The Vagabond King

The Vagabond King (1930)

Paramount Pictures presents the 100% Technicolor All-Talking, All-Singing Musical Romance!

In medieval France, poet-rogue Francois Villon, sentenced to hang by King Louis XI for writing derogatory verses about him, is offered a temporary reprieve. His hanging will be postponed for 24 hours, and in that time he must defeat the invading Burgundians and win the love of the beautiful Katherine.

Date of release
1930-02-17
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (9)
Runtime
1h 44m
Genres
Music, Romance
Director
Ludwig Berger

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Vagabond King
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

The Vagabond King is a 1930 American pre-Code musical operetta film photographed entirely in two-color Technicolor. The plot of the film was based on the 1925 operetta of the same name, which was based on the 1901 play If I Were King by Justin Huntly McCarthy. The play told the story of the real-life renegade French poet 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 for Best Art Direction.

Production

Dennis King recreated his original London and Broadway stage role as Villon in this film.

Dennis King and costar Jeanette MacDonald 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.

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

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