1930 Directed by Ludwig Berger
The story takes place in medieval France. Poet-rogue Francois Villon, sentenced to hang by King Louis XI for writing derogatory verses about him, is offered a temporary reprieve. His hanging will be postponed for 24 hours, and in that time he must defeat the invading Burgundians and win the love of the beautiful Katherine.
Dennis King Jeanette MacDonald O. P. Heggie Lillian Roth Warner Oland Arthur Stone Tom Ricketts Lawford Davidson Christian J. Frank Elda Voelkel Dorothy Davis Thora Waverly Cecile Cameron Jean Douglas Eugenia Woodbury Rae Murray Blanche Thompson Frances Waverly Gloria Faythe Theresa Allen Sue Patterson William H. Taylor Iris Adrian Leon Beaumon Nelson McDowell
El rey vagabundo, Le Roi des vagabonds, 流浪国王
USA
USA
"Aye, sire: you will be pleased to learn how unpopular you are..."
I do not like musicals but I liked this. Each song had a lot of power to it. It's a little damp with in melodrama but this is definitely where Mankiewicz's campiness was most purposeful. Familiarizing myself with more of his screenplays has been a great venture.
The copy I could dig up is battered to hell, so much that it feels like it would be unfair to actually try to attach a star rating to it, but I was impressed enough by what I could make out - I'd certainly be excited to watch a restored print (ideally one with the two-tone Technicolor added back in) if one became readily available. It's pretty good for an early book musical in terms of letting the songs come up naturally through the sound mix, and director Ludwig Berger (augmented by some pick-ups directed by Ernst Lubitsch, we are told, and hence the reason I scrounged this up) has made a sensible choice to stage the music basically as…
This is a decent adaptation of the operetta, but it had the potential to be better. The primary problem is casting. Dennis King originated the leading role on Broadway before being given the chance to do it here. It shows in his hammy, self-conscious performance that he was a novice to film work. Not only is he annoyingly over-the-top compared to everyone else, but he has a classic actor's problem. Perhaps it's only because I am an actor, too, that I noticed it, but he doesn't know what to do with his hands. Hands always make an actor feel weird when they aren't in active use. King's solution is to oddly clasp them together, almost in a praying/pleading gesture anytime…
The Vagabond King (1930) is a very stage bound early musical of that grand theatrical tradition. I felt that worked for the movie, giving it almost a fairytale atmosphere. And the story was of what we associate with fairytales as a drunken vagabond becomes royalty. Dennis King gave movies a few tries without getting over very well, but here he's quite good. Especially when given the chance to sing. And sing with Jeanette MacDonald, already the screen songbird. But it got to be said, as in The Love Parade (1929), she got heavy competition from Lillian Roth in this film! Unfortunately tragedies put a stop to Roth's rather impressive short career. Also O.P. Heggie has got to be mentioned. A sly old king, masterly done. The Vagabond King (1930) was definitely good by 1930 standards, and as long as one's used to the challenges film making had in those transition years, this will be a good experience.
The version I saw definitely wasn't technicolor and was in fact so murky and dark that it cost me a fair bit of enjoyment, certainly too murky to give much evidence to the level of Lubitsch's involvement (which I'd guess given his role at paramount at the time and his experience of musicals and Jeanette MacDonald was largely consultational)
It's the same story as 'If I was King', indeed it's an adaptation of that play merged with an operetta version from the 20s that played on Broadway and the West End. Dennis King was the lead in that production and he has a decent set of pipes. The film also boasts a script by Herman Mankiewicz which is pretty good…
It's no secret that 1930 isn't exactly my favorite year ever, but this one showed some potential at least at a distance, it is after all directed (or at least co-directed) by Lubitsch and written by Mank and on top of that is supposed to be in 100% Technicolor (not true, at least the online prints are all in B&W as far as I can see). But alas, it turned out to be perfectly mediocre in every conceivable way. Also annoyingly theatrical.
Compared to most of the 1930 films I've watched, this one was stellar -- actual set pieces! Tolerable singing voices! Decent acting! Interesting story of a man who is set to be hung for making a derogatory song about the King!
Compared to films made any time after 1930, it's not that great...but I'd certainly pick it over any of the others I'd watched from that year.
Co directed by Ernst Lubitsch, it doesn't feel like Lubitsch at all. The songs are okay, but everything is so generic. The costume design is fine, but the story takes so much time and the 1h46m are boring. Besides, the quality wasn't really great If I may say so, that could be a high factor for my pleasure, not that I was expecting it 1080p full HD but the quality of the image and sound were awful.
