #masters of the air #(this is specific with nate mann with mustache only)

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

#ultimate obscure blorbo #polls #round 2 #Rupert (Fossil Fighters) #Rupert Hentzau (Prisoner of Zenda)

[pizza-hats-of-the-world-1882]

Thats it thats the books

#pizza talk #the prisoner of zenda #rupert of hentzau

[violsva]

Comments halfway through Rupert of Hentzau

I've been reading this off and on for about two months now, with speed depending on how comparatively gripping whatever I've got out from the library at the same time is. I haven't read it before, but I do know some of the major spoilers.

For a while there it was going very slowly because it felt like an adventure novel crossed with a French farce, which actually would be a great idea if you did it on purpose. But now the title character is back on page and it's going faster again.

It's interesting, because of course The Prisoner of Zenda is a majorly influential work in Western literature (or at least Western pop culture) ... which most people today haven't actually heard of. And Rupert of Hentzau is unfortunately not a very satisfactory sequel. (Whereas the Scarlet Pimpernel series went on for over a dozen books.)

I want to blame it on Fritz being a weaker narrator than Rudolf, but that's a cop-out, because of course Anthony Hope is writing both of them. And I can see how even just reordering the narrative in the middle would make everything way more suspenseful and remove the (perceived) need for Fritz's defences of other characters acting on limited information.

Doesn't pass the Bechdel test - lots of women, sometimes they even talk to each other, but there isn't anything for them to talk about except men. But I hope, and will go check to see if, someone has written Helga/Flavia fanfic, because Flavia deserves someone like that.

#rupert of hentzau #anthony hope #the prisoner of zenda #reading log #books books books

[oldshrewsburyian]

So i just binge read the prisoner of zenda and rupert of henzau (+princess osra) and Neeed someone to scream ab it to!!!!! They were so gooood!!!!

Ahhhhh yes!!

I am delighted to be screamed at; I'm very fond of these books and I love the characters so much! The original Ruritanian romance! The power of friendship! Swashbuckling! Several of my favorite things, really.

#anthony hope hopkins #the prisoner of zenda #rupert of hentzau #books #asks and answers #staying in with a swashbuckler

[sunsetpanic]

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

#douglas fairbanks jr #the prisoner of zenda 1937 #film #old hollywood #mine #baby. baby boy #evil.

[reshramlove1ob]

OH A LIL FUNSIE FACT ABOUT THE AU I SHARED

THERE IS ACTUALLY A PART TWO OF THE BOOK

If you want to remember the novel’s name that I shared it’s called Prisoner of Zenda mkay?

The second book is called Rupert of Hentzau and I was reading it but I haven’t in a very long time..

If you want to know about tell me 👁👁

OK, thanks!

#ask #rondisesss

[honourablejester]

While we’re on this topic of old films we watched and enjoyed, some random movie recs from the 1910s through to the 1970s based on the things that popped into my head fastest. Warning in advance, I like horror, noir, swashbucklers, dark comedy and dodgy fantasy films.

1910s

Fantômas serials (1913/1914) – As I said in the previous post, if you ever get a random hankering for silent-era pulpy French crime thrillers, these are an excellent start.

1920s

Metropolis (1927) – the imagery in this movie is absolutely stunning, even if the morals are extremely heavy-handed. Worth it for the Robot Maria transformation sequence alone. Also, and I feel mean for thinking this, because the poor man’s going through hell, but there are moments where Freder is truly hilarious. And also, Batman: The Animated Series owes so much, visually, to this movie. It single-handedly shape a vision of what cities and the future and architecture and transport could look like.

Nosferatu (1922) – imagery. The Germans were so fucking good at imagery in early cinema. Admittedly the movie does some very strange things to the Dracula mythos, and is probably the source of a lot of later ideas of him that have nothing to do with the novel (the sunlight thing), but it’s so cool.

1930s

M (1931) – Peter Lorre is incredible. And actually the whole set up of this movie is so creepy and tense and enthralling, and then the court scene busts it wide open. Deals with some heavy things, including child murder, vigilante justice and mental illness, but it’s so good. And you will never hear ‘Hall of the Mountain King’ the same way again.

