Prisoner of Zenda [VHS]
One of numerous film versions of Anthony Hope's novel, this 1937 production directed by John Cromwell (Algiers) gets it right. Ronald Colman stars as a British commoner asked to substitute for his lookalike cousin, the king of a small, European country. Besides falling in love with a royal (Madeleine Carroll), he becomes subject to the machinations of a villain (Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who almost steals the show). A classic swashbuckler, the film depends a little too much on an air of pomp (as if to make sure we understand that Colman's character is seeing all this from the inside for the first time). But in every significant sense, this is high adventure for the ages.--Tom Keogh