The Prisoner of Zenda Page #2

Synopsis: English trout fisher Rudolf Rassendyll is about the only tourist not coming for the coronation of Central-European King Rudolf V at Strelsau, but happens to be a distant relative and is approached on account of their canning resemblance to stand in for the drunken king, in order to prevent his envious half-brother Michael, who arranged spiking his wine to seize the throne when the reputedly less then dutiful Rudolf stays away. The ceremony goes well, and he gets acquainted with the charming royal bride, related princess Flavia, but afterward the king is found to be abducted; he must continue the charade and once the hiding place, the castle of Zenda, is found is involved in the fight between political parties for control over Rudolf V, his throne and his bride, for which a formidable third candidate, Michael's disloyal co-conspirator Rupert of Hentzau, was waiting in the curtains.
Genre: Adventure
Director(s): Richard Thorpe
Production: MGM
 
IMDB:
7.0
APPROVED
Year:
1952
96 min
617 Views


...in which you'll not be fit

to be crowned.

I question your right

to address me in that manner.

- I served your father in...

- I question your right to mention my father.

Your father honored his obligations

to the crown.

Are you suggesting that I do not?

Your father never thought of himself,

or of his own pleasure.

Your father never forgot he was a king.

By your leave, Your Majesty.

Zapt? Zapt?

What are you doing here?

The 1868, Your Majesty.

You sent for it.

Oh, did I?

- Josef.

- Yes, Your Majesty?

I've had too much to drink.

- You'd better take it back.

- Yes, Your Majesty.

No, wait, wait, we have a guest.

Excellent fellow, Josef. English.

Excellent fellow, Josef,

but he can't drink.

I can drink. I'm the king.

You better go to bed, Josef.

- Good night, Your Majesty.

- Good night.

Sleep well.

Everybody, sleep well.

Everybody sleeps but the king.

Zapt.

Zapt!

- I don't think much of your joke, sir!

- You think it's a joke, do you?

This is no joke, Englishman.

That was quite an evening, wasn't it?

- What happened?

- Josef found him lying here this morning.

You didn't drink

any of this last bottle?

- Not that I know of, no.

- I think you'd know if you had.

- Why? Was it drugged?

- It was.

- Have you sent for a doctor?

- There's none within 10 miles.

A thousand doctors wouldn't take him

to Strelsau. I know the look of it.

He'll not stir for six or seven hours.

But how? Why? Who?

Who else but Michael?

- Michael? His own brother?

- His half brother.

Michael's mother wasn't

exactly acceptable in court circles.

He wants the crown to be

offered to him by the people.

He wants to pose as their savior

from the excesses of an incompetent king.

If he's not crowned today,

he'll never be crowned.

Englishman, I am much older than you.

As a man grows old,

he comes to believe in fate.

Fate sent you here.

- Fate sends you now to Strelsau.

- What?

I'd wager without your moustache,

you could deceive your own brother.

- Oh, you're out of your mind.

- It's a risk, yes...

...against a certainty.

My dear colonel, I came here

on a fishing trip. I like to fish.

I'm an ordinary Englishman.

I couldn't begin to act like a king, even

if I tried. I wouldn't deceive anybody.

What are you smiling at?

It conjures up quite a picture, doesn't it?

The cathedral crowded to the doors...

...the organ booming,

I kneel to be crowned.

Then your friend Michael

steps forward and shouts:

"That isn't the king. That's an Englishman

named Rudolf Rassendyll!"

Oh, no, I'm sorry, gentlemen.

Then Michael sits on the throne tonight,

and the king lies in prison or his grave.

After all, it... It would only

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John L. Balderston

John L. Balderston (October 22, 1889, in Philadelphia – March 8, 1954, in Los Angeles) was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for his horror and fantasy scripts. He wrote the plays Berkley Square and Dracula. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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