The Thin Man (1934) and sequels – they’re half hardboiled noir and half screwball comedy, but they’re not a parody, because they predate most of the noir genre, so this is more of a funny hybrid precursor series. And they’re really funny. If you just want some pep and jazz in your life, a good time for an hour or so, totally watch these, they’re adorable.

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) – Okay. I just like a good swashbuckler? You will see Zenda several times on this list, because I enjoy a lot of versions of this, but of all of them you need to start with this one, because Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. No one else will ever do Rupert of Hentzau like him. If you like your charming, snarky villains, if you like your Lokis, Rupert of Hentzau. Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. If you also like your villain and your hero to have powerful sexual tension and lean very close to each other while crossing blades, again. Rupert of Hentzau. Just watch. You’ll see.

Son of Frankenstein (1939) – I’m not going to lie, I watched this movie purely to see where Young Frankenstein (1974, also very much worth a look) was getting a lot of its in-jokes and gags from (Inspector Kemp in YF is riffing off Inspector Krogh in this movie). But it is worth watching wholly on its own merits. Among other things, Inspector Krogh is a genuinely cool and compelling character (as a kid, the monster ripped his arm out during its first rampage, and during this movie Krogh fully stands up to that childhood nightmare and has a cool moment with his prosthetic arm), and if you have any interest in Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi, this movie is fantastic. Lugosi in particular as Igor does so much in this movie. If all you picture when you think of him is Dracula, try this. (And The Black Cat (1934), which also has Karloff and Lugosi, but is significantly more intense).

1940s

The Mark of Zorro (1940) – Okay. I like swashbucklers. I like movie sword fights. This movie has the best movie sword fight ever. Basil Rathbone vs Tyrone Power. No contest. And, I mean, yes, the rest of the movie is also good. But watch it for the sword fight. Perfection.

The Wolf Man (1941) – This movie and Casablanca between them gave me a bit of a thing for Claude Rains. I don’t know, he’s just really compelling to watch. Very soft-spoken, but very there. And if you want the tragedy of the werewolf curse, this is the movie that started it all. This is not a monster movie. This is a psychological horror story of one man breaking apart under the burden of a curse. It’s so good.

Casablanca (1942) – I mean, it’s everyone’s answer. It’s stereotypical, the classic movie. But it is very, very good. Extremely quotable. I wish to punch Rick in the face several times over. And Claude Rains as Renault is so sleazy, but also so compelling.

Arsenic & Old Lace (1944) – If you ever wondered what the deal with Cary Grant was. This movie. His face. The whole movie just rides on his face. His reactions, his body language. I mean, the movie does a lot of things spectacularly. If you enjoy dark comedy, this is the pinnacle. Hiding bodies in window seats, kill count competitions between a psychotic criminal and his maiden aunts, the extremely morbid running gags of ‘yellow fever’ and Teddy charging up the stairs and the elderberry wine. But really it’s all Cary Grant and his fucking expressions. There are several points in this movie where I can’t breathe. For a man with so many suave, serious leading roles, his physical comedy was incredible.

The Big Sleep (1946) – This was the movie that introduced me to noir. Not the Maltese Falcon, not Double Indemnity, not Sunset Boulevard. This one. The Big Sleep. And you can argue that it’s not the best of the noirs, it’s a bit too caught up in itself, the plot if you pay attention has some big holes in it, and if you compare it to the book one female character in particular got rather cheated. But. As an introduction. It does land, very definitely. Bumpy Go-Cart (sorry, Humphrey Bogart) and Lauren Bacall are all that and then some. If you want to pick a noir, you can do a lot worse.

1950s

The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) – Mostly I like this as a compare/contrast to the 1937 one. It’s damn near a shot-for-shot remake, and while that could be a bad thing, it’s fascinating what differences and interpretations show up because of that. Watch the ’37 one first, and then watch this one. It’s just cool to compare them. And, you know. It’s still a really fun swashbuckler.

