The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1952): adapted by Edward Rose, Wells Root, Noel Langley, and John Balderston from the novel by Anthony Hope; directed by Richard Thorpe; starring Stewart Granger (Rudolf Rassendyll/ King Rudolf V), Deborah Kerr (Princess Flavia), Louis Calhern (Col. Zapt), Jane Greer (Antoinette de Mauban), Lewis Stone (The Cardinal), Robert Douglas (Michael), and James Mason (Rupert):

Stewart Granger had quite a run of box-office hits in the early 1950's, most notably King Solomon's Mines, Scaramouche, and this film. He's an amiable presence, though once one realizes how much like Bruce Campbell he looks, things can get a bit distracted.

Here he's both the crown prince of fictional European country Ruritania and that crown prince's identical cousin. Yep, identical cousin. When rivals of the prince kidnap him on the eve of his coronation, the cousin must imitate the prince until the prince is found and rescued. OK!

Things remain light throughout, and the film clocks in at a totally reasonable 96 minutes. It's a bit slow to begin with, as pretty much all the sword-fighting and derring-do occurs in the last half-hour. Granger had quite a year for lengthy cinematic sword fights -- the superior Scaramouche was also released in 1952. 

The Prisoner of Zenda is a genial, Technicolour-bright costume drama with winning performances from Granger, Louis Calhern, and a particularly oily James Mason as the mastermind behind the kidnapping and attempted coup d'etat.  Deborah Keer sparkles as the love interest, Princess Flavia. Recommended.

Scaramouche (1952)

Scaramouche (1952): adapted by Ronald Millar, George Froeschel, Talbot Jennings, and Carey Wilson from the Rafael Sabatini novel; directed by George Sidney; starring Stewart Granger (Andre Moreau), Eleanor Parker (Lenore), Janet Leigh (Aline), Mel Ferrer (Marquis de Maynes), and Richard Anderson (Philippe): My favourite swashbuckler of the Technicolour era features several dazzling sword fights that influenced the lightsabre battles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in much the same way that the aerial assault in The Dambusters influenced the Death Star assault in Star Wars.

And boy, they're great duels, especially the lengthy final battle between our hero Andre Moreau and his nemesis the Marquis de Maynes. Stewart Granger is a witty, surprisingly light piece of beefcake as Moreau, who ends up hiding out in a commedia dell'arte troupe in pre-Revolutionary France as the titular character. Eleanor Parker, lovely and funny, is his actress love interest while Janet Leigh is his noblewoman crush. As Moreau's best friend, Oscar Goldman from The Six Million Dollar Man, has been murdered in a one-sided duel by the evil Establishment swordsman Marquis, Moreau must seek instruction in fencing while avoiding the government's search for him.

It's all frothy and colourful as Hell, with the sword-fight choreography allowed to play out in surprisingly long takes that often actually involve the actual actors. No quick-cutting, modern action movie gibberish for this film! Both Granger and Oscar Goldman seem to be about ten years too old for their parts, but then that was often the case in the 1940's and 1950's. In all, Scaramouche is genuinely rousing and fun. Highly recommended.

Light Entertainment

Born Yesterday, written by Garson Kanin and Albert Mannheimer, based on the play of the same name by Garson Kanin, directed by George Cukor, starring William Holden, Judy Holliday and Broderick Crawford (1950): Delightful, sarcastic, alternately cynical and hopeful about the American political process. Crawford plays a powerful businessman who moves to Washington with his mistress (played by Judy Holliday, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her role). He decides that Holliday needs some refining and polishing to fit into 'respectable' political society and hires down-on-his-luck journalist Holden to do the job.

But Holliday's character turns out to be a lot smarter than anyone expects, while Holden soon falls in love with her. Holliday, whose life was cut short in the 1960's by breast cancer, specialized in playing high-voiced ditzes, but in real life, she apparently had an IQ of 172 and managed to thwart the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities without being completely blacklisted or naming names (basically, she played dumb, and the politicians believed her). Badly remade with Melanie Griffith in the Holliday role in the early 1990's. Highly recommended.

Scaramouche, written by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel and Talbot Jenning, based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini, directed by George Sidney, starring Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh and Mel Ferrer (1952): Swashbuckling period piece set in France a few years prior to the French Revolution. Granger plays a (literal) bastard ne'er-do-well who gets pulled into fighting the aristocracy by the death of his friend at the blade of Ferrer's evil nobleman.

Granger seeks out the best fencing trainers in France so as to be able to duel the Marquis de Mains; the film climaxes with the longest sword duel in film history to that time, and it's a doozy that George Lucas ransacked for the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, in much the same way he lifted sections of the climactic action of Star Wars from The Dambusters. Charming and frothy; Janet Leigh plays the most American French noblewoman in film history -- it's something about her accent that does it. Highly recommended.