Tonight's Movie: If I Were King (1938) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The delightful IF I WERE KING (1938) has just been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

This adventure, set in France during the reign of King Louis XI (Basil Rathbone), has a strong screenplay by the great Preston Sturges, based on a play by Justin Huntly McCarthy. Sturges deftly mixes humor with action and poignance as well, and the film was well directed by Frank Lloyd.

The great Ronald Colman plays Francois Villon, a ne'er-do-well poet and thief who happens to expose a traitor to the king. The king rewards Francois by making him Grand Constable in charge of the city of Paris.

Francois manages to help his friends in his new role, with the unexpected result that the former rebel ruffians are then happy to shout "Long live the king!" Francois is later told by the king to find a way to repel the Burgundians invading the city, or the fickle king will hang him.

Meanwhile, lovely Katherine DeVaucelles (Frances Dee), lady-in-waiting to the Queen (Heather Thatcher), is romanced by Francois. Huguette (Ellen Drew), one of Francois's poor friends, loves him too.

Colman is as wonderful as might be expected, whether he's wooing the ladies, trading witty barbs with the king, or reciting poetry in that wonderful voice. He almost plays a dual role in the film: First he's the scruffy scrounger who breaks into the king's storehouse looking for food; then as Grand Constable, a supposed member of the nobility, he's cleaned up and elegant. In all cases he sounds like Ronald Colman, which needless to say adds tremendously to any movie.

For me, though, the special delight of the film is Frances Dee, who is not only exquisitely lovely but nervy as she deals with the temperamental king. She is no meek damsel in distress!

Lloyd had directed Dee and her husband Joel McCrea in the previous year's WELLS FARGO (1937), and he draws a performance from her here which is entirely different, suffused with saucy good humor. She's a lady, but quite willing not to be one where Francois is concerned! Her shocked yet also secretly amused and delighted response when Francois woos her with poetry outside church is just one bright moment in a delightful performance.

Ellen Drew had only been in films for a couple of years at this point, but she's moving as the feisty, devoted Huguette. It's fun to note that she would later work with Dee's husband, Joel McCrea, in both REACHING FOR THE SUN (1941) and the marvelous STARS IN MY CROWN (1950).

Rathbone will surprise most viewers in this; when he first came onscreen I actually rewound after a minute to assure myself it was actually him! He looks and sounds...different. At times his mannerisms edge toward being annoying, but overall it's an interesting performance, and his battles of wits with Francois are very good. Rathbone, in fact, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film, losing to Walter Brennan for KENTUCKY (1938).

The cast also features Cecil B. DeMille regular Henry Wilcoxon as the King's captain of the guard, plus Stanley Ridges, Sidney Toler, Ralph Forbes, Bruce Lester, C.V. France, Walter Kingsford, Bruce Lester, Montagu Love, William Farnum, and Alma Lloyd, daughter of the director.

IF I WERE KING runs 101 minutes. It was filmed in black and white by Theodor Sparkuhl. The musical score by Richard Hageman was nominated for an Oscar; he would win the next year for STAGECOACH (1939).

The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Sound Recording.

For such a good film, with multiple Academy Award nominations, IF I WERE KING seems to have flown relatively under the radar among classic film fans, though it has been shown on Turner Classic Movies and was previously released on DVD. This is a film deserving of discovery by a wider audience; indeed, between the Sturges writing credit and the film's overall quality I think it would be a real crowd pleaser at a TCM Classic Film Festival.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray is from a brand-new 2K master. It is not without flaws, including some occasional lines and softness -- the latter particularly noticeable during a lengthy Colman-Dee meeting late in the film -- but on the whole it is a strong presentation and entirely watchable. Colman sounds just as great as one would expect thanks to the solid soundtrack.

Disc extras include the trailer; a gallery of five additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber; and a commentary track by Julie Kirgo.

I've enjoyed Kirgo's commentary tracks on other films, including the Twilight Time release of BABY BOOM (1987), and it's great to see her contributing to Kino Lorber discs in recent months. She also did a commentary for Kino Lorber's release of SO PROUDLY WE HAIL! (1943) last year.

IF I WERE KING is recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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