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Prisoner of Zenda (The)
R2 - United Kingdom - Fabulous Films Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (28th November 2016). |
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The Film
 King Rudolf IV (Peter Sellers) is touring his domain of Ruritania in a hot air balloon when an errant champagne cork puts a hole in the balloon sending it to Earth in a hurry. Luckily for the King the balloon basket snags in a tree in small village and as he is addressing his subjects from the tree the basket breaks free and Rudolf IV is sent plummeting down a nearby well to his death. The rightful heir to the throne is Randolf V (Peter Sellers) who is a gambling, womanising scoundrel that prefers to live in London rather than his homeland. Randolf V's half Brother Duke Michael (Jeremy Kemp) wants the throne for himself and dispatches an assassin to murder Randolf V. Luckily for Randolf V just before the assassin can strike he is thwarted by a hansome cab driver called Syd Frewin (Peter Sellers). Frewin picks up Randolf V and his aides in his cab and when one of his aides sees the remarkable similarity between Frewin and Randolf V he devises a plan that will get Randolf V back to his home land of Ruritania unharmed. The plan is to use Frewin as a decoy whilst Randolf V is smuggled back into the country undetected. The plans works but back in the Royal Palace Randolf V is abducted by Duke Michael's men and imprisoned on the eve of his coronation. A second plan is now hatched in that Frewin will stand in for Randolf V during the coronation until Randolf V can be freed and return to his rightful place on the throne of Ruritania. Anthony Hope's book 'The Prisoner of Zenda' has been adapted for the screen (big and small) many many times, with the most notable adaptations being released in 1937 and again in 1952 (starring Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr). This 1979 version takes a much different tack to what has gone before with the emphasis heavily on comedy. The script is by well known comedy writers Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, both of whom collaborated in some of the most popular television comedy programmes of the 1960's and 1970's including Porridge and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads. Peter Sellers stars, in three roles, in the first of a three picture deal he signed with producer Walther Mirisch, and according to the rumours was an absolute nightmare on set (and not for the first time). It was also rumoured that in an on-the-record interview with journalist Roderick Mann he advised the public not to go and see the film. This so outraged producer Mirisch that Mirisch cancelled the contract to produce to more films starring Sellers. In many respects Sellers was actually right to tell people to avoid 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. Considering the film was released in 1979 (a mere two years after the release of Star Wars) the film is, for all intents and purposes at least fifteen years too late. By the time 'The Prisoner of Zenda' was released audiences taste were a lot more sophisticated and had no real taste for this sort of knock around, physical comedy. And here in lies the real problem of the film, it's not sure what sort of film it wants to be. There are elements of seriousness within, as well as the aforementioned comedy (most of which falls flat) as well as a romantic aspect but none of it really gels. It does appear that quite a bit of money was spent on the production with some large and expansive sets and an absolutely huge cast. There is also a sumptuous soundtrack composed by Henry Mancini (who has previously composed the musical score for The Pink Panther, Moon River and Breakfast at Tiffany's) but the ultimate failing of the film is the lack lustre script. There is no violence or sexual scenes in the movie and it's exactly the kind of film you would find buried on BBC 2 on a Sunday afternoon whilst a major sporting event was being played out on another channel. Despite all this it's still a whimsical and occasionally engaging romp that would be hard pushed to offend anyone and may provide entertainment for those that prefer there films to be sans CGI, swear words, and naughty bits being flashed all over the screen. A film that might have proved more popular had it been released in the early 1960's but it was badly dated on the day of it's release and it has not improved with age.
Video
Fabulous Films present their DVD of The Prisoner of Zenda in it's original anamorphic ratio of 1.85:1 Sadly no restoration has taken place and consequently the film looks very soft and colours very drab and muted. The first reel suffers from excessive grain which settles down in time. Overall however, the picture quality is very disappointing but watchable.
Audio
The only audio option is the English Dolby Digital Dual Mono soundtrack. It's perfectly acceptable, if a little flat, and dialogue is generally clear throughout. Sadly, no subtitles of any kind have been provided.
Extras
Stills Gallery (1:55) - This is a slide show and running just under two minutes, features stills taken from the film. The images do not fill the screen (there are generally about two thirds of the screen) and are, quite frankly, rather pointless.
Overall
With a terrific cast, a pair of great script writers and a huge budget this should have been a sumptuous treat but instead it's rather a mess. It's difficult to pin down exactly where it fails but I think because it never decides whether it wants to be a comedy, a romance or an action film it fails to be any of those things. Peter Sellers is on reasonable form and thankfully this was not to be his swan song before passing away in 1980. As the character of Syd Frewin he finds the ability to demonstrate the pathos of the common man. The other two characters are almost throw away comedy turns which do not work. Not a complete disaster but it's pretty close.
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