All the King's Horses (1935)

Movie star changes places with a king who looks exactly like him, causing complications for all concerned.

Director:

Frank Tuttle

Writers:

Laurence Clark (play), Max Giersberg (play)

Stars:

Carl Brisson, Mary Ellis, Edward Everett Horton

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview:
Carl Brisson	...	King Rudolf XIV / Carlo Rocco
Mary Ellis	...	Elaine, the Queen of Langenstein
Edward Everett Horton	...	Count Josef 'Peppi' von Schlapstaat
Katherine DeMille	...	Fraülein Mimi
Eugene Pallette	...	Conrad Q. Conley
Arnold Korff	...	Baron Kraemer, Lord Chamberlain
Marina Koshetz	...	Steffi (as Marina Schubert)
Rosita	...	Ilonka
Stanley Andrews	...	Count Batthy

Storyline

King Rudolf XIV of Langenstein, is too busy to make love to his wife, Queen Elaine of Langenstein, and good Queen Elaine is upset royally about it. She departs the palace and tells him she will not return until he learns how to make love to her,and, as a parting shot, until he also shaves off his ancestral beard. Too much of one thing and not enough of another. As often happens in Langenstein, an Hollywood actor, Carlo Rocco, who is an exact double for the king, shows up, and the King naturally hires him to take his place while the King goes to Vienna to learn how to live and make love. (Vienna?). Carlo not only is a good actor and capable replacement for, ere long, the Queen falls madly in love with a man she thinks is her husband. Plus, he has learned how to sing. (Pre-code film.)

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Plot Keywords:

king | queen | actor | palace | politics | 

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Taglines:

ROMANTIC MUSICAL DRAMA! (original poster)

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Soundtracks

Dancing the Viennese
(uncredited)
Music by Edward Horan
Lyrics by Frederik Herendeen

User Reviews

It should have been better.

The plot for "All the King's Horses" is one that sounds enjoyable and should have been. Sadly, however, even with so much promise, the film failed to deliver.

King Rudolf XIV of Langenstein is having problems with Queen Elaine. He's all work and no play...and finally, in disgust, she has left him. When the King learns that there is an actor who is his spitting image (an overused and silly plot device...though it worked well in films such as "The Prisoner of Zenda"), he sends for Carlo. The pair meet and decide to switch lives for a bit. The new King makes a lot of reforms which tick off the elite but soon the Queen has returned and loves the new husband. In the meantime, the real King hangs out in Vienna.

There are two huge problems. The biggest are the incredible number of songs in this movie. This plot does NOT lend itself to singing and with so many songs, there isn't enough room for the story. Second, why did they pick the Danish actor Carl Brisson for the role? I occasionally had a hard time understanding his accent...closed captions would have helped. Overall, a decent idea for a story that simply had too many distractions and not enough time to develop the plot.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hjerter Konge

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1