The Prisoner of Zenda

Plot synopsis:
On his deathbed, the king of Ruritania announces to his two twin sons, Rudolph and Michael, that he must choose one of them to be the future king of Ruritania following their father's death. The king believes that his youngest son Rudolph is more fit to be king than Michael, and so chooses him for the throne. Rudolph is shocked with his father's decision and Michael is outraged and angry. Following his father's death, "Black Michael", as he is known to some of the villagers, gathers his minions and expresses his anger at his father's decision, which he believes to be foolish. He recalls that his father had mentioned that he, Michael, should be king, if and when his brother died; thus, he begins to devise a plan to cause Rudolph's death. Michael's wife, Princess Antoinette, is shocked after hearing her beloved husband speak ill of his dead father, and even more after hearing of his plot to murder Rudolph. When she confronts him, Michael sends Antoinette away and tells her that if he can't count on her loyalty, she is no longer his wife. Antoinette runs to Rudolph and informs him of Michael's plots; thought at first Rudolph refuses to believe her, Antoinette insists. Following one of Rudolph's plans to ensure his own safety, Princess Antoinette travels to London, where he meets another young man, by the name of Rudolph, who looks remarkably and exactly like the king-to-be of Ruritania. Princess Antoinette brings the new Rudolph to Ruritania, hoping that he may help her and Rudolph to be safe from Michael. Rudolph, who still trusts his brother, accepts an invitation from Michael, who offers him a drink. Pretending that his intentions were to congratulate Rudolph stepping up to the throne, Michael drugs his brother causing him to enter a deep coma, only a few days prior to his coronation. The new Rudolph proposes to accept the crown himself, so that Prince Rudolph will step up to the throne as soon as he comes out from his state of unconsciousness. When Michael learns of this, he kidnapps the prince and takes him away to the Castle Zenda, where he intends to murder him. Antoinette and Rudolph come up with a plan to surprise Michael and his minions at Zenda and thus rescue the prince. When they defeat Michael, the young prince Rudolph becomes the king of Ruritania and takes his father's place at last.

Tags: romantic, action, murder

Review:
Rudolf V, the King of Ruritania, has been kidnapped by Black Michael, his evil half-brother, and locked in the dungeon of the fortress of Zenda on the eve of his coronation.
By a wild twist of fate, it falls upon a look alike distant cousin, the Englishman Rassendyll, to impersonate the king and effect his rescue before either one or both of them are killed by Black Michael or his henchman, Rupert of Hentzau.
With two beautiful women complicating matters, and danger lurking at every turn, how can THE PRISONER OF ZENDA possibly be saved?It is unfortunate that this fine silent film is completely overshadowed by its 1937 talkie remake starring Ronald Colman.
Silent films & talkies are two different art forms and should not be put into competition against each other.
Excitingly produced, with excellent production values & good acting, this movie stands on its own merits and on its own feet.Those familiar with Lewis Stone only as a fine character actor during his talkie career at MGM may be surprised to see him here as a romantic lead, and in a swashbuckler no less.
But he is very good in his dual roles of Rudolf & Rassendyll.
Strangely, at times he closely resembles Colman, but this is a coincidence no one could anticipate.This was also the breakout picture for Ramon Novarro.
Working incredibly hard for years, and largely supporting his family (driven North by Revolution) he finally caught the eye of director Rex Ingram.
In ZENDA, the 22-year old Novarro plays rascally Rupert, who, with his little beard & moustache & face wreathed in constant cigarette smoke, looks quite sardonic.
Playing a mid-European, Novarro begins a career which would have him acting every sort of ethnic role, from Hebrew, to Polynesian, to Chinese.The rest of the cast all lend able support: Stuart Holmes as the wicked Black Michael; Alice Terry as the beautiful Princess Flavia; Barbara La Marr as the lovely Antoinette de Mauban, desperately in love with Michael; and Robert Edeson & Malcolm McGregor as two staunchly loyal officers of the king.
Evil Ramon sparks disappointing Ingram film..
Rex Ingram was one of the great visual stylists of the silent cinema, but his version of "The Prisoner of Zenda" is a little slow and ponderous and visually not as interesting as other Ingram films.
But it's still pretty good with strong performances from Ingram's wife Alice Terry and the marvellous Lewis Stone.
Although Ramon Novarro has top billing, Stone actually has the lead role - Ramon's role is a supporting one - an evil nobleman.
It is interesting to see him before he became type-cast as the energetic sweet boy - he shows here that he had more range as an actor than he was allowed to show.The entire supporting cast is excellent and, although the sets are ordinary, the costumes are very fine.
