This is a very familiar but fun tale of a man whose exact double is the kidnapped prince of a fictional European country. This exact double is asked to fill in for the man who is to be crowned king--and gets caught up in all sorts of intrigue and romance.
If you watch this film, you will no doubt enjoy it. After all, the story is wonderful and the actors are quite good. The problem for me is that although this is a lovely film, it's also completely unnecessary, as the 1937 film version was nearly perfect. Ronald Colman was perfect in the lead and his supporting cast (including C. Aubrey Smith, David Niven, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. And Raymond Massey) were perfectly cast as well. Here, Stewart Granger and James Mason (among others) were good but at no point did they make me prefer this over the classic 1937 version. My advice is to just see this earlier film. Other than being in black & white, it's better in every way.
If you watch this film, you will no doubt enjoy it. After all, the story is wonderful and the actors are quite good. The problem for me is that although this is a lovely film, it's also completely unnecessary, as the 1937 film version was nearly perfect. Ronald Colman was perfect in the lead and his supporting cast (including C. Aubrey Smith, David Niven, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. And Raymond Massey) were perfectly cast as well. Here, Stewart Granger and James Mason (among others) were good but at no point did they make me prefer this over the classic 1937 version. My advice is to just see this earlier film. Other than being in black & white, it's better in every way.