Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

JohnHowardReid If you can manage to sit through the tedious intro with Peter Sellers as the aged king, the movie itself is not half as bad as we might expect. In fact, some of the sequences are genuinely amusing. And whilst it's true that Sellers is far too indulgently treated by the writer, the cameraman and the director, it must be admitted that the film has been produced with rare pomp and splendor on actual Austrian locations. The scenery is great and a lot of money has been spent on both location and studio filming. A fair amount of the action sequences are played fairly straight, and some of them even build up a modicum of suspense. True, the Elke Sommer sub-plot is often a bit of a bore, but the special effects are so outstanding, they thoroughly eclipse anything Whitlock has done before. Director Quine makes the most of his budget and puts the production money where it belongs, namely up there on the screen!

Robert J. Maxwell No normal man should miss seeing Lynne Frederick as Flavia in this version, at least no normal man with a taste for neoteny. This young woman has the huge eyes and slightly woeful features of a ringtail lemur from Madagascar. No kidding. When she's surprised, her eyes open so wide that the white surround the irises. I tried it in the mirror and I can't do it. She looks every bit the princess. Not an elegant princess like Deborah Kerr but the kind of princess who, through the ruse of deceptive innocence, might deliberately invite your attentions and then swallow you up alive.Peter Sellers does what he can to turn his two parts into comic turns. As the King, he substitutes "w" for "r". As the dragooned London cabbie he looks worried, suspicious, indignant, and terribly puzzled. The script doesn't give him an opportunity to do much else. He could do a lot with a little when the opportunity was afforded him -- hilarious as Dr. Pratt in "The Wrong Box", constantly stoned, who writes his signature, "William Pratt, MD" and then reads it aloud as "William Prattmd." No such luck here. His best line comes when he's staring through a stereoscope, giggling, and says, "Oh, she got no knickers on." Most of the cast are stalwarts about ten years past their prime, but still good at what they do. There has rarely been a better villain, especially with a German accent, than the pebbly-faced Jeremy Kemp. John Laurie, the foul-tempered farmer in Hitchock's "39 Steps," is the Archbishop who knocks on wood for good luck, then turns around and stutters, "Uh, come in." Graham Stark is Erik, the flat-faced, dubious palace butler, who practically owns this kind of role. Lionel Jeffries staggers through the part of General Sapt, trying to hold Ruritania together. As Rupert of Hentzau, Stuart Wilson is flat and completely lacking in the wicked charm of, say, Douglad Fairbanks, Jr. As Sapt's orderly, Simon Williams creates a hole on the screen whenever he appears.The gags may once have been titillating but we've evolved beyond most of them. There are a couple of gay gags that look moth eaten by now. The director is Richard Quine, who knows his craft but brings nothing special to the enterprise. It looks as if the script were followed verbatim and the script is weak. It lacks wit. Blake Edwards would have probably handled it more deftly and allowed more spontaneous input, as he did with "The Pink Panther" and a number of other comedies that might not have looked promising on paper. The musical score follows suit, apparently thinking the pratfalls are funnier than they are. Maybe none of the gags are as thoughtful as the name of the local gunsmith -- Walther Luger.Of course, Anthony Hope Hawkins wrote the novel in chipped stone sometime during the Neolithic and the story has been around so long that it deserves to be parodied. There is a successful example too. You can find it near the end of "The Great Race" with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon.

Jonathon Dabell Anthony Hope's swashbuckling 19th Century novel has been filmed numerous times, perhaps the most successful occasion being the 1937 Ronald Colman version. It's a fabulous story – one of my all-time favourite novels, in fact – and really lends itself well to movie adaptations. Alas, this 1979 remake is a pretty weak affair which is played primarily as a spoof, thereby giving star Peter Sellars the chance to indulge in some risqué double entendres and slapstick swashbuckling. Various rumours abound that Sellars was difficult on set, sabotaging the entire production with his outlandish behaviour. Despite this he still has some priceless scenes along the way, but between the infrequent highlights it emerges a leaden and largely ineffective film that does justice neither to its marvellous source material nor its amazing cast.Victorian cabbie Sidney Frewin (Peter Sellars) inadvertently saves the life of a soon-to-be-crowned European prince named Rudolph (Sellars again). Since there are many in Rudolph's home nation of Ruritania who plot to see the prince assassinated, Sidney is hoodwinked into travelling to Ruritania as a "decoy" target. Along the way, the real prince is kidnapped by the agents of Black Michael (Jeremy Kemp). Michael plans to seize the throne himself when the prince fails to turn up at his coronation…. but his plan is thwarted when the prince's loyal sidekicks Fritz (Simon Williams) and Sapt (Lionel Jeffries) persuade Sidney to attend the coronation posing as the prince. Reluctantly, Sidney carries out the charade but is unable to convince the prince's future wife, the gorgeous Princess Flavia (Lynne Frederick), that he is who he claims to be. Gradually, others begin to figure out the deception – including Black Michael himself – and Sidney's game of switched identity escalates into a desperate struggle to protect the throne and rescue the real prince.A few things about the film really jar with me. Firstly, as much as I like Sellars - and as funny as I find him in many of his comedy films - The Prisoner Of Zenda simply isn't the right choice of story for a spoof movie. Secondly, the book concludes with one of the most heartbreaking scenes ever written – a scene that would make for deeply moving cinema if handled in the right fashion – but this film completely neglects the original ending and opts for something unsuitably light and fluffy. Thirdly, the film is punctuated with some absurd slapstick violence that would fit better in a Road Runner cartoon – especially the ludicrous scenes featuring Gregory Sierra as a jealous Count trying to kill Sidney (a la Wile E. Coyote). There are a handful of compensations to be found – Sellars is enjoyable, especially in his "Sidney-scenes" (has anyone noticed how remarkably like Michael Caine he sounds from time to time?) Also, the film has a sprightly score by the dependable Henry Mancini, and some attractive sets and cinematography. It's just a shame that the occasional bright spots are far outweighed by the misfiring elements, making this version of The Prisoner Of Zenda perhaps the weakest of them all.

egleg_loombucket This is a very lavish looking, picturesque romp that should have been a sure fire hit. "Porridge" scriptwriters Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais were the men responsible for turning the classic Anthony Hope into a comedy, which shouldn't have been too difficult bearing in mind the ridiculous scenario linked to the main story. However, this scenario is all they went for, and any characterisation or satirical touches are abandoned and a lot of cartoonish setups such as Gregory Sierra's role and also other segments such as the explosive bowls game and the early scene in the restaurant replace any serious comedy. Therefore, in his dwindling health and sorrowful state, Sellers looks a bit out of place amongst the diving into the water routines and the jumping of a tall castle stints. It is very similar to his Fu Manchu experience two years later (when he also played two roles) in that he's still putting the work in but to little effect. The film is a reminder of his earlier years and really backfires as a poor man's Pink Panther. However, he still proves that he can act (which is a lot more than most actors these days) despite the poor material and backed by a host of regular artists such as Catherine Schell, Elke Sommer (both stars of Pink Pantherfs), Graham Stark, John Laurie, Jeremy Kemp (who had starred in Sellers' The Blockhouse in 1972) - it should have been better considering the quality of Sellers' other films at the time, but it does fall very flat.