Synopsis
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) is a David O. Selznick production and a classic Hollywood adventure you can watch online on iFILM. Director John Cromwell adapted Anthony Hope's 1894 novel, with Ronald Colman as Rudolph Rassendyll — an English tourist who happens to be the exact double of a king on the eve of his coronation.
The king is drugged before the ceremony. Rudolph steps in to take his place, or a scheming cousin seizes the throne. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. brings an almost cheerful menace to the villain Rupert of Hentzau; Raymond Massey plays the cold-blooded Michael. The longer Rudolph poses as king, the more Princess Flavia (Madeleine Carroll) warms to him — with no idea she isn't speaking to the real monarch. David Niven appears in support, and the real king is running out of time in a dungeon at Zenda.
The swordfight that closes the film was praised by critics at the time and held up as a model of screen fencing for years after. Watch The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) online on iFILM — one of the defining Ruritanian adventures in cinema history.
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