8:00 p.m. (ET)/5:00 p.m. (PT)
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1952)

It's impossible to look at swashbucklers without at least one version of The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), one of the all-time greats. Anthony Hope's novel is a minor classic and had been filmed three times in the silent era and once in a sound version in 1937. But for MGM's 1952 version the studio decided they could improve the 1937 version in small details with the unusual result that the 1952 film is nearly shot-for-shot identical to the 1937 version, decades before the similar exact remake of Psycho (1960). But this time Technicolor and improved fight scenes made all the difference. An English tourist (Stewart Granger) is vacationing in the Balkan country of Ruritania where he meets his distant relative and look-alike, the King Rudolf (naturally Granger as well). The king is soon to be crowned and married to Princess Flavia (Deborah Kerr) but nasty nobles led by Rupert (James Mason) have different ideas. They succeed in drugging the real king but the tourist impersonates him to keep the coronation active while he and the king's supporters try to prevent the conspiracy from taking over the country. The Prisoner of Zenda was Granger's follow up to Scaramouche (1952) (oddly enough also another version of a famous novel that had been a silent film). MGM didn't want to tamper with success so they followed the 1937 version so closely that they even re-used the same music. One result is that filming took much less time than the 1937 version, one month instead of six. It also certainly helped that director Richard Thorpe didn't believe in shooting and re-shooting; if the actor didn't stumble over the lines that was generally good enough for him. (Naturally he got the nickname "One-Shot" Thorpe.) Still, the cast and fight instructors put more effort into the swordfights this time with sterling results and also unfortunately a wound that required stitches to Granger's mouth. The star of the 1922 version, Lewis Stone, appears here as the Cardinal. Novelist Hope wrote a sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda that followed the further adventures of the characters. It was filmed twice during the silent era but not since then. Director: Richard Thorpe
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Screenplay: John L. Balderston, Noel Langley, based on the novel by Anthony Hope
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Editor: George Boemler
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters
Music: Conrad Salinger (adapted from Alfred Newman 1937 score)
Cast: Stewart Granger (King Rudolph V), Deborah Kerr (Princess Flavia), Louis Calhern (Col. Zapt), Jane Greer (Antoinette de Mauban), Lewis Stone (The Cardinal).
C-101m. Close captioning. Descriptive video.

By Lang Thompson

10:00 p.m. (ET)/7:00 p.m. (PT)
MASQUERADE (1965)

When the James Bond movie craze was at its height in the mid-sixties, it wasn't unusual to find dozens of Ian Fleming rip-offs and wannabe 007s at the local cinema. Most of these were inferior secret agent yarns but there were a few exceptions and one of these was Masquerade (1965), a tongue-in-cheek espionage thriller starring Cliff Robertson and Jack Hawkins. As David Fraser, a daring soldier-of-fortune, Robertson is required to avoid assassins' bullets, cross a deep gorge on a decrepit trestle bridge, and face other life-threatening assignments, all in the service of the British government. To be exact, he's working for an old friend, Colonel Drexel (Hawkins), a former British war hero, who plans to use Fraser in a kidnapping plot involving a young Arabian prince and a lucrative Middle Eastern oil contract.

Masquerade avoids the camp theatrics and outlandish gadgetry of the James Bond films and concentrates instead on the unpredictable nature of the secret agent business with its constantly shifting alliances and secret agendas. Other pluses include a witty script (based on the novel Castle Minerva by Victor Canning), exotic locations, and a distinguished international cast including the alluring Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, and Charles Gray (the narrator of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975). Director Basil Dearden, who first attracted rave reviews for his intelligent treatment of controversial topics (race relations in Sapphire (1959), homosexuality in Victim, 1961), keeps things moving along at a brisk clip in Masquerade with occasional detours into the bizarre: a sequence where Robertson is lured into a circus ring and beaten by crackling clowns is particularly memorable. But the real scene-stealer in this spy caper is Jack Hawkins who remains unflappable in even the most extreme situations, tossing off dry one-liners with a world-weary delivery. Unfortunately, Hawkins would lose his voice to throat cancer the following year but he continued working in films until his death in 1973 (His speaking parts were dubbed by other actors).

