The Prisoner of Zenda

Prisoner of Zenda
1937


Starring:
Ronald Colman as Major Rudolf Rassendyll and King Rudolf V
Madeleine Carroll as Princess Flavia
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau
Raymond Massey as Duke Michael

Lesser roles:
C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Zapt
David Niven as Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim
Mary Astor as Antoinette de Mauban


Length: about 100 minutes


Major Rudolf Rassendyll is vacationing in 'Ruritania' (a fictional country in Europe), when he meets the soon-to-be king, Rudolf the Fifth while fishing. They find that they are distantly related, which explains their strikingly similar appearances.
Rudolf the Fifth invites Major Rudolf back to his hunting lodge, where they drink, drink, and are merry for some time on into the night. Rudolf the Fifth [this is hard, writing about two people with the same name!] tells the Major about how he rather dreads the coronation on the following day. He's sure his (evil) stepbrother, Michael, is going to do his best to keep Rudolf from being crowned King of Ruritania. They drink and drink, until Rudolf (the Major), Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim and Colonel Zapt, the King's guards, finally fall asleep. Rudolf the Fifth takes one last drink from a new bottle, then drops to the floor.
The next morning--Coronation Day--Major Rudolf is rudely awakened by a pitcher of water in the face. Captain von Tarlenheim and Colonel Zapt have found the king lying on the floor and are sure Michael is behind all this....which, of course, he is.
So what do they do? The man who is to be crowned that day has been drugged, who knows when he'll wake up. If Rudolf the Fifth doesn't arrive, Duke Michael will find a way to crown himself king.
Hmmm. I wonder....


I enjoyed this movie. It has good acting and the plot is easy to follow, most of the time, except when the Rudolfs get mixed up. No mushy love scenes. A lot of action and sword fighting, a few deaths (nothing gruesome).

TCM: This movie is for sale on TCM.com, but you have to buy it either with the 1952 version here, $16.99, or with The Three Musketeers (1948), Captain Horatio Hornblower, The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), and Madame Bovary (1949) right HERE, for $50.99.

Netflix: available HERE.

Ebay: you can buy the double-sided DVD with both the 1937 and the 1952 versions on it for between $10.99 and $17.75. There are also the same two movies on laserdisc for $21.21 to $40.00.

Amazon: Once again, there are the two versions being sold together for from $8.78 to $39.99, or the same five-DVD set offered by TCM.

Aparently you can't get one movie without the other. I have not seen the 1952 movie, and so can not recommend it to you at all.

Happy movie watching!
~Kiwifruit

Quality Street

Quality Street
1937

Starring:
Katharine Hepburn as Phoebe Throssel
Franchot Tone as Dr. Valentine Brown
And Fay Bainter as Susan Throssel

This movie could almost be considered the '30's version of a 'chick flick'.
At the beginning of the movie, Miss Phoebe Throssle is courting the handsome, dashing young Dr. Valentine Brown. A proposal is expected by everyone, but instead, Valentine joins the army and goes off to fight in the Napoleonic Wars (late 1700's to 1806 or so).
When he returns after ten years, he finds Phoebe an 'old maid' at thirty years old. She and her sister, Susan, now teach school at the Misses Throssle School for Boys and Girls. Dr. Valentine invites the sisters to the ball for home-coming troops, but they decline. Phoebe is convinced he can't still love her, because she's old, tired, and not pretty anymore.
On the night of the ball, Phoebe puts on an old ball gown, just to prove to herself that she is still pretty. In comes Dr. Brown to ask if the Throssle sisters had changed their minds. Phoebe, startled, pretends to be her niece, Livvy, and says that 'Aunt Phoebe' is in bed with a bad headache. Dr. Brown takes her to the ball, and over the next few weeks, 'Livvy' becomes a quite popular flirt with all the officers.
Meanwhile, three old spinster-neighbors get interested in this and start snooping around. They are convinced that there is no real Livvy, and Phoebe is the one playing her.

So what happens now? Do the nosey neighbors figure out her deception? What happens between Valentine Brown and Livvy? Do you really, honestly believe I would tell you? If you do, you don't know me. I watched this on Turner Classic Movies, but they do not have it scheduled to play for quite some time.
Usually when you see Katharine Hepburn in a movie, she plays a more outgoing character. In this one she is very timid and shy and quiet.
I really enjoyed it. If you like slightly romantic movies try this one.
This movie can be bought on Ebay for $13.81 for the next three and a half days (VHS). Not available on Netflix.

~Kiwifruit