Review by planktonrules

As you sit and watch "The Royal Bed", it's very obvious that it was originally a play. It has a talky, stagy style and it seems, at times, like actors pause to wait for the audience to react--when there is no audience. It's also a sad waste of some talents, as Lowell Sherman (a very much unknown and under-appreciated actor today) and Mary Astor were clearly better than this material.

When the film begins, the overbearing queen of a fictional country has announced that she's arranged for a marriage between her daughter and the prince of some other fictional nation. Princess Anne (Astor) is distraught--as she doesn't know this man and she's been secretly in love with a commoner (a rich one, nevertheless). Well, the snobby queen will have nothing to do with this love match, but the king (Sherman) vows to work behind the scene so that Anne will be happy. Unfortunately, a revolution breaks out and the king's promises seem unlikely to be fulfilled. Anne vows to kill herself if she cannot marry her beloved Freddie!

The first 75% of this film was a real snoozer. The stagy dialog and lack of action certainly contributed to this. Fortunately, the film picked up considerably and Sherman certainly was in his element once the film took off. The one who did not come off so well was Astor, as her character just seemed selfish and immature. At one point, she and her father were talking about the impact of her marrying a commoner might have on the revolution and she replied 'let them throw their bombs!'-- wow, what a competent and selfless woman!

Overall, if you can get through the boring first part of the film, the last portion does deliver.