Prisoner of Zenda Film Review

One of his final films, this seems an odd choice for Peter Sellers though he is able to indulge in his love of playing different characters in the same film - in this case three of them. Based on the 1894 novel by Anthony Hope, it is one of many film versions - a number in the silent era, the most famous one starring Ronald Colman in 1937, the peculiar 1952 version starring Stewart Granger that is a shot for shot copy of the Colman film and perhaps even stranger there have been a number of Bollywood versions. But as far as I know, this is the only comic version of the story. Director Richard Quine (in his final film) takes a different tack though than the audience probably expected. It swerves back and forth between comedy and straight-out old-fashioned adventure. It can't seem to make up its mind and Sellers of course wasn't happy with Quine's directing. By this time, Sellers was certifiable and unwell. Only Being There and The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu were left for him.

To a large extent it does follow the basic outline of the novel with a few changes. In the opening scene the King (played by Sellers) falls out of a balloon to his death down a well. The heir Prince Rudolf (Sellers) is a wastrel and woman chaser. He is in London playing roulette and trying to be with his mistress (Elke Sommer) who is married to a Count (Gregory Sierra - Barney Miller). The Count tries to kill Rudolf throughout the film - sort of a tribute to the Pink Panther films - with bad outcomes for him.

Rudolf's half-brother Michael (Jeremy Kemp) sends an assassin to kill Rudolf - but Rudolf's two advisors (the wonderful Lionel Jeffries being one) find a hansom cab driver who is the Prince's spitting image. A cockney. They convince him to come drive in Ruritania - but plan to make him the target of assassins. Like the book and the other films, the hansom driver has to take Rudolf's place when Michael kidnaps him - be coronated and fall in love with the Princess (Lynne Frederick - Seller's wife at the time. If nothing else, Seller had good taste in women). The final few minutes is all action that could have fit into the earlier films and unlike any of them or the book, it has a happy ending. Not a lot of laughs here and Seller's looks tired and bored - but still somewhat pleasant watching. A decent cast but not comparable to the 1937 version.