The Court Jester (1955) – Just the best time. The best. I have an unreasonable amount of fondness for this film, this gentle send-up of previous swashbucklers and period dramas in the vein of The Adventures of Robin Hood, and basically every movie Basil Rathbone ever made. Watch it for Danny Kaye, watch it for the tongue twisters, watch it for a baby Angela Lansbury, watch it for an absolutely hysterical duel scene, watch it for Maid Jean being the single most competent character there. Just watch it. I cannot entertain criticism on this point. It’s excellent, and I’m not sane about it.

Some Like It Hot (1959) – Jack Lemon is going to show up again later in this list, and for good reason, (as is Tony Curtis, but we don’t care as much about him), but Some Like It Hot is also, for a 1959 movie, a really gentle, funny, interesting look at gender roles? I mean, the premise is two dudes going undercover as female musicians with an all-female band to avoid mob hitman, and one of them keeps getting hit on by rich man while the other struggles to get it on with Marilyn Monroe in his male persona while trying to hide from mob assassins in a female persona, so it could be such a hot mess, but it actually … It’s quite gentle. Marilyn’s Sugar gets to talk about what men expect when they see her and, because he’s pretending to be a woman, Tony Curtis’ Joe has to listen to her, Jack Lemmon’s Jerry/Daphne gets to get genuinely swept up in the feeling of being romanced as a woman to the point that he’s semi-seriously talking about marriage, and in the end, when Jerry reveals he’s a man to Osgood, the rich old idiot who’s been trying to romance ‘Daphne’, Osgood famously just goes ‘well, nobody’s perfect’, and still appears perfectly willing to marry ‘her’. I mean, it has its issues still, but there’s such a lot of gentleness in it for a comedy movie made in 1959.

1960s

The Innocents (1961) – One of my two all-time favourite horror movies, on raw atmosphere alone. It’s so eerie. SO EERIE. It’s horrible and twisted and goes heavy places (child death, a child acting ambiguously sexually while possibly possessed, strong questions of sanity), but it’s done so gracefully and gently and eerily. If Gothic Horror is of interest to you as a genre, if you enjoyed Crimson Peak, try this. It is all beautiful sunshine and sprawling lawns and twisted desires and paranoid terrors and the single eeriest scene I’ve ever seen in anything ever. Watch the lake scene. It’s stunning.

The Raven (1963) – Pivoting back to comedy horror, this time with added fantasy. Vincent Price has been in a lot of better movies, but I’m not sure if he’s been in many funnier ones. Him and Peter Lorre just own this movie. Wall to wall ham. Just. Just go in, just watch it. There’s a loose frame plot of duelling magicians, vague references to Poe’s ‘The Raven’, Boris Karloff returning as a villain, animal transformations, and the obligatory young romance getting embroiled in their sorcerous parents’ plots (although, jarringly, the young romantic lead is a baby Jack Nicholson, which sure gives it a weird vibe), but honestly? You’re here for Vincent Price and Peter Lorre and the wizard duel.

The Great Race (1965) – Jack Lemmon is back, as is Tony Curtis, but we only care about the former of those, because Professor Fate (obligatory shouting). Okay. I don’t know how many people remember the old Hanna-Barbera Wacky Races cartoons? Am I aging myself here? But this is the movie they were based on, and Professor Fate is who Dick Dastardly was based on. The premise is a 1910s global car race between Curtis’ Great Leslie (you will want to punch him, and that’s perfectly natural) and Lemmon’s Professor Fate, an exaggerated eccentric conman and cheater and over the top cartoon villain of man, and you will love him. He’s the best thing in it. But there’s also Natalie Woods as the reporter who also enters the race, and a young Peter Falk as Fate’s sidekick Max. That’s a baby Columbo as the ‘villain’s more competent henchman. AND. For me, for bonus points, a huge section at the end of the rest is basically a whole-plot Prisoner of Zenda reference in which Professor Fate is the hero. Look. Look. Do you ever want to watch a live-action cartoon? This is that movie. Trust me. It’s fantastic. The romance has aged terribly, you will want to throw Leslie off a cliff, it has several extremely sixties tropes in it, but it’s that movie. Watch it. Have fun.

