The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

Director:

John Cromwell
(more)

Writers:

Anthony Hope (celebrated novel)
John L. Balderston (screen play)
(more)

Release Date:

3 September 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The most thrilling swordfight ever filmed...

Plot:

An Englishman on a Ruritarian holiday must impersonate the king when the rightful monarch, a distant cousin, is drugged and kidnapped.

Plot Keywords:

King | Princess | Swashbuckler | Coronation | Dungeon

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Ronald Colman	...	Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
Madeleine Carroll	...	Princess Flavia
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Colonel Zapt
Raymond Massey	...	Black Michael
Mary Astor	...	Antoinette de Mauban
David Niven	...	Fritz von Tarlenheim
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Rupert of Hentzau
Montagu Love	...	Detchard
Philip Sleeman	...	Albert von Lauengram
Eleanor Wesselhoeft	...	Frau Holf - Cook
Florence Roberts	...	Duenna (scenes deleted)
Torben Meyer	...	Max - Butler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Arthur Byron	...	(scenes deleted)
Sally Conlin
Francis Ford	...	(scenes deleted)
Margaret Tallichet	...	(scenes deleted)
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	Krafstein
Evelyn Beresford	...	Lady Topham (uncredited)
Spencer Charters	...	Railroad Porter (uncredited)
D'Arcy Corrigan	...	Traveler (uncredited)
Alexander D'Arcy	...	De Gautet (uncredited)
Ralph Faulkner	...	Bersonin (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Johann (uncredited)
Charles K. French	...	Bishop (uncredited)
Otto Fries	...	Luggage Officer (uncredited)
Lawrence Grant	...	Marshal Strakencz (uncredited)
Charles Halton	...	Passport Officer (uncredited)
Lillian Harmer	...	Traveler (uncredited)
Boyd Irwin	...	Master of Ceremonies (uncredited)
Emmett King	...	Lord High Chamberlain (uncredited)
Howard Lang	...	Josef (uncredited)
Ian Maclaren	...	Cardinal (uncredited)
Alexander Pollard	...	Court Officer (uncredited)
Russ Powell	...	Traveler (uncredited)
Henry Roquemore	...	Man with Female Traveler (uncredited)
Al Shean	...	Orchestra Leader (uncredited)
Leslie Sketchley	...	Guard at Lodge (uncredited)
Pat Somerset	...	Guard at Lodge (uncredited)
Ben Webster	...	Lord Topham (uncredited)

Directed by
John Cromwell
W.S. Van Dyke		(reshoots) (uncredited)

Writing credits
Anthony Hope		(celebrated novel)
John L. Balderston		(screen play)
Edward E. Rose		(dramatization) (as Edward Rose)
Wells Root		(adaptation)
Donald Ogden Stewart		(additional dialogue)
Ben Hecht		uncredited
Sidney Howard		uncredited

Produced by
David O. Selznick	....	producer

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
James Wong Howe		(photography)
Bert Glennon		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
James E. Newcom		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Costume Design by
Ernest Dryden		(costumes) (as Ernst Dryden)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred Spencer	....	assistant director (as Frederick A. Spencer)
George Cukor	....	director: reshoots (uncredited)
W.S. Van Dyke	....	director, fencing sequences (uncredited)

Art Department
Casey Roberts	....	interior decoration

Sound Department
Oscar Lagerstrom	....	recorder

Special Effects by
Jack Cosgrove	....	special effects
John M. Nickolaus	....	special effects (uncredited)
Harry Redmond Jr.	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Fred Cavens	....	fencing stunts
Ralph Faulkner	....	fencing double (uncredited)
Jean Heremans	....	fencing master (uncredited)
Dick Simmons	....	stunt double: Ronald Colman (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Hal C. Kern	....	supervising film editor

Music Department
Hugo Friedhofer	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Hugo Friedhofer	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Alfred Newman	....	musical director (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Ivar Enhörning	....	technical advisor (as Colonel Ivar Enhorning)
Prince Sigvard Bernadotte	....	technical advisor
William H. Wright	....	assistant to producer
Russell Birdwell	....	publicity chief (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Selznick International Pictures (presents) (as Selznick International)

Distributors

• United Artists (1937) (USA) (theatrical) (released by)
• Loet C. Barnstijn's Standaard Films (1938) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1941) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Les Artistes Associés (1937) (France) (theatrical)
• ClassicLine (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Junes Planning (2008) (Japan) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Entertainment (TV)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Universal Vault Series)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD) (double feature with the 1952 version)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #3356) | West Germany:12 | Netherlands:18 (original rating) (1938) | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Selznick International Pictures

Trivia:

In 'Salad Days', his first autobiography, 'Douglas Fairbanks Jr' said that when Raymond Massey told Sir C. Aubrey Smith, who played Col. Zapt, that he didn't understand his own part of Black Michael, Smith said 'Ray, in my time I've played every part in Zenda except Princess Flavia, and I've never understood Black Michael either'.

