The Royal Bed

The Royal Bed (1931)

Year's Sparkling Comedy Sensation

The hapless king of a small European nation must put up with a domineering queen, a daughter who wants to elope with her boyfriend, a peasant revolt and a scheming general.

Date of release
1931-01-15
TMDB
4.3 / 10 (12)
Runtime
1h 15m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Lowell Sherman

Casting

Interesting facts

The Royal Bed is a 1931 American pre-Code satirical comedy film produced by William LeBaron and distributed through RKO. The film was directed by and starred Lowell Sherman, along with Mary Astor and Anthony Bushell. The screenplay was adapted by J. Walter Ruben based on the 1928 play by Robert E. Sherwood titled The Queen's Husband. It would be one of a handful of RKO pictures which was produced in both English and French language versions.

Production

In September 1930, it was announced that RKO would be producing The Queen's Husband, a successful Broadway play by Robert E. Sherwood (although The Film Daily incorrectly attributed the play to Noël Coward), and disclosed that Sherman would direct and star in the project. William LeBaron, head of production for RKO Radio Pictures, had purchased the rights to Sherwood's play during his trip to New York in early September.

In early October, Nance O'Neil's attachment in the role of the Queen was reported, with Mary Astor's involvement as the Princess announced the week later. Robert Warwick was loaned from Fox, who pulled him out of the cast of Once a Sinner prior to production, to play the role of Northrup on October 15.

In mid-October, it was reported that United Artists would handle the distribution of the French version of the film, in French-speaking countries. Using an all-French cast, that version was scheduled for release on November 30. The complete cast for the French version, being shot at the RKO lot in Hollywood, was announced at the beginning of November.

On October 21 the final cast was announced, as well as J. Walter Ruben as the writer in charge of the screenplay adaptation, and Arthur Roberts signed on as the editor. The film was already in production by this time at RKO's studio in Hollywood.

In November 1930 it trade paper accounts announced that the name of the film was being changed from The Queen's Husband to The Royal Bed.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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