The Prisoner of Zenda

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings is doing the "Winter of Fairbanks Jr." on her blog and I said I'd join her if I'd get the chance to watch the movies.
For today she chose "The Prisoner of Zenda". I had heard of the movie so often, but can't remember ever having watched any of the different versions. That doesn't mean much, though, because I'm sure I don't remember every movie from my childhood and this kind of movie would have been very much our TV food from that time.

Public domain via Wikipedia

Lookalikes are a popular trope in books and movies. That can be a "doppelgänger" (also spelled "doppelganger") from the spirit world - from the German "Doppelgänger" which translates as "double goer" - or just someone who looks very similar to another person. From my experience, it is often used in the first way in English, but in German it's more often just a lookalike.
Being very versatile, the doppelgänger trope is used in horror, thrillers, comedies, adventure, and more.

Anthony Hope's "The Prisoner of Zenda" is an adventure novel from 1894 and has inspired more than one adventure film, but also parodies.
This post is about the 1937 version which is regarded to be the best one and also the one with Douglas Fairbanks jr. in it. Actually, he wanted to play the lead, but lost the double role to Ronald Colman, instead he was offered the part of a villain which didn't get as much screen time, but looks as if it had been more fun to play.

So - what's the movie about? That's a bit confusing.

Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll is in the small kingdom of Ruritania (according to the book, in the movie they just show on a map that is somewhere between Vienna and Bucharest) on a fishing trip. Upon entering the country, he's already noticing strange reactions from the people around him, but only when he happens to encounter the soon-to-be king Rudolph in the woods, accompanied by his two of his men, Colonel Sapt and Fritz von Tarlenheim, he understands as he's the spitting image of the king, except for his beard. They discover that they are very distant cousins and Rudolph invites Rassendyll for a night of drinking.

Unfortunately Rudolph's half-brother Michael, who is after the throne, has drugged him to make sure he won't be in time for the coronation, and Sapt persuades Rassendyll to take his place to prevent Michael from becoming King.
Sapt and Fritz take the sleeping Rudolph to a hiding place and instruct Rassendyll for the coronation.
When they come back for Rudolph afterwards, however, they find he has been abducted by Michael's henchman Rupert of Hentzau (played by Fairbanks jr.) who seeks every opportunity to use the situation for his own gain. That means Rassendyll will have to keep on impersonating Rudolph.

Things have become even more complicated by his meeting Princess Flavia at the coronation who is supposed to marry Rudolph. She had never taken a liking to him before, but now she falls in love with Rassendyll - believing it is the King who has changed since she met him last years ago - and he with her.

Michael's mistress Antoinette, who knows that he would have to marry Flavia if he were to take the throne which obviously doesn't make her happy, decides to help the King in exchange for Michael's life and makes a plan to let his men into the castle of Zenda where Rudolph has been taken by now.
However, Michael surprises Rupert trying to seduce Antoinette, they start fighting and Rupert stabs him. Antoinette breaks down over Michael's body and her words alert Rupert about Rassendyll being in the castle.
Rupert confronts him and offers to kill Rudolph, Sapt, and Fritz, so only he and Rassendyll will hold the secret and can rule together, but Rassendyll declines. They end up in a sword fight as is expected from a swashbuckler film, but Rassendyll manages to lower the drawbridge for the King's men which forces Rupert to escape with a daring jump into the moat.

Source: Kevin's Movie Corner

Is there a happy ending? No, sorry. The King takes his rightful place back and Rassendyll returns to England - without Flavia who decides to stay behind with a broken heart, but her eyes on her duty to the country.

I know that many people love this movie, I have read rave reviews with full marks for performance, story, and action.
Now I don't see it on my list of regulars. It was fun, I liked it, but I didn't love it.
Maybe Ronald Colman was a bit too old for my idea of the swashbuckler. Although there is nothing to complain about his performance of both characters, I could see him more as the King than Rassendyll.
However, I might just have been captured by the two younger men, Rupert and Fritz (Fairbanks jr. and Niven), and am therefore a bit unfair to him.
What is it about a lock of hair hanging over the forehead of a good-looking young villain (Rupert) or an impish little smile on the lips (Fritz)? I felt like 13 and pining all over again for a second, and without those two, I might actually have felt a bit bored as there was a lot more talking than action. Maybe I would have liked the movie better if it had been a little shorter and, hm, snappier?

You know, I might just have to watch it again after all sometime, just to see if I will still be feeling the same way about it then.
And forgive me if this post seems a bit rushed, it had been a spontaneous decision to do this one.