Ingram was an excellent silent film director.
I've seen both Rex Ingram's "Scaramouche" and "The Prisoner of Zenda" and by far "Scaramouche" the more entertaining film.
Lewis Stone acquits himself well as the hero/drukand king and swordfights quite well.
Ramon Novarro played the monocled villain, somewhat unintentionally funny.
Seeing Valentino's "cousins" from "The Four Horseman of the Acapolyse" in supporting roles was really cool.However, the Colman/Fairbanks Jr. version is far superior..
English traveler and sportsman Lewis Stone (as Rudolf Rassendyll) decides to attend the coronation of distant relative "Rudolf V." of Ruritania (also Lewis Stone, in a dual role), after the recent death of the foreign land's King.
But proposed King Stone has a wicked half-brother, who covets the title.
Receiving most of his help from charismatic Ramon Novarro (as Rupert of Hentzau), treacherous brother Stuart Holmes (as Grand Duke Michael) plots to poison Mr. Stone and take his place on the throne.
One who senses something rotten in Ruritania is beautiful Alice Terry (as Princess Flavia), who is expected to marry one, but falls in love with another..."Towards the end of the day, when the soul is weary and the heart longs for its beloved"...Anthony Hope's classic adventure story gets the MGM treatment, even though the studio mostly called "Metro" by insiders was only M-G- (no Mayer, yet) at the time.
Metro's mega-hit "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1921) director Rex Ingram and the principle players gathered here stuck with the company; helping set the standard for MGM productions, Metro/MGM competed successfully with older studios.
This film advanced careers, most notably helping propel Mr. Novarro to "superstar" status.
There are also fine impressions made by veteran Robert Edeson (as Colonel Sapt), bewitching Barbara La Marr (as Antoinette de Mauban) and debuting Malcolm McGregor (as Fritz von Tarlenheim)...Notable re-makes in 1937 (all talking, with Ronald Colman) and 1952 (in color, with Stewart Granger) are worth seeking out in a "twofer" package from Warner/Turner.
This non-speaking "The Prisoner of Zenda" was the standard silent film era version.
Rex Ingram, Lewis Stone, Alice Terry and Ramon Novarro received director and acting accolades.
Stone, at his silent best here, essays a small part in the 1952 version; it was one of the last roles for the perennial Metro-contracted actor.******** The Prisoner of Zenda (7/31/22) Rex Ingram ~ Lewis Stone, Alice Terry, Ramon Novarro, Malcolm McGregor.
Rex Ingram was one of the finest directors of the silent era, but unfortunately, he is little remembered today.
This 1922 adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda is one of his better known films among silent movie geeks, but I would not count it among his most outstanding.There's good scenery and spectacle, and Lewis Stone makes good as the lead.
The standout of the cast is without a doubt a young Ramon Novarro as the roguish Rupert of Hentzau.
The film is also overlong and the comic relief was mildly painful at best.Overall, it's watchable, but you'll be better served by watching the 1937 remake.
"The Prisoner of Zenda" has been filmed about a dozen times.
It's a VERY familiar story to anyone who loves old films.
Regardless, I was thrilled to finally see a silent version of a story I have long loved.
Well, not exactly--but it sure was close.Another surprise about this one is that is starred Lewis Stone--a guy I'd hardly think of as an action hero!
This is the bald Judge Hardy...playing a handsome king!
Looking at Stone's hair in the film, I assume he was wearing a wig, as he had A LOT of hair!
But he was also quite good in the dual roles of King Rupert as well as his English cousin.
Oddly, however, while Stone clearly is THE leading man, Ramon Navarro got top billing--which makes little sense as he's a relatively minor character.
No, this is definitely Stone's film.As far as the plot goes, it's pretty much the familiar story.
The new king, Rudolf, is about to be crowned leader of Ruritania.
However, his evil but popular brother, Michael, has plans of usurping the throne.
However, this won't deter Michael, as he's discovered the real king and has taken him prisoner.
I particularly loved the king's beloved #1 man--he had such wonderful and soulful eyes.
Overall, a great silent--and a film that only barely was eclipsed by the great 1937 version (this film is just perfect).Note: After the FIRST guy gets pulled over the deadly falls, the print's quality degrades VERY quickly.
Expensive silent film of a king who is marked for assassination.
He switches identities with a look alike (both played by Lewis Stone) who takes his place at his coronation.
While his followers try to find him, the fake king falls in love with Princess Flava (Alice Terry).Slow moving but the film looks great.