Goofs:

Continuity: The sword fight in the castle of Zenda between Coleman and one of the king's guards appears to be with rapiers, however when the fight is picked up again in the outside room the rapiers have become sabers - necessary in order to cut the rope of the drawbridge.

Quotes:

[during his sword fight with Rupert, Rudolph "retreats" towards the drawbridge's controls]
Rupert of Hentzau:You'd be a sensation in a circus. I can't understand it. Where did you learn such roller skating?
Rudolph Rassendyll:Coldstream Guards, my boy. Come on now, when does the fencing lesson begin?
Rupert of Hentzau:Stand still and fight, you coward!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Prisoner of Zenda (1979)

Soundtrack:

Artist's Life, Op.316

A Colman - Selznick triumph

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins was a successful London barrister, who got his measure of permanent fame as the author of several novels. Some were quite popular in their day, like "The Dolly Dialogues" and "The Man In The Car" (which bases it's central figure on Cecil Rhodes). But it is his two "Ruritanian" Romances, "The Prisoner Of Zenda" and "Rupert Of Hentzau" that are the main novels he is recalled for, especially "The Prisoner Of Zenda". Set in a middle European kingdom, it was (for it's day in the last decades of the 19th Century) an updating of the swashbuckling novels of Alexandre Dumas. Dumas had some stories set in "modern Europe" ("The Count Of Monte Cristo" is set in the period of 1815 - 1830, and was written in 1844 - 1845), but most were in earlier periods, such as the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Hope Hawkins (who wrote under the name Anthony Hope) figured that there was sufficient intrigue and deviltry in modern Europe to transplant the plot style to the 1870s - 1890s.

And there was considerable intrigue, especially in Eastern Europe. In the 1880s Prince Alexander of Battenberg seemed set to become first Prince or King of Bulgaria. He had won admiration in Europe for his stunning victories over the armies of the Kingdom of Serbia in a war of 1885 (the war that was the background to Shaw's ARMS AND THE MAN), and was poised to get his crown, when the Russian Empire balked. They thought Alexander was too pro-German, and too close (due to family relationships) to Great Britain. So Alexander was toppled, and forced to leave Bulgaria under very humiliating circumstances. Eventually Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg got the Bulgarian throne.

"The Prisoner Of Zenda" is not based on the story of Alexander of Battenberg, but it shows the type of conspiracy atmosphere that pervaded the area. Basically the plot is an old one of substitutions concerning political figures. Dumas had used one in "The Vicomte De Bragalone", a huge multi-volume novel that included "The Man In The Iron Mask". One of the theories about the Iron Mask (the one that Dumas used)was that it was the twin brother of King Louis XIV. In that novel D'Artagnan has to thwart a plot to replace the Sun King with his brother - a plot that almost succeeds. Hope changed this slightly. Here the King is threatened by his ambitious half-brother, and the King's distant twin cousin replaces him to save the throne.

The 1937 film version of the novel is usually considered the best of several (including the 1951 version with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr, and a comic version with Peter Sellers and Lionel Jeffries in 1978). David Selznick was the producer, this being part of his series of movies-based-on-famous-novels that included "A Tale Of Two Cities" (also with Colman), "David Copperfield" (with W.C.Fields), and finally "Gone With The Wind". His casting was top notch, with Colman supported by Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, and David Niven. It is an exciting and well made film, and definitely worth watching.

Selznick hoped to do the sequel "Rupert Of Hentzau", but that book is a comparative downer. Several of the main characters from the first novel are killed, and one of them shows a less likable side to his personality than in the first story. He toyed with a total rewrite of the story, to try to make Fairbanks a hero instead of a villain. The project never reached fruition. Probably just as well. It is rare for a successful film production to be replicated in a sequel.