If I Were King

Moviecut—If I Were King

source: If I Were King

If anyone else were king of the Paramount lot in the late 1930s besides Cecil B. DeMille, it would probably be director Frank Lloyd whose career stretched back to silent films. He was an expert at helming historical dramas, especially biographical ones that included an array of acting styles and presented rousing yet thoughtful spectacles for audiences to enjoy. In this particular history tale, Ronald Colman is cast as Francois Villon, a French poet whose liberal ideas put him at odds with King Louis XI (Basil Rathbone). The monarchy seeks to retain its hold on the common people of Paris in the Late Middle Ages. But Villon, whose behavior and many encounters with law enforcement, works to subvert the influence of such government. Colman's character is a bit of a rascal, causing trouble in the streets. He is also prone to rob the king's storehouses. It's not that he fully disrespects Louis XI, he just doesn't have much use for most of the king's policies which discriminate against the poor and downtrodden. After admitting to some of his recent misdeeds, Villon is taken to church to pray by a priest who has looked after him since he was six years old. Inside the church, his mind wanders and so do his eyes-- he is now focusing on a spiritual lady-in-waiting (Frances Dee). She is kneeling near the altar, deep into her own prayer. He follows her outside, anxious to learn more about who she is and possibly interact with her. He realizes as she steps into a fancy horse drawn carriage, that she must be associated with the royal court. Still, this doesn't put him off and he manages to slip a poem to her before she leaves. And so begins their unusual romance. Colman seems to enjoy the more irreverent aspects of the unconventional character he is playing. His attempts at romancing Miss Dee benefit him almost immediately. For she provides him with an alibi when the police arrive near the church and accuse him of the robbery which he did commit. Colman handles these scenes tongue-in-cheek, since Villon is indeed guilty and hopes to get away with his various infractions. Villon is also someone who struggles with his feelings for those whose station in life is higher than his own. Another actor having a field day in this picture is Mr. Rathbone as a rather odd-looking, odd-sounding ruler. His King Louis XI wants the people of Paris to be more patriotic. The king soon crosses paths with Villon, whom he decides to install as a chief constable, mostly as a joke. The king has realized that all previous constables have failed in the position, and so he conducts an experiment to see if the post may be more successfully held by a man who is known as a cutthroat, beggar and thief. After all, why not have such a person work for the court, instead of against it..? Part of what makes the film so memorable is the way it places polar opposites in scenes, then advances a plot point by having one character see a situation through another character's perspective. Villon the poet eventually develops a begrudging respect for the crown, understanding what it means to build an army, motivate soldiers and rally the public to a unified cause. By learning these lessons, he ends up maturing. After reaching this increased maturity, he is ready for a genuine relationship with the woman that his heart most desires. He can now live out the rest of his life happily, whether he's a king or a nobody.

If I Were King is a somewhat familiar story about an unlikely man who gets put into a high position, and he ends up rocking the boat for the other elites. I think the key to making the main character likable is entirely in the casting of Ronald Colman. I don't typically like this type of *-sure rogue who has an exaggerated careless attitude. Yet, I found myself liking François because Ronald Colman makes him so much fun. There is also something fun in the idea of royalty being shown up by a commoner. I generally found the plot to be a little by-the-numbers and predictable for my taste, but this is an older film, so it might have set some of those precedents for all I know. I thought it was an interesting choice for Basil Rathbone to play Louis XI as such a weaselly person. He makes for a strange character as he shifts from friend to enemy as the film goes on. I kind of wish Frances Dee was more of a unique or distinct character so I could get more invested in the romance that drives many of the main character's actions. The ending of If I Were King is where it shines the most. I like the way the people unite and get things done that the royals won't bother to deal with themselves. Even though I was losing some interest in the middle of the film, I was hooked again by the end and found it to be somewhat redeeming for a film that I would have called sub-par otherwise.