1970s

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) – Right. So. 70s fantasy movie. Not politically correct in the slightest, and some extremely unfortunate choices were made in it. But. Ray Harryhausen. Stop motion fantasy effects of awesome. And, also, I just really enjoyed the character of the Vizier. He doesn’t really get to do anything, he’s kinda just set-dressing, but he is the horrifically maimed advisor to the king who fell afoul of our sorcerous villain, and he has a cool golden mask to cover his scars, and you think he’s going to turn out to be treacherous but no, he’s rock-solid calm and noble and helpful the entire way through, and I just really really like him. The image of him stuck in my head for years.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) – My other all-time favourite horror movie, and again it’s the eeriness. Pure eeriness. Nothing happens in this movie. There’s no monsters, there’s no explanations. 3 girls go missing on a rock in early 1900s Australia, in the midst of baking heat and sunshine and the looming shape of a volcanic geological formation, and the movie just follows their society unravelling in the aftermath. No one knows what happened. Grief and terror and unanswered questions destroy people. Reactions, prejudice, respectability and hidden flaws, loss of innocence, the unpredictable reactions of people unstrung by grief and fear, all of it snowballs in the wake of the disappearances, and over it all looms the sunshine and the rock. The score and the cinematography of this movie work so well to create this pervasive, eerie, unreal mood, this sense of something watching, this ancient force presiding over the unravelling of the false civilisation layered over top of it. I fucking love this movie. It’s stunning.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) – A rather big jump in genres, we’re back to crime thrillers here, which we haven’t really touched since the 1910s on this list, but the sustained tension in this movie is par excellence. The opening half hour. A theme for the seventies movies on this list is going to be sunshine and drifting tension, and Precinct 13 does it so well. Heat, claustrophobia, urban isolation, siege mentality. And the character relationships that develop inside that siege mentality, the alliances and bedrock life-or-death trust that evolves between enemies, and then are brutally cut short by the re-establishment of the outside world at the end, the rude reintroduction of law and connectedness and social consequences, is just … amazing. The movie is a heat dream, a bubble of disconnectedness and violence and blood and faith, and then the ‘real’ world slams back down at the end. It’s good. It’s so well paced. Watch this movie.

Nosferatu (1979) – Just to, again, tie things back to the earlier entries on this list. Werner Herzog’s 70s remake of Nosferatu was actually the first version I saw, as it was considerably easier to get hold of. And it stuck. Even after seeing the original. And a lot of that, I think, was because of the opening, which is just spectacularly eerie. The drifting, eerie music, the monastic chant, the heartbeat under it, the panning shots of the mummies in the catacombs (which are from Mexico, but howandever). I mean, there are a lot of problems with this movie, Werner Herzog is not exactly the most upright and sensitive of dudes, (and it added some more questionable elements to the Dracula mythos), but for sheer imagery and tone-setting, this opening was incredible. And the movie does keep that tone, that eerie drifting, especially once Dracula starts bringing the plague behind him. Again, the 70s theme of sunshine and eeriness. It’s worth a look.

#movie recs #classic movies #1910s #1920s #1930s #1940s #1950s #1960s #1970s #horror #swashbucklers #crime thrillers #fantasy #noir #comedy #random selection based on my idiosyncratic memory

[feluka]

Okay this might seem a bit random,but I can't be normal about books,so may I ask what some of your fave books are? arabic,english, doesn't matter.(also if you don't wanna answer pls ignore this)

hello!! (over two months late, i'm so sorry 😔)

i don't read as much as i used to these days unfortunately. but let me think of some of the good ones i've read this year... let's see...

● last non-fiction book i've read: i'm glad my mother died by jennette mccurdy.

wonderful read. i never thought i would relate so strongly to someone whose upbringing couldn't be more different to mine. she brings a perfect balance of comedy and tragedy, making it impactful but not too heavy to bear.

