The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

Directed by

John Cromwell

Genre

drama film, swashbuckler film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 41m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 61 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A British gentleman on vacation in a small European country is asked to impersonate the king after the real king is kidnapped. He must navigate royal politics and a love triangle while keeping up the ruse.

swashbucklingromanticsuspensefuladventurouscharmingclassicdramaticwhimsical

What happens

The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 American black-and-white adventure film based on Anthony Hope's 1894 novel and the 1896 play. A lookalike impersonates his royal distant relative when the royal is kidnapped to prevent his coronation. This version is widely considered the best of the many film adaptations of the novel and play. The film stars Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., with a supporting cast including C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor and David Niven. It was directed by John Cromwell, produced by David O. Selznick for Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. The screenplay was written by John L. Balderston, adapted by Wells Root from the novel, with dramatization by Edward Rose; Donald Ogden Stewart was responsible for additional dialogue and Ben Hecht and Sidney Howard made uncredited contributions. Alfred Newman received the first of his 43 Academy Award nominations, for Original Music Score, while Lyle R. Wheeler was nominated for Best Art Direction. In 1991, this 1937 version was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• The Prince and the Pauper (1937)
• The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)
• The Exile (1947)
• Under the Red Robe (1937)
• The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)
• Fit for a King (1937)
• Jump for Glory (1937)
• If I Were King (1938)