Copyright 11 November 1938 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 28 September 1938. U.S. release: 11 November 1938. Australian release: 11 February 1939. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 11 February 1939 (ran 5½ weeks). 100 minutes. NOTES: Basil Rathbone was nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for Best Supporting Actor, losing to Walter Brennan in Kentucky. Also nominated for Best Sets (Adventures of Robin Hood); Best Original Music Score (Adventures of Robin Hood); and Best Sound Recording (The Cowboy and the Lady). COMMENT: Usually the trouble with historical spectacles is that they tend to be lavish but dull. This one is lavish all right but, aside from some tediously obligatory romantic escapades between Colman and Dee - which somewhat pale by comparison with the earlier more vital ones with Ellen Drew - it has a fascinating, witty and literate script by Preston Sturges. The character of the king has been drawn with sharp, acerbic strokes, enabling Basil Rathbone a right royal time with his witty, eccentric dialogue. Here is one of Rathbone's few character roles in which he has successfully buried his usual mannerisms - and accent. He is almost unrecognizable both in speech and figure - yet the change in his usual stance and delivery is highly effective. Colman is his usual self, perhaps a trifle more animated than usual. Contributions from the large support cast, particularly Walter Kingsford, John Ridgely, Sidney Toler and Heather Thatcher are more than a match for the script. As usual, the director excels with the staging of crowd scenes and the execution of scenes of pageantry and action - the arrival of the Burgundian envoy at court, the attempted flight from the palace, the rout of the invaders. So far as its wit, its delight in eccentricity, the historical self-consciousness of its characters and amusing tables-are-turned situations, the script is modeled along Shavian lines. Alas, it is less than Shaw in its conventional romantic notion of its poet/thief hero, in its wearisomely prolonged trial in masquerade (a stale situation which is played as if it were both amusing and new), and especially in its routinely dull romance. Still, the film is elaborately dressed, the visuals have a splendid drive, thanks to Lloyd's deft pacing and astute camerawork. Photography, art direction, costumes, special effects, music, film editing, sound recording are marvelous.

Basil Rathbone is phenomenal as king Louis XI, the shrewd old king who tricked his way among countless treasons among his closest kin and allies and became the supreme survivor among French kings, and he is tilted here against the rascal poet Francois Villon, the thief and rogue number one in French history, and they have made a marvellous play and party of it. The Burgundians are besieging Paris, and the king's generals are reluctant to fight and advise him to surrender, while Francois Villon challenges him and succeeds in rousing the rabble of Paris against the Burgundians, but there are many complicationsa on the way, one of them being the fair Frances Dee, who anyone could fall in love with and who Francois Villon least of all could resist. It's a great rogue's tale fitting perfectly as another of many Villon legends, and it is well written at that, doing probably both Villon and the king more justice than they ever could dream of. The script is intelligent and witty throughout and as flamboyant as any of Errol Flynn's flashing adventures, but here even the plot and the story is a great success. Ronald Colman always beats everyone, but here he actually has worthy counterpart for a challenge in Basil Rathbone. Ronald Colman is always the same, no problem ever in recognizing him, but you have never seen Basil Rathbone in a great jinx part like this.

I found this movie by happy accident when looking for another title at Video Vault. What a fortunate find, an excellent Middle Ages romp made by multi-Oscar master filmmaker Frank Lloyd. Dealing with a fictional encounter between Louis XI of France and a rouge Villain, these two roles are wonderfully played by Ronald Colman and Basil Rathbone --- possibly the best roles these two great actors ever did. With Paris surrounded by the army of the Dukes of Burgundy and slowly being starved into submission, the king's plans are falling short of success --- with battle-shy generals and no back-up plan. Into this mess comes the rogue Villain with a different approach...... There isn't a dull minute in this fine production and the reproduction of French architecture, costumes, et cetera, is beyond perfect. It isn't easy to see this movie; it's a Paramount Picture released on VHS long ago by Universal/MCA. That means you can find it eventually, either at a specialty video store or by tenacious search on eBay.