● last fiction book i've read: shubeik lubeik by deena mohamed

BRILLIANT graphic novel. i never thought i would see such an intricate and wonderfully crafted fantasy universe that revolves around my world and culture. it's very moving for many reasons and i'm so very glad it exists.

(okay, i lied, the last fiction book i've read is good omens, but that was a re-read so i didn't count it 😅 and you probably know that already from my incessant posting about it)

as far as my overall favourites... books that have impacted me the most growing up:

● the prisoner of zenda (and its sequel rupert of hentzau) by anthony hope: this book ignited something in me as a kid. i haven't touched it in years so i don't know whether it holds up from an adult perspective or not, but i vividly remember chasing the thrill of adventure it gave me in every book i've subsequently read.

● the complete sherlock holmes by arthur conan doyle: picked it up in the school library and thus was born my persistent love for mystery

● the lord of the rings by jrr tolkien: while i don't consider it the be-all and end-all of fantasy, it's the work that first opened my eyes to how deep worldbuilding can go, and it's something i've carried with me ever since in my creative journey and i'll always be grateful for that

i'm sure i'm missing something, but i can't remember very clearly rn lol. but thank you for asking! ♥️

from a quick look through your blog i can tell you're an avid reader and a person of taste. maybe you can recommend me some books? it could reignite my reading habit once more! i would love to talk to you about books any time you like^^

#asks #bookskittychad

[lover-of-the-starkindler]

Prisoner of Zenda (1979)

Anthony Hope’s novel The Prisoner of Zenda is either the formative influence of the tropes I adore or one that manages to hit the sweet spot of most of them, and I’ve long said that MGM should do a shot for shot remake of their 1930′s version of the story, kind of like a ‘draw it again’ meme because it would be a lovely example of changing cinematography and filmmaking philosophy (and we also have the 1950s version to compare).

After watching the loosely adapted version with Peter Sellers I had a few thoughts, some snarky remarks, appreciation, and a laugh count...

Opening: !!!LANDSCAPE!!! PRETTY! not quite so enthusiastic about the king in the balloon, though, since he’s drinking and presumably about to meet his end. 

YIKE--oh, okay, wine cork through the bag is maybe funny and not the disaster I was envisioning at this point. ....and, nope, not amused by the irony of the actual death.

I’m having flashbacks to The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; ah-ha, it IS Black Michael (who is a red-head, and not quite as charismatic as Prince John, though that may be a deliberate choice to have Michael overtly tyrannical) and here’s Rupert of Hentzau who is pretty. Pretty annoying, that is, and it seems Black Michael agrees. 

And here are Sapt and Fritz going to retrieve their prince from London... it’s interesting that the prince is expensively dressed, but the count is well dressed. If only the count had chosen his wife with the same care he bestowed on his wardrobe, we wouldn’t have to sit through this flirtation and mayhem in the club. Points to the count for his casual exit of the fountain after leaping in with his clothes on fire; and a point to Sapt for his use of a non-flaming pan and a cuspidor, the exits are the best part of the sequence.

Ah, we meet the cabbie with his uncanny resemblance to the prince. Sapt has a BRILLIANT idea. He and Fritz try to convince the cabbie to come to Ruritania--ooh, an actual laugh for Sapt and Fritz’s improv on the skills of the coachmen they’ve met. Poor Fritz, he’s really not cut out for this. ...and I call that the cabbie is talking about his horse right away; am I supposed to know that so that the dialogue is funnier? Either way, I’ll give it a hah, and kudos to the cabbie for looking after his business partner.

The count is back, and looking snazzy in a morning suit. Pity he runs into the cabbie who has no patience for a duel among gentlemen, and so the count is left without satisfaction. 

OOOOOH Fritz, you are not subtle in setting up the decoy. :/ On the bright side, the cabbie is a nice guy and the people at the station are going to have a lovely favorable impression of their new king. The cabbie is also confused by Fritz’s show of protocol, which is probably good for another hah. 

