Adapted by Hugh Ford and directed by Ford and Edwin S. Hackett, Beatrice Beckley, David Torrence, Fraser Coalter, William R. The Prisoner of Zenda (1913)-Starring James K.Sothern and the next year on the West End in London, starring Evelyn Millard. It opened as a play in New York in 1895 starring E. The Prisoner of Zenda (1895–96), was co-written by Hope and Edward Rose.The dashingly villainous Rupert of Hentzau has been played by such matinee idols as Ramón Novarro (1922), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Probably the best-known version is the 1937 Hollywood movie. The novel has been adapted many times, mainly for film but also stage, musical, operetta, radio, and television. The King is rescued and is restored to his throne, but the lovers, in duty bound, must part forever. He determines to rescue the king and leads an attempt to enter the castle of Zenda. Rassendyll falls in love with Princess Flavia, the King's betrothed, but cannot tell her the truth. There are complications, plots, and counter-plots, among them the schemes of Michael's mistress, Antoinette de Mauban, and those of his dashing but villainous henchman Count Rupert of Hentzau. The unconscious king is abducted and imprisoned in a castle in the small town of Zenda. In a desperate attempt not to give Michael the excuse to claim the throne, Colonel Sapt and Fritz von Tarlenheim, attendants of the King, persuade his identical cousin Rudolf Rassendyll, an English visitor, to impersonate the King at the coronation. When they defeat Michael, the young prince Rudolph becomes the king of Ruritania and takes his father's place at last.On the eve of the coronation of King Rudolf of Ruritania, his brother, Prince Michael, has him drugged. Antoinette and Rudolph come up with a plan to surprise Michael and his minions at Zenda and thus rescue the prince. When Michael learns of this, he kidnaps the prince and takes him away to the Castle Zenda, where he intends to murder him. The new Rudolph proposes to accept the crown himself, so that Prince Rudolph will step up to the throne as soon as he comes out from his state of unconsciousness. Pretending that his intentions were to congratulate Rudolph stepping up to the throne, Michael drugs his brother causing him to enter a deep coma, only a few days prior to his coronation. Rudolph, who still trusts his brother, accepts an invitation from Michael, who offers him a drink. Princess Antoinette brings the new Rudolph to Ruritania, hoping that he may help her and Rudolph to be safe from Michael.
Following one of Rudolph's plans to ensure his own safety, Princess Antoinette travels to London, where she meets another young man, by the name of Rudolph, who looks remarkably and exactly like the king-to-be of Ruritania. When she confronts him, Michael sends Antoinette away and tells her that if he can't count on her loyalty, she is no longer his wife.Īntoinette runs to Rudolph and informs him of Michael's plots thought at first Rudolph refuses to believe her, Antoinette insists. Michael's wife, Princess Antoinette, is shocked after hearing her beloved husband speak ill of his dead father, and even more after hearing of his plot to murder Rudolph. He recalls that his father had mentioned that he, Michael, should be king, if and when his brother died thus, he begins to devise a plan to cause Rudolph's death. Following his father's death, "Black Michael", as he is known to some of the villagers, gathers his minions and expresses his anger at his father's decision, which he believes to be foolish. Prince Rudolph is shocked with his father's decision and Prince Michael is outraged and angry. The king believes that his youngest son Rudolph is more fit to be king than Michael, and so chooses him for the throne. On his deathbed, the King of Ruritania announces to his twin sons, Prince Rudolph and Prince Michael, that he must choose one of them to be the future king of Ruritania following their father's death.