Seeing Stone (who went on to play Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy movies) so young and being a romantic lead is interesting.
Ramon Novarro (still an unknown) plays the evil villain.
That's quite a shock--he always played heroes in his later films.
A retiring English country gentleman, Rassendyll, is mistaken for his distant cousin, King Rudolph of Ruritania.
When the king is taken hostage by his jealous brother, Black Michael, Rassendyll agrees to act as the king in the coronation ceremony.It takes a long time for this version of 'The Prisoner of Zenda' to get moving.
The first hour or so is stodgy and less than riveting film-making, and then it gradually picks up momentum, and the last half hour packs a decent punch, especially action-wise.
But all in all, a rather more lackluster, even crude entertainment than I had expected after the exhilarating 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse', also by Rex Ingram.The script is largely at fault, with the scenes so disjointedly put together that it does not in long stretches make a lot of sense.
I would have made more - MUCH more - out of the fact that for a long while Black Michael seems a pretty decent fellow, genuinely in love with Antoinette and understandably preoccupied about leaving the fate of his country to his feeble-minded brother.
But Ingram makes nothing of it and seems curiously uninspired.The youngish Lewis Stone is an earnest Rassendyll/Rudolph, and sort of holds his own in the climactic sword-fight with, among others, Ramon Novarro.
This is Novarro's film.
He was hardly a star when it was made, and his role does not take up a lot of screen time, but Novarro eats up the scenery with his monocled, slick diabolism.
Lewis Stone is too old in his dual role and Alice Terry lacked any real charm.
This picture belongs to its supporting cast- Barbara LaMarr ("too beautiful for her own good") as Antoinette de Mauban, Colonel Zapt, Captain von Tarlenheim and,of course, Rupert of Hentzau, played with relish and humour by Ramon Novarro.
There are some spoilers in my comments, but I find it hard to believe there can be anyone around who hasn't already seen at least one version of Hope's classic adventure story or read the books.
My main points are comparisons between this version and the better-known talkies.The first half of this film is more effective than the 1937-1952 versions in opening out the action: it was scripted for cinema rather than being an adaptation of an 1890s stage version.
They are therefore not historically accurate, but their slightly off-key style heightens the sense that the story is taking place in an imaginary realm, an alternative universe version of late 19C Europe.
The circumstances of the King's rescue and Michael's fate are also altered.The leads are excellent.
Lewis Stone is almost the double of Ronald Colman, but (correctly) lighter-haired.
The Rassendyll/Flavia romantic scenes - especially their parting - are played less soppily than in some of the later versions.
Some supporting characters omitted in other versions make their appearance: Helga, and old Marshal Strackenz.
However, Holmes turns in a creditable performance, more sympathetic than the character has been portrayed in the later versions.
There was little sense in the later versions that he was the more popular of the brothers.The tragic Barbara LaMarr is hauntingly exquisite as Antoinette, although much too young.
As in all the film versions (and, indeed, the books) she is a far more interesting female lead than the sweet Princess Flavia (Alice Terry).
The Antoinette/Michael relationship is established more convincingly, early in the film, than in the later versions.
In this version, Rassendyll gets the three-cornered fight he had feared, versus Michael *and* Rupert!
But I still wish a version would be made which gave Antoinette her great tragic scene, pursuing Rupert like an avenging angel...However, the ending is closer to the book than that of the talkie versions, which wrongly (and quite unbelievably) implied that Rudolf V was going to become a reformed character: perhaps a result of the Hays Code's view of authority?
I hope this version will get the DVD release it clearly deserves: it is a silent swashbuckling gem!.
Monday August 14, 7:00:pm, The Paramount Theater"While you're unhung, Hentzau, hell lacks its master!" On the eve of his coronation, Rudolph Elphberg of Ruritania is poisoned by his jealous half-brother, Duke Michael of Strelsau.
A distant English cousin, and the King's spitting-image, takes his place to save the throne.
Anthony Hope's 1893 tale of romance and swordplay, The Prisoner of Zenda has seen no less than eight adaptations produced for the big screen, including three silent films, an animated Australian version and a television mini-series.
Without a doubt, the 1922 Metro Pictures production, directed by Rex Ingram, is superior in its cinematic style, acting and production values.
Ingram's film stars the exceptionally beautiful Alice Terry as Princess Flavia, and a wonderful newcomer, Ramon Novarro as Rupert of Hentzau.
Lewis Stone stars as the irresponsible, drunken and character deficient King Rudolf, and his dignified, stalwart cousin Rudolf Rassendyll.
