Return to Zenda

I chose the last two movies because I was sure Ms. Spenser wouldn't be interested. Here's one I (re-)watched even though I kknew she loved it: The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).

It stars Ronald Coleman as an Englishman trying to have a quiet fishing holiday in Ruritania. He doesn't realize that he looks exactly like the prince who is being crowned the next day. While he is fishing in the Royal Reserve, the prince (also Coleman) and his retainers, David Niven and C. Aubrey Smith run into him. Their remarkable resemblance is explained by an old family tale - that one of the princes ancestors was doing what the Englishman is: Fishing in forbidden waters. 

So they all retire to have a drunken last night before coronation party. We find that the prince is a bit of a wastrel, but he promises to sober up. After one last bottle. But the next morning, they find that that last bottle was drugged, and the prince can't be woken. It seems his half-brother, Raymond Massey, is plotting to have him miss his coronation, and seize the crown himself. But Niven and Smith get Coleman to impersonate the prince - which goes off without a hitch. Except that he meets the princess, his alter-ego's betrothed, Madelaine Carroll, and falls in love with her. She never much liked the prince, but he seems so different, now she's falling too.

All is well, then, except when they go to wake up the prince, he's gone. Kidnapped by Massey! Foppish villain Rupert of Hentzau (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) has figured out the double trick and has given the prince over. 

This movie has everything. Light-hearted humor, glorious spectacle, delirious romance, and several cool fights. There is even a deep well called Jacob's Ladder, that leads down to Hell, not Heaven. The evil-doers keep the prince right next to it, in case of discovery. Guess who winds up falling in?

My only complaint is the ending. Of course, the bad guys lose and the prince is restored. Carroll finds out who was really romancing her and is tempted to follow him back to England, but follows the patriotic path and stays to rule Ruritania. But we never see her and the prince, or even Coleman and Coleman meeting up for a hearty handshake and best wishes. 

Other than that, I can't imagine a better classic adventure. The cast is remarkable - I especially loved Smith for his deep love of his king and then prince become king. Some real nobility. The disk I got out of the library had the 1952 Stewart Granger version on the flip side. I didn't bother to watch that.