The Vagabond King (1930 film)
Encyclopedia
The Vagabond King is a 1930 American musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

 operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 photographed entirely in two-color Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

. The plot of the film was based on the 1925 operetta of the same name
The Vagabond King
The Vagabond King is a 1925 operetta by Rudolf Friml in four acts, with a book and lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, based upon Justin Huntly McCarthy's 1901 romantic play If I Were King...

, which was based on the 1901 play If I Were King by Justin Huntly McCarthy. The play told the story of a renegade French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 named François Villon. The music of the film was based on a 1925 operetta, also based on the play If I Were King by McCarthy. The operetta is also titled The Vagabond King with music by Rudolph Friml and lyrics by Brian Hooker and W.H. Post. The film was nominated for an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 for Best Art Direction.

Plot

The story takes place in medieval France. King Louis XI (O. P. Heggie), hoping to enlist the French peasants in his upcoming battle against the Burgundians, appoints François Villon (Dennis King
Dennis King
Dennis King was an English actor and singer.Born in Coventry as Dennis Pratt, King had a stage career in both drama and musicals. He emigrated to the USA in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. He appeared in two musical films and played non-singing roles in two other...

) king of France for one day. Despite being successful against the Burgundians, François Villon is sentenced to hang by King Louis XI for writing derogatory verses about him...

Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...

 is Katherine, the high-born girl whom Villon pines for, while Huguette, a tavern wench (Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge...

) gives up her life to save her beloved poet.

Cast

  • Dennis King
    Dennis King
    Dennis King was an English actor and singer.Born in Coventry as Dennis Pratt, King had a stage career in both drama and musicals. He emigrated to the USA in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. He appeared in two musical films and played non-singing roles in two other...

     as François Villon
  • Jeanette MacDonald
    Jeanette MacDonald
    Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...

     as Katherine
  • O. P. Heggie as King Louis XI
  • Lillian Roth
    Lillian Roth
    Lillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge...

     as Huguette
  • Warner Oland
    Warner Oland
    Warner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,...

     as Thibault
  • Arthur Stone as Oliver the barber
  • Tom Ricketts
    Tom Ricketts
    Thomas "Tom" Ricketts was an English American silent film actor, director and screenwriter who was involved in almost 350 motion pictures....

     as The Astrologer (as Thomas Ricketts)
  • Lawford Davidson
    Lawford Davidson
    -Selected filmography:* The Garden of Resurrection * The Lure of Crooning Water * The Starlit Garden * The Passionate Friends * The Great Well * The Patent Leather Kid...

     as Tristan
  • Christian J. Frank
    Christian J. Frank
    Christian J. Frank , was an American actor. He appeared in 65 films between 1920 and 1948.He was born in New York, New York, USA and died in Los Angeles, California.-External links:...

     as Executioner

Songs

  • "Song of the Vagabonds"
  • "King Louis"
  • "Mary, Queen of Heaven"
  • "Some Day
    Some Day (1925 song)
    "Some Day" is a song, with music by Rudolf Friml and words by Brian Hooker, originally published in 1925. It was included in Friml's operetta The Vagabond King, sung by Caroline Thomas in the role of Katherine de Vaucelles....

    "
  • "If I Were King"
  • "What France Needs"
  • "Only a Rose"
  • "Huguette Waltz"
  • "Love Me Tonight"
  • "Nocturne"


Six songs from the operetta were retained for the film, while four were specially written for it by different composers.

Production

  • Dennis King
    Dennis King
    Dennis King was an English actor and singer.Born in Coventry as Dennis Pratt, King had a stage career in both drama and musicals. He emigrated to the USA in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. He appeared in two musical films and played non-singing roles in two other...

     recreated his original London and Broadway stage role as Villon in this film.
  • Dennis King and costar Jeanette MacDonald
    Jeanette MacDonald
    Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...

     did not get along particularly well, and matters came to a head when they filmed the song "Only a Rose". As MacDonald was singing a solo passage, the egotistical King managed to edge his profile into the shot; forever afterward, the diva scornfully referred to the number as "Only a Nose".
  • Composer Rudolf Friml had a stipulation in his contract that forbade the use of newly composed songs in this production. Paramount attempted to change the film's title to If I Were King and also had some new songs composed for the film. When Friml was made aware of the new songs, he sued the studio. As a result Paramount changed the title back to The Vagabond King and paid Friml $50,000 to allow for the use of non-original songs.

Preservation

For many years, this film was seen only in black-and-white prints made for television release in the 1950s. At one time even the black-and-white prints were considered irretrievably lost. One nitrate Technicolor print did survive at the UCLA Film and Television Archive
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...

, and it was restored and preserved in 1990.
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