Stone is best remembered as the wise old father of a well-known freckle-faced teenager with the voice of a strangled duck, whose character (Andy Hardy) grew up on screen in the thirties and forties.
Ingram achieved significant success for himself and Metro the year before with The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1921), starring Terry and Rudolph Valentino.
His charming young replacement was Ramon Samaniegos, who changed his name to Novarro after Zenda's release.
One of four officers loyal to "Black" Michael (Stuart Holmes), Hentzau is a mischievous young fellow, more playboy and prankster than serious villain, who spends much of his time chasing after Michael's mistress Antoinette (Barbara LaMarr).
As Rassendyl arrives at the coronation, he passes a dumbstruck Michael and pauses long enough to deliver a subtle expression of smug satisfaction with a raised eyebrow.
Terry's performance as the future queen is graceful and dignified, a perfect match to Rassendyll, and their final scene is both lovely and heartbreaking.
Snitz Edwards plays the King's butler and John George who worked with Lon Chaney, John Barrymore and nearly everyone else in Hollywood plays a decidedly darker than average role.Adding substantial integrity to the production, Ingram used Belgian Fencing Champion and USC coach Henry Uyttenhove as a trainer and consultant for the spectacular sword fight at the end of the picture.
Uyttenhove also worked on several Douglas Fairbanks films, including Robin Hood (1922), and again with Ingram on Scaramouche (1923).
COMMENT: Selected by The New York Times as one of the best films of the year, the familiar story (re-made with Ronald Colman in 1937 and Stewart Granger in 1952) is given grand treatment here.Some critics have complained of this version's lack of action.
While it's true that Ingram does tend to concentrate more on the romance between Lewis Stone's reluctant Rassendyll and the beautiful princess (charmingly enacted by Alice Terry) and also on a closer examination of Black Michael's political intriguing than do the various remakes, there is nonetheless a fair amount of action-and it is well handled too, particularly the final sword duels between hero and villains with all the players including Stone, Holmes and Novarro doing their own fencing and doing it very ably indeed.
In addition to these excitements, as might be expected, cinema stylist Rex Ingram has a grand time with all the sets, costumes and panoply of Zenda.
Ramon Novarro's fans will be a little disappointed to find their hero playing the villain (especially as he is not quite as charming as in other versions), but everyone cheers when the beautiful Barbara La Marr enters.
There is a prince who will be coronated king the following day.
He has to convince the future king's lovely lady as well as his friends that he is the real guy.
The film does a good job of organizing several characters, has some nice castle shots yet the pacing could have shifted up a couple gears..
Silent version of the Anthony Hope novel.
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA is an early silent version of the classic Anthony Hope novel about a king who is drugged and locked in a tower by some nefarious characters led by his own brother.
The king's lookalike must take the throne temporarily while he attempts to solve the disappearance, rescue the real king, and hold the bad guys to account.Although the budget must have been modest by modern standards, this is a well-mounted version of the tale with an ample amount of sets and locations to give it that authentic look.
The story is entertaining and feels surprisingly modern in places, featuring some classic sword-fighting scenes that wouldn't look out of place in a swashbuckler from the 1940s.The cast are well chosen and look good in their roles too.
Based on the hugely popular late Victorian adventure novel by Anthong Hope, this silent version is very entertaining and moves along at a good pace, especially at the last half of the movie.
King Rudolph V of Ruritania's coronation is but a day away.
The King's brother, the Grand Duke "Black" Michael has a plan to keep the King away from the coronation and have himself crowned King instead.
Michael drugs a bottle of wine that he sends to the King as a gift.
The King gulps down the wine and falls into a stupor which will make it impossible for him to attend the coronation.
As it happens, the King's devoted Chief of Staff, Colonel Sapt, meets a distant cousin of the King's, Rudolph Rassendyll, an English gentleman educated in Heidelberg.
In appearance Rassendyll is the exact double of the King and Sapt convinces him to take the King's place at the coronation.
While impersonating the King, Rassendyll falls in love with the King's intended, Princess Flavia and she with him.
Lewis Stone does an admirable job as Rassendyll.
Oddly, in several scenes, Stone reminds one of Ronald Colman.
Ramon Navarro sparkles as Michael's henchman Hentzau - he is conniving but also has flair.
The actor playing Colonel Sapt is great and his scene late in the movie with Rassendyll and Princess Flavia is wonderfully done and quite touching.
Colonel Sapt has the last word when he says to Rassendyll "God does not always make the right men kings.