King's Rhapsody

'King's Rhapsody" is a musical play and drama that paired Errol Flynn and Anna Neagle for the second time. Their first film, "Let's Make Up" (originally, "Lilacs in Spring") of 1954 was a moderate success. It had a good plot and screenplay to support it, with roles that suited the leads for their ages and appearances at the time. But, the same can't be said about this film. "Rhapsody" is supposed to be based on a successful stage musical of the same title, by Ivor Novello. I don't know if the screenplay of this film follows the play well or not, but the story comes across as a dull jumble of what seemed liked a good idea for a plot. It bombed at the box office, and Herbert Wilcox didn't make the another four films that had been planned for his wife, Neaggle, and Flynn.

One suspects that the script had something to do with that, and it is all too obvious that the cast had a great deal to do with it - especially the two leads. There is no chemistry whatsoever between Neagle's Marta Kariloss and Flynn's Richard, heir to the throne of the mythical kingdom of Laurentia. Both seem quite wooden in their roles, except for Neagle's musical parts. Flynn is especially wooden and almost emotionless.

Flynn was just 46 years old when this film came out, yet he looked like a haggard man in his late 50s or even early 60s. Many leading men of Hollywood aged moderately so that with touches of makeup they could still play handsome, young middle-aged roles. An excellent example is Cary Grant - at age 60, in "That Touch of Mink" with Doris Day. Grant looks like a man of 40 who's just starting to get the slight touch of white on the front side edges of his full head of hair. While Cary Grant had also been married a few times, his lifestyle was not wild and flamboyant as was Flynn's. Heavy drinking, partying, drugs and notorious sex exploits had caught up Flynn. Four years after this, Flynn would die of a heart attack - at age 50.

At the time of this movie, Flynn was married to the second female lead, Patrice Wymore. It is principally her performance as Princess Cristiane and that of Martita Hunt as Queen Mother that save this film from being a total dud.

Here are the better lines from this movie.

Richard, "Oh, no, don't tell me the old goat's dead?" Queen Mother, "Richard, I cannot allow you to call your late father old."

Queen Mother, "Richard, you were born to be king. Time has come to face your responsibility."

King Peter, "I, uh, already signed your marriage contract." Princess Christiane, "Father, do you mean you signed my marriage contract?"

Lombardo, The Prime Minister, "I have already made my humble suggestions to his royal highness, but he was not very polite." Queen Mother, "He called you...?" Lombardo, "Yes, your majesty." Queen Moher, "It's that beard of yours, Lombardo."

Queen Mother, "Why must you be so bitter?" Richard, "Bitter? I haven't got a bitter bone in my body."

Queen Mother, "Richard, for over a thousand years, the new heir to the throne has been shown to the people from the balcony of the palace - by his father." Richard, "Hmm! My father missed a great chance - he could have dropped me."

Queen Mother, "If you don't abdicate, you will be murdered." Richard, "Heh, mothers, kings are never murdered. We're always assassinated."

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.

I think I make a fair assumption in saying that one needs to be passionate about the music of Ivor Novello to fully appreciate "King's Rhapsody" on film.I am just that and happy to take his works in any shape or form.In 1949 when Novello's last 'operetta' was first presented on the London stage,it was an immediate success,despite it's quaint,old fashioned theme.Sadly,by the time it reached the screen in the mid-1950's,there was only a limited audience for it outside England. Errol Flynn may have retained a certain box- office appeal at this time but here,his ineffable charm is clearly a thing of the past.He looks dissipated,to say the least and seems to be sleepwalking his way through most of the proceedings. Now,let's move on to the ladies.Anna Neagle is as enchanting as ever and imbues her role with grace and charm.She sings two songs,nicely but there is no dancing for her this time.That is left to the other female lead,Patrice Wymore who dances very well and sings sweetly (the dream scene is a bit odd though). It's not easy to involve oneself in the drama but never mind,there is always Novello's glorious music;the mainstay of the piece. I was delighted to find this film on DVD and the quality is quite satisfactory.

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.

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.