King's Rhapsody

The first part of the film is of sustained perfection and interest and adorably beautiful in every detail, especially the costumes, the colours, the music and the dances, culminating in the ballet sequence before the wedding. After the wedding the interest drops, as the king gets more melancholy and both his ladies seem to lose interest in him, while he actually never wanted to be king in the first place. Nevertheless, this is a much underrated masterpiece of beauty, unique in its kind, while the film that comes closest to it is Ernst Lubitsch's last film "That Lady in Ermine" seven years earlier. Ivor Novello's music is endearingly delightful all the way and furnishes the film with a golden frame. I couldn't help loving it, in spite of its flaws, its slow tempo, its tedious moments and Errol Flynn's rather disinterested acting, although he is excellent as usual. Both the ladies are adorale, but I think the prize goes to Martita Hunt as the Queen Mother, who always makes a lasting impression.

Ivor Novello's late stage success gets a sumptuous and reasonably faithful filming with this large Herbert Wilcox production, designed to showcase his muse, Anna Neagle. It's probably the last big British film operetta--miscast, and a muddled story, but there are all those pretty Novello melodies and some gorgeous wide-screen location filming, and a lot of haute couture flitting around on screen from Ms. Neagle and Patrice Wymore. They're both in love with Errol Flynn, who's a little old and dissipated to be playing the dashing young playboy prince about to be crowned king of the fictional nation of Laurentia. Neagle's his longtime mistress and Wymore the princess ordered to marry him, which she doesn't mind at all. It's annoying that Flynn is allowed to love two women simultaneously without penalty, and the talk is generally dull, and the supporting cast--Martita Hunt as Flynn's queen mum, Miles Malleson as a servant--not very exciting. The editing is atrocious, careening from dialog to irrelevant song to dream ballet and back again. Watching it is like watching the operetta genre age before your very eyes, but if you like this sort of thing, and I do, you'll have a good time. And even if you don't, you'll appreciate the Cinemascope vistas.

Errol Flynn in an operetta? Yes please! Errol Flynn singing? Apparently, not in this one. You only have one chance to hear that, in the cute variety show Thank Your Lucky Stars. In this one, all the singing and dancing are done by Anna Neagle and Patrice Wymore.

As quick as I am to recommend all of Errol Flynn's movies, (because him in a lousy movie is better than nothing) I'm not going to recommend you watch this one. If you didn't like seeing him playing a no-account drunkard in The Sun Also Rises, you're really not going to like seeing him in this movie. There are a few scenes where his character is drunk, and he's so convincing, I had to wonder whether or not such a state was actually written in the script or if it had to be adopted to suite him. Also, since Patrice's character is supposed to have loved Errol from afar for years, and she carefully looks after him, it adds another layer of sadness. In real life, Patrice and Errol were married, and she put her career on hold to look after him towards the end of his life.

If you do want to watch it, here's a quick summary of the plot: Queen Mother Martita Hunt informs her playboy son that his father has died and he's going to be coronated King soon. He must return to his own country and drop his mistress, Anna Neagle, he's been with for years. While he enters into an arranged marriage for the sake of his kingdom (with Patrice) he continually pines away for Anna. Since Patrice has loved him for years, there's a whole bunch of unrequited love in the story. This isn't a light operetta, but instead one that's quite sad with every main character battling heartbreak.

This is the first time I've seen or heard of this movie. I'm just tuned into the middle of the film. It's less of a drama and really more of a musical in a mildly romantic sense. The scenery is sumptuous with an atmosphere of high fashion, moreso since the setting involves royalty, i.e. Errol Flynn is to become king so it's lavish in every way. Anna Neagle sings well; I'd never heard her sing before (at least I hope it is her own voice). It is regrettable that Flynn only had a few more years left in his brief life, brief by our standards today. It's refreshing to see a film I haven't seen before. If you like pleasant songs, gentle romance and pageantry, this is one you ought to see when you can. It's almost like a European Broadway musical!

Having just watched King's Rhapsody and having waited many years to find a copy, I am sorry to say that it just doesn't work. Flynn is just not there! He seems to have wandered in and just been allowed to continue the role without any real sense of comedy or emotion. The rest of the cast work hard but the fact that the King has no singing voice whatsoever spoils the whole idea of the operetta and an ever convenient band of street singers doing his work just doesn't cut the ice.

I feel certain that Mr Novello would NOT have been happy with his movie despite it's lush and colourful settings. I scored it as a three out of ten and that is because they tried to make a big Hollywood musical and failed miserably. It could be done again but I doubt that it would favour any popularity in today's world and more's the pity.