There’s a moment where Fritz realizes that he may not actually survive the attempt on the decoy’s life, and he swallows and takes his lumps bravely. What a cinnamon roll. Someone get this boy a new job. Or a better king. The cabbie takes the reins and wields his whip like an action hero! (DID RUPERT JUST GET TOSSED IN THE DITCH? HA! TAKE THAT RUPERT!)

SCENERY!!! CASTLE!!! NICE!!! But we have the spoiled prince to contrast with the cabbie and he doesn’t come off well. The staff are mildly confused when they meet the cabbie, and the cabbie is Suspicious and Demands Answers. We have a Discovery that there is Another (half-brother, that is, which explains the resemblance) and a kidnapping which is more cringe than comedy, which is sad because we were doing drama decently. Sapt convinces the cabbie to continue playing decoy.

Rupert taunts/flirts with Antoinette de Maubin. She slaps him. He backs off. Creepily.

OOOOOH Black Michael and Rupert have NICE uniforms for the coronation. And... aw, it’s the count again. And he’s in a snit.

Did we HAVE to mock the clergy? It’s sad, since we have a solemn moment when the cabbie is crowned.

Black Michael: How is this even possible? Rupert what did you do? Rupert: I swear I had nothing to do with this.

Flavia, love, what did you do to your hair? Oh, the 80s. I see. XD

It’s a bit out of place for the cabby to use the orb as a bowling ball, but I’ll grant it a laugh.

Now this is interesting. Zero effort is made to sell a cabbie/Flavia romance, and when she sees the difference between the prince and the cabbie he starts to tell her the truth right then and there and only Sapt’s swift intervention puts it off. And in every other interaction between the two they’re very honest and even kind to one another which is highly refreshing given how petty and cruel the other characters are.

Count: 1 wacky outfit, 1 horrible attempt at murder by croquet ball, 1 misfire. Props for dramatic tension, though?

The prince tries to convince Black Michael to let him go. What a poor little pathetic excuse for a man. Like, I think we were supposed to laugh when the prince rated his butterfly collection higher than the treasury or crown jewels, but, really, that’s just so sad. 

Plans are made for a double or triple cross; the major players meet at an abandoned windmill and, okay, having both sides pick a chicken for their ‘secret signal’ that all is not well is good for a laugh. Sapt and Fritz bumbling around does their characters no favors, alas. The night scenes here are BEAUTIFULLY lit; there are some wide shots that look more color-graded, but if there’s a light source the contrast is lovely. (So is Rupert’s red silk shirt he wears as he defends Zenda against the escape/rescue attempt.) The cabbie gets to call Rupert on his annoying habit, and Rupert grins as if, yes, he knows EXACTLY how much it drives everyone up the wall.

And then Rupert decides to play chaotic evil and switch sides.

YIKE--oh. Black Michael is only pinned to the wall, unharmed, not impaled through the throat. (is it on the viewer or did they really set up those scenes for the letdown/irony of the worst not happening??) Anyway, we have a fight scene that doesn’t hold a candle to a well done sword fight--or even a well done ‘bonk everyone on the head with random objects while other people fight’--and then we have an ending where the prince goes back to his gambling with the count’s wife at his side (poor count--but also, wow does that woman have poor taste) and the cabbie gets to be king and marry Flavia and hey! his horse gets to pull the bridal carriage and the cabbie gets to drive! Happy endings all around!

Or at least, what this movie considers to be happy endings.

#the prisoner of zenda #rabbit trail reviews

[ecoustsaintmein]

You know these photos of Nate Mann of Rosie???

They really do remind me of Douglas Fairbanks Jr in The Prisoner of Zenda (and if they do a remake I need Nate to play Rupert of Hentzau????)

GIf by @matineemoustache

#it's the curls!!! #and the stache!!! #and the flowy silk shirt!!!! #(also if we're talking military --- the hat!!!) #and i need to see nate playing a charismatic evil bastard???? #nate mann #douglas fairbanks jr #the prisoner of zenda #i mean the pic of rupert by the window looks so much like nate i can't even

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

#ultimate obscure blorbo #polls #round 3 #Ruki Uesugi (Glove on Fight 2: Gleam of Force) #Rupert Hentzau (Prisoner of Zenda)

[movieassholes]

Ey, Zapt, Fritz. Listen to this! Count Hentzau offers me the throne. That is, if you two don't mind being killed!

