King's Rhapsody

'King's Rhapsody" is a musical play and drama that paired Errol Flynn and Anna Neagle for the second time. Their first film, "Let's Make Up" (originally, "Lilacs in Spring") of 1954 was a moderate success. It had a good plot and screenplay to support it, with roles that suited the leads for their ages and appearances at the time. But, the same can't be said about this film. "Rhapsody" is supposed to be based on a successful stage musical of the same title, by Ivor Novello. I don't know if the screenplay of this film follows the play well or not, but the story comes across as a dull jumble of what seemed liked a good idea for a plot. It bombed at the box office, and Herbert Wilcox didn't make the another four films that had been planned for his wife, Neaggle, and Flynn.

One suspects that the script had something to do with that, and it is all too obvious that the cast had a great deal to do with it - especially the two leads. There is no chemistry whatsoever between Neagle's Marta Kariloss and Flynn's Richard, heir to the throne of the mythical kingdom of Laurentia. Both seem quite wooden in their roles, except for Neagle's musical parts. Flynn is especially wooden and almost emotionless.

Flynn was just 46 years old when this film came out, yet he looked like a haggard man in his late 50s or even early 60s. Many leading men of Hollywood aged moderately so that with touches of makeup they could still play handsome, young middle-aged roles. An excellent example is Cary Grant - at age 60, in "That Touch of Mink" with Doris Day. Grant looks like a man of 40 who's just starting to get the slight touch of white on the front side edges of his full head of hair. While Cary Grant had also been married a few times, his lifestyle was not wild and flamboyant as was Flynn's. Heavy drinking, partying, drugs and notorious sex exploits had caught up Flynn. Four years after this, Flynn would die of a heart attack - at age 50.

At the time of this movie, Flynn was married to the second female lead, Patrice Wymore. It is principally her performance as Princess Cristiane and that of Martita Hunt as Queen Mother that save this film from being a total dud.

Here are the better lines from this movie.

Richard, "Oh, no, don't tell me the old goat's dead?" Queen Mother, "Richard, I cannot allow you to call your late father old."

Queen Mother, "Richard, you were born to be king. Time has come to face your responsibility."

King Peter, "I, uh, already signed your marriage contract." Princess Christiane, "Father, do you mean you signed my marriage contract?"

Lombardo, The Prime Minister, "I have already made my humble suggestions to his royal highness, but he was not very polite." Queen Mother, "He called you...?" Lombardo, "Yes, your majesty." Queen Moher, "It's that beard of yours, Lombardo."

Queen Mother, "Why must you be so bitter?" Richard, "Bitter? I haven't got a bitter bone in my body."

Queen Mother, "Richard, for over a thousand years, the new heir to the throne has been shown to the people from the balcony of the palace - by his father." Richard, "Hmm! My father missed a great chance - he could have dropped me."

Queen Mother, "If you don't abdicate, you will be murdered." Richard, "Heh, mothers, kings are never murdered. We're always assassinated."

Errol Flynn in an operetta? Yes please! Errol Flynn singing? Apparently, not in this one. You only have one chance to hear that, in the cute variety show Thank Your Lucky Stars. In this one, all the singing and dancing are done by Anna Neagle and Patrice Wymore.

As quick as I am to recommend all of Errol Flynn's movies, (because him in a lousy movie is better than nothing) I'm not going to recommend you watch this one. If you didn't like seeing him playing a no-account drunkard in The Sun Also Rises, you're really not going to like seeing him in this movie. There are a few scenes where his character is drunk, and he's so convincing, I had to wonder whether or not such a state was actually written in the script or if it had to be adopted to suite him. Also, since Patrice's character is supposed to have loved Errol from afar for years, and she carefully looks after him, it adds another layer of sadness. In real life, Patrice and Errol were married, and she put her career on hold to look after him towards the end of his life.

If you do want to watch it, here's a quick summary of the plot: Queen Mother Martita Hunt informs her playboy son that his father has died and he's going to be coronated King soon. He must return to his own country and drop his mistress, Anna Neagle, he's been with for years. While he enters into an arranged marriage for the sake of his kingdom (with Patrice) he continually pines away for Anna. Since Patrice has loved him for years, there's a whole bunch of unrequited love in the story. This isn't a light operetta, but instead one that's quite sad with every main character battling heartbreak.