This is my least favorite of all the Ronald Colman talkies, and I consider myself a huge fan of Colman. But, at least through the early parts of the film, this is not the Colman most of us want to see -- handsome, suave, sophisticated. Instead, until later in the film we have an unshaven and shabby figure...though of course, the voice shines through. So I will take "A Tale Of Two Cities", "The Prisoner Of Zenda", "Lost Horizon", and especially "Random Harvest" (and several others of Colman's films) over this one. Yet, I must admit that, perhaps, this is as good acting Colman does in any of his films...because early on it is so against character. Here, Colman plays François Villon -- a real (and popular) 15th-century French poet who disappeared in 1463 after banishment...and at the end of this film, the character is banished from Paris. Google describes him as a "ne'er-do-well who was involved in criminal behavior and got into numerous scrapes with authorities, Villon wrote about some of these experiences in his poems". No one claims this film is an accurate biopic of Villon, but it loosely follows a tale about him and King Louis XI. It's my impression that Colman had a great deal of fun with his depiction of the rapscallion. I'm not usually a fan of Basil Rathbone, although I admit he was a good heavy. I really disliked him here...or was it the way the director had him play the king? If you don't know it's Rathbone, it won't occur to you! Other supporting character include Frances Dee as a lady-in-waiting whom Villon falls in love with, Ellen Drew as Villon's sort-of girlfriend (and wench), and C. V. France as Father Villon. Henry Wilcoxon is interesting as Captain of the Watch -- a type of role he played later in "The Ten Commandments". All these supporting actors do their jobs in this film, but none are particularly outstanding. The multi-untalented Sidney Toler is also here in a small part as the owner of a tavern (not a mistake...I actually meant multi-untalented). The production is a handsome one, with quite a few relatively elaborate sets. As the film proceeded, I got more into it, and more and more into Colman's performance. It's definitely worth watching, and although far from my favorite Colman picture, it's on my DVD shelf.

"If I Were King" has a lot going for it. Based upon a 1901 play by Justin Huntly McCarthy that was subsequently transformed into a successful operetta by Rudolph Friml, the screenplay for this version was written by Preston Sturges. That means it includes a significant amount of Sturges' unique brand of sophisticated and sly wit. This was early in Sturges' career, before he emerged as a successful combination writer and director. Sturges' later films included such classics as "The Great McGinty", "Sullivan's Travels", "The Lady Eve", "The Palm Beach Story", "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and "Unfaithfully Yours". "If I Were King" also included superior performances by two great actors at the top of their game. Ronald Coleman was the perfect choice to play the swashbuckling poet-rogue, Francois Villon. For the benefit of those not familiar with French literature, Francois Villon really was a 15th Century French poet, he really did graduate from the Sorbonne and he really was a petty criminal who seems to have been constantly in trouble with the law. Born in Paris in 1431, Villon is described as having "disappeared from view" in 1463. To this day nobody really knows for sure what became of him, although the presumption is that he came to no good end. However, there is absolutely no evidence that he ever did anything even remotely heroic. Ronald Coleman possessed more than enough swashbuckling charm to carry the role, as well as the mellifluous voice to make the poetry work as few other actors, even in his day, could have done. Usually known for playing either villains or Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone, was given a rare opportunity to demonstrate his acting virtuosity by playing an aging King Louis IX; the clever, conniving and cynical French monarch who has become known to history as "Louis the Spider". At one point in the movie Preston Sturges has the King self-deprecatingly remark that, "The people of France already have one 'Saint Louis', another would only confuse them".

Was there ever a greater villain than Basil Rathbone, who gave us such great performances as the abusive Mr. Murdstone in "David Copperfield" (1935), the deadly Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" (1936), evil Sir Guy in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938), Baron von Frankenstein in "Son of Frankenstein" (1939) and the evil Captain Esteban in "The Mark of Zorro" (1940). From 1939 to 1946 he focused on Sherlock Holmes films with only an occasional second film in any given year. He made the transition early to TV where he was a popular guest star, and continued to do films (e.g., "We're No Angels", "The Last Hurrah"). Yet in all the excellent work he did over the decades, you've never seen him like he appears in this film. You may not even recognize him despite his distinct looks and voice. The rest of the film is pretty ordinary, but fans of Basil Rathbone need to see it.