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The Prisoner of Zenda
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by Mgm/Turner Movie Classics
Sales Rank: 11656
Price: $19.99
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Comparisons to the 1937 classic are inevitable. Story-wise, there is little difference except for the colonization of the remake. Many of the frames are carbon copies of each other. This reviewer feels that the b&w format of the original added to the suspense. The original cast is clearly superior especially the male leads of Ronald Coleman, David Niven and C. Aubrey Smith. Also, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. outshines James Mason as Rupert of Hentzau, the main bad guy. (I wonder if a stunt man performed that high dive.) A nice gesture is the cameo role of Lewis Stone, the star of the 1922 SILENT version. It is the 1952 female leads who compare most favorably: Deborah Kerr comes very close to equaling Madeleine Carroll as the lovely Queen Flavia, with her strong (!) sense of duty. And Jane Greer probably surpasses Mary Astor's 1937 role. Both Mary and Jane are key to the plot. Watch them closely! Blessedly, despite the many frame similarities, the remake does not carbon copy the 1937 fadeout, with Ronald Coleman's gallant wave of farewell. On its' own merits, the 1952 version is a very credible adventure story indeed. It only suffers from comparison to an original classic it cannot possibly surpass.
Viewer Reviews
There is a category of film that Hollywood cannot, from time to time, resist making--that of the historical costume drama. Director Richard Thorpe took THE PRISONER OF ZENDA novel by Anthony Hope, updated and colorized the superior 1937 version with Ronald Coleman, and cast Stewart Granger in the double role as the King of Ruritania and his twin, cousin Rudolph. What marks both versions is the dashing swashbuckling that Errol Flynn first popularized in the early 30's. True, Ronald Coleman possessed a sense of dash that Stewart Granger could only emulate rather than stamp with his own screen persona. Granger is a distant lookalike cousin of the King of the mythical country of Ruritania, who is kidnapped by the evil henchman (James Mason) of the king's brother. Granger impersonates the king and falls predictably in love with Princess Flavia (Deborah Kerr), who is bound to marry the reigning king. The plot is nonsense, of course. The audience slides in with surprising grace to accept that Flavia and Rudolph fall instantly in love. What marks this version of Zenda is the witty wordplay by all concerned. Everyone in the cast all seem to have graduated from Eton and dress and speak impeccably at all times. James Mason as the roguish underling of the king's plotting evil brother radiates the same suave aura of menace that has come to mark his essential screen persona. The chatty dueling scene between Granger and Mason is an updated reprisal of a similar scene between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. Deborah Kerr is, unfortunately, quite listless as she is merely a prop to further a rather slight plot complication. Jane Greer as her female counterpart who loves the king's brother is even less of a screen presence. Still, in costume dramas like this one, the willing suspension of disbelief is rendered easier by a combination of verbal repartee and old-fashioned cinematic fun that draws in the audience to overlook a series of increasingly improbable plot devices. Coleman's earlier Prisoner simply had a bit more zip and zowie.
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The Prisoner of Zenda
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