Tasteful 30s epic costume drama specialist Frank Lloyd (Mutiny on the Bounty, Berkeley Square) offers up another well detailed work in If I were King. Based on historical characters Francois Villon and King Louis XI of France, it may not stick to historical fact but does offer some rousing action as well as some pithy dialogue courtesy of Preston Sturges.
Poet and rapscallion Villon (Ronald Colman) robs the king's (Basil Rathbone) store but is captured in the process. Instead of torture on the wrack the king makes him the replacement for the constable he killed. When the Bourguns threaten the city of Paris, Villon rallies the rabble to defend it while cowardly generals favor capitulation. In between saving France, Villon takes time out to fall for a court beauty (Frances Dee) but a bargain with the king may prevent its fruition.
Colman's mellifluous voice reciting poetry, seducing women and making stirring speeches is worth the entry fee alone but Basel Rathbone, at first unrecognizable, equals him as a sadistically giddy king with a wild imagination. A solid costume drama with highly entertaining performances from Colman and Rathbone.
Poet and rapscallion Villon (Ronald Colman) robs the king's (Basil Rathbone) store but is captured in the process. Instead of torture on the wrack the king makes him the replacement for the constable he killed. When the Bourguns threaten the city of Paris, Villon rallies the rabble to defend it while cowardly generals favor capitulation. In between saving France, Villon takes time out to fall for a court beauty (Frances Dee) but a bargain with the king may prevent its fruition.
Colman's mellifluous voice reciting poetry, seducing women and making stirring speeches is worth the entry fee alone but Basel Rathbone, at first unrecognizable, equals him as a sadistically giddy king with a wild imagination. A solid costume drama with highly entertaining performances from Colman and Rathbone.