Rupert of Hentzau - The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)

#the prisoner of zenda #james mason #stewart granger #louis calhern #robert coote #deborah kerr #richard thorpe #it's good to be the king #mistaken identity #swashbuckling

[sunsetpanic]

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

#douglas fairbanks jr #the prisoner of zenda 1937 #film #old hollywood #mine #him face :)

[honourablejester]

I saw your post about Nydas where you say you love old swashbuckler films. You have any movie recommendations? :)

Oh lord. Okay. Off the top of my head:

The Court Jester (1955) (a comedy send up of the genre, but so smart and clever and fun and perfect, and the duel between Danny Kaye and Basil Rathbone is a joy)

The Mark of Zorro (1940) (my favourite movie duel of all time)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) (the one with Leslie Howard, the full lush 30s drama and memorialising of the story – there’s a lot of valorising of England in this, which YMMV on, but it’s so dramatic and old Hollywood and gorgeous)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, 1954) (these are such an interesting pair to compare and contrast, because the 54 movie is a nearly word-for-word remake of the 37 movie, but the actors and performances make some interesting differences – if you have to pick one, though, pick the 37, because Douglas Fairbanks Jr as Rupert of Hentzau is fucking amazing)

There’s probably many more, but those are the immediate loves that spring to the top of my tongue.

Now that I look at them, none of them are actually pirate movies. Huh.

Actually! One more. The Princess Bride (1987). There definitely is a pirate in that. Heh. Watch that one too.

#swashbucklers #classic movies #movie recs

[byneddiedingo]

Ronald Colman in The Prisoner of Zenda (John Cromwell, 1937)

Cast: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, David Niven, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Screenplay: John L. Balderston, Edward E. Rose, Wells Root, Donald Ogden Stewart, based on a novel by Anthony Hope. Cinematography: James Wong Howe. Art direction: Lyle R. Wheeler. Film editing: James E. Newcom. Music: Arnold Newman. 

The identical cousin is a genetic anomaly known only to Anthony Hope and the creators of The Patty Duke Show, but both got a great deal of mileage out of it. Hope's novel about a man who finds himself posing as a Ruritanian king to fend off a threat to the throne was such a hit that it was immediately adapted for the stage, turned into a film in 1913, and even became a Sigmund Romberg operetta. But leave it to David O. Selznick to produce perhaps the best of all adaptations. It was once said of Selznick -- I forget by whom, but it sounds a lot like something Ben Hecht would say -- that to judge from his movies, he had read nothing past the age of 12. Among the novels he made into movies are David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935), A Tale of Two Cities (Jack Conway, 1935), Little Lord Fauntleroy (John Cromwell, 1936), and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Norman Taurog, 1938). But it has to be said that each of these adaptations remains probably the best screen version of its source. The 1937 Prisoner of Zenda is so good that when MGM decided to remake it in Technicolor in 1952, producer Pandro S. Berman and director Richard Thorpe not only used the 1937 screenplay by John Balderston and Noel Langley, with Donald Ogden Stewart's punched-up dialogue, but also the score by Alfred Newman, following the earlier version almost shot for shot. The chief virtue of Selznick's production lies in its casting: Ronald Colman is suave and dashing as Rudolf Rassendyll and his royal double, Madeleine Carroll makes a radiant Princess Flavia, and Raymond Massey is a saturnine Black Michael. Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, and David Niven steal scenes right and left. Best of all, though, is Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Rupert von Hentzau, a grinning scamp of a villain. Fairbanks is so good in the role that we cheer when he escapes at the end. How Selznick got this one past the Production Code, which usually insisted on punishing wrongdoers. is a bit of a mystery, but he may have told the censors that he was planning to film Hope's sequel, Rupert of Hentzau, in which Rupert gets what's coming to him. He never got around to the sequel, of course, being distracted by Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).

#The Prisoner of Zenda #John Cromwell #Ronald Colman