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The Prisoner of Zenda (1979)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
17 August 1979 (USA) morePlot:
Anthony Hope's classic tale gets a decidedly 'un-classic' treatment at the hands of Peter Sellers. Following the story somewhat... more | add synopsisPlot Keywords:
User Comments:
Unimpressive moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Peter Sellers | ... | Rudolf IV / Rudolf V / Syd Frewin | |
| Lynne Frederick | ... | Princess Flavia | |
| Lionel Jeffries | ... | General Sapt | |
| Elke Sommer | ... | The Countess | |
| Gregory Sierra | ... | The Count | |
| Jeremy Kemp | ... | Duke Michael | |
| Catherine Schell | ... | Antoinette | |
| Simon Williams | ... | Fritz | |
| Stuart Wilson | ... | Rupert of Hentzau | |
| Norman Rossington | ... | Bruno | |
| John Laurie | ... | Archbishop | |
| Graham Stark | ... | Erik | |
| Michael Balfour | ... | Luger | |
| Arthur Howard | ... | Deacon | |
| Ian Abercrombie | ... | Johann |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
108 min | Canada:93 min (Ontario)Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Filming Locations:
Universal Studios Theme Park, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA moreFun Stuff
Trivia:
John Cleese signed on after EMI pulled out of Life of Brian (1979) and it looked like the film would be canceled. moreFAQ
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I`m not very familiar with THE PRISONER OF ZENDA . I know it`s a novel by Anthony Hope that involves an English commoner who so resembles the King of Rurtinia so much that he becomes a stand in , I know that Robert Donat starred in a well regarded film version , and that the 1978 DOCTOR WHO story The Andriods Of Tara was based on Hope`s novel . That was all I really knew as I sat down to watch this comedy version of the story
I was totally unimpressed , not by the bare bones of the story but by the obvious fact that there`s no laughs in this alleged comedy . I can`t think of one moment when I cracked a smile never mind burst out laughing . In fact about half way through all the evidence points that writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais just gave up attempting to make lame jokes and just wrote a traditional version of the story . But my major gripe is with director Richard Quine who spent twelve and a half million dollars on this movie which looks like it has a budget less than a tenth of that sum . All the interior sets look totally cheap and fake and there`s an action sequence involving a stage coach which is laughably bad . The whole sequence is shot at ground level to disguise the fact that the coach isn`t moving more than 10 mph , cut to some abysmal back screen projection with Peter Sellers wrestling with one of the bad guys , then cut back again to an exterior shot of the 10mph coach with all the characters looking away from screen so you won`t notice the characters are played by stuntmen . I wasn`t fooled by this type of sequence in James Bond films from the 1980s and I wasn`t fooled here