Conference bookie::movies

32.0. "Villon goes Hollywood: Vagabond King, If I Were King..." by DSSDEV::RUST () Thu Feb 11 1993 14:16

    [Written last December, and retrieved from the usenet archives because
    I wanted to compare-and-contrast it with "If I Were King"...]
    
    The programming of movies on TV during holiday seasons is sometimes
    quite amusing. This week alone I was vastly entertained to spot
    "Psycho" embedded amidst the round-the-clock displays of "It's a
    Wonderful Life" [the ending to which I cheerfully sniffled at today,
    for the 127th time this season ;-)]. But there are a few films popping
    up here and there that I hadn't seen - or even heard of - before, and
    some of _those_ have turned out to be worth watching.
    
    As to whether this one is among that august company, well, it depends;
    if you're in the mood for a Really Silly But Colorful Grossly-
    Fictionalized Historical Drama with American Musical Overtones, this
    might be your cup of tea! 
    
    It features Francois Villon (bad-boy poet and professional rogue - and,
    in this movie, played by an opera singer who sounded Italian to me) as
    a sort of anti-matter Joan of Arc, who saves France for Louis XI just
    as she saved it for Charles VII. There's lots of duelling and
    swaggering and singing and intrigue-made-obvious, but somehow none of
    it did more than mildly amuse me. In fact, for me, the high point of
    the movie was an opening scene in which Jack Lord, as a young palace
    guard, speaks movingly to the king of the power Villon's words have to
    sway the people... Believe me, it's a very touching scene. ;-)
    
    -b

    Back when this was originally posted, someone mentioned an earlier
    (and, blessedly, non-musical) version of the story, called "If I Were
    King". This one starred Ronald Coleman as Villon and Basil Rathbone as
    Louis, and was scripted by Preston Sturges - and, this week, it showed
    up on AMC.
    
    And - it was good! Not great, mind you - some overly-stagey acting, the
    occasional too-long melodramatic pause, etc., and a story that leaves a
    wee bit to be desired - but it looks splendid. Coleman's Villon starts
    out believably grungy and disreputable, then cleans up remarkably well
    (and gets to recite more of Villon's poetry than the guy in "Vagabond
    King" did); and his verbal duels with Rathbone's Louis XI are
    delightful. (I think the announcer mentioned that Rathbone got his
    _only_ academy award nomination for this performance; in any event, for
    someone who usually plays the strapping, villainous swordsman in
    costume dramas, he did a fine job as the aged king, cackling and
    sneering as he plotted.)
    
    Recommended,
    -b

FWIW, there's also a silent about Louis XI and Villon, with John (?) Barrymore
as Villon and Conrad Veidt as Louis. I've never seen it, but it was made by
Universal in the very late 1920's, and belongs to the same stable as the Tod
Browning/Lon Chaney Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Man who Laughs (directed by
Paul Leni, also with Conrad Veidt). Both of these are visually stunning and
(provided you watch a good print) far more coherent as narratives than talkies
were for many years after. So The Beloved Rogue should be a good bet as well.

Helen