This was the second of the Herbert Wilcox features Flynn did with Wilcox's wife, Dame Anna Neagle, in the wake of the William tell disaster. He needed a paycheck and got two of them. As with virtually all of Flynn's perpetually dismissed 1950's films, it is an 'A' level film with a good cast and production values. The problem is, it's also very old-fashioned, a 'Ruritanian romance" complete with some unmemorable songs sung in an operatic fashion, (Maria Callas had nothing to worry about here.) The best musical number, a dream sequence involving Wymore, seems to have been inspired by Oklahoma's "Out of MY Dreams", which is far better.

The film features not only Wilcox's wife but also Flynn's Patrice Wymore, not long before their marriage came apart. Errol plays the crown prince of 'Laurentia' who has never gotten along with his parents or their ministers and has been living in Monte Carlo with Nagle, "the woman he loves". Flynn's Prince Richard is a combination of England's Edward VIII, Austria's Crown Prince Rudolph, (of Mayerling fame) and Egypt's King Farouk, whom Flynn new well. It's also the first film playing a character who drinks a lot. In some scenes he's kind of like the silly character he portrayed in his TV appearances of the time, (see What's My Line, the Steve Allen Show and others). Wymore once said of Flynn: "I found generally that when he was at his lowest ebb or most frightened, he would appear to be at his gayest. I had to know him quite some time before I was able to recognize his low ebbs". Prince, then King Richard has a similar trait: he gets silly when being informed that the King is dead and he must come back to assume that role and when he meets the bride that has been arranged for him. But he can also be quite serious, fall legitimate in love and hate and also be idealistic to battle his father's ministers, (and his mother) to make reforms in the Kingdom.

Unfortunately he loses that political battle and is forced to abdicate when those ministers foment a popular movement against him based on his previous misbehavior as a playboy prince. Neagle plays his long-time love who decides she ahs to give him up so he can attend his responsibilities are King, husband and father. Wymore is the arranged bride who comes to love him, (but was moving in the other direction in real life). This was the second time Flynn had witnessed the coronation of a child king in a film: the first was 1937's 'The Prince and the Pauper'.

It's not all that bad a film and would be better without the musical numbers. Flynn's mercurial performance is the best thing in it. Unlike the first Wilcox film, it was not successful the box office. Flynn's career was slipping but he was still a star and a comeback was just around the corner.

The first part of the film is of sustained perfection and interest and adorably beautiful in every detail, especially the costumes, the colours, the music and the dances, culminating in the ballet sequence before the wedding. After the wedding the interest drops, as the king gets more melancholy and both his ladies seem to lose interest in him, while he actually never wanted to be king in the first place. Nevertheless, this is a much underrated masterpiece of beauty, unique in its kind, while the film that comes closest to it is Ernst Lubitsch's last film "That Lady in Ermine" seven years earlier. Ivor Novello's music is endearingly delightful all the way and furnishes the film with a golden frame. I couldn't help loving it, in spite of its flaws, its slow tempo, its tedious moments and Errol Flynn's rather disinterested acting, although he is excellent as usual. Both the ladies are adorale, but I think the prize goes to Martita Hunt as the Queen Mother, who always makes a lasting impression.

Having just watched King's Rhapsody and having waited many years to find a copy, I am sorry to say that it just doesn't work. Flynn is just not there! He seems to have wandered in and just been allowed to continue the role without any real sense of comedy or emotion. The rest of the cast work hard but the fact that the King has no singing voice whatsoever spoils the whole idea of the operetta and an ever convenient band of street singers doing his work just doesn't cut the ice.

I feel certain that Mr Novello would NOT have been happy with his movie despite it's lush and colourful settings. I scored it as a three out of ten and that is because they tried to make a big Hollywood musical and failed miserably. It could be done again but I doubt that it would favour any popularity in today's world and more's the pity.