Producer: Michael Relph
Director: Basil Dearden
Screenplay: William Goldman, Michael Relph
Production Design: Donald M. Ashton
Cinematography: Otto Heller
Costume Design: Beatrice Dawson
Film Editing: John D. Guthridge
Original Music: Philip Green
Principal Cast: Cliff Robertson (David Frazer), Jack Hawkins (Col. Drexel), Marisa Mell (Sophie), Christopher Witty (Prince Jamil), Bill Fraser (Dunwoody).
By Jeff Stafford

12:00 a.m. (ET)/9:00 p.m. (PT)
THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1935)

Released in the US on November 1, 1935, The Three Musketeers arrived amidst high expectations for RKO's production of the celebrated Alexandre Dumas novel. However, everything about the film, from its direction to its acting to its music, was met with critical derision and audience indifference. Part of the negative critical reaction was due to unfair comparisons to an earlier version of the swashbuckling tale. The Three Musketeers had previously been filmed silently in 1921 with Douglas Fairbanks as D'Artagnan, and directed by master filmmaker Fred Niblo. The silent production was done so well that it stood as a measuring stick for subsequent adaptations of the Dumas story for years, The Three Musketeers being no exception.

Originally The Three Musketeers was to have been directed by John Ford with frequent Ford collaborator Dudley Nichols providing the script. Instead, Ford spent 1935 making and releasing The Whole Town's Talking, Steamboat 'Round the Bend, and The Informer, the latter for which both Nichols and Ford won Academy Awards. Francis Lederer was intended for the starring role, but once Ford and Nichols were out, Walter Abel was brought in directly from the Broadway stage.

Unfortunately, it was Walter Abel who received the lion's share of criticism in film reviews. Variety noted in its November 6, 1935 review that Abel was "unsuited in nearly every respect for the role of D'Artagnan." In its November 1, 1935 review, the New York Times unfavorably compared Abel's performance with Douglas Fairbanks' D'Artagnan in 1921. Still, this reviewer and others took note of Abel's exuberance and his on-screen chemistry with the Three Musketeers - Paul Lukas, Moroni Olsen, and Onslow Stevens: "Walter Abel's D'Artagnan is in the best romantic tradition and his three allies are played with likable audacityÉ" Moroni Olsen later showed up in a small role as the bailiff in director Allan Dwan's version of The Three Musketeers (1939).

Olsen was not the only player who was closely associated with other Alexandre Dumas movie adaptations. Including his villainous turn in The Three Musketeers, Nigel de Brulier also played the same character in the Douglas Fairbanks version of The Three Musketeers (1921). He also appeared in The Iron Mask (1929, also starring Fairbanks), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1939). At the time of the 1921 release of the Fairbanks romp, many critics noted that de Brulier almost steals the show from the lead hero. Apparently, he was so good that Rowland V. Lee and company had to have him back for The Three Musketeers in 1935. Oddly enough, Lee did not cast de Brulier in Cardinal Richelieu (1935), a more historically accurate biopic about the real Cardinal Richelieu (George Arliss) who held power over King Louis XIII of France.

Producer: Cliff Reid
Director: Rowland V. Lee
Screenplay: Dudley Nichols
Production Design: Van Nest Polglase
Cinematography: J. Peverell Marley
Costume Design: Walter Plunkett
Film Editing: George Hively
Original Music: Max Steiner
Principal Cast: Walter Abel (D'Artagnan), Paul Lukas (Athos), Margot Grahame (Milady de Winter), Heather Angel (Constance), Ian Keith (de Rochefort)
BW-97m.

By Stephanie Thames

2:00 a.m. (ET)/11:00 p.m. (PT)
KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE (1953)

For their entrance into the rectangular CinemaScope arena, MGM shrewdly bowed to their British arm for Knights of the Round Table, a rousing 1953 re-telling of the Camelot saga. Pulling out all the stops, MGM created a Technicolor extravaganza that was intended to surpass The Robe (1953), Twentieth-Century-Fox's religious spectacle and the first CinemaScope production, a film which was still breaking world box office records when Knights went into production. Re-teaming the chemistry-friendly Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner (ideal as Lancelot and Guinevere), who had formerly co-starred in The Bribe (1949), Ivanhoe (1952) and Ride, Vaquero! (1953), and, who had once had a brief albeit volcanic affair, was a calculated move that had exhibitors bidding for play dates sight unseen. Indeed, Taylor had an unusually chameleon-like career - a true testament to his 25-year reign as a movie star. The typical all-American boy in the 1930s, he re-invented himself as a dark seductive villain in the post-War 1940s. Playing a Roman-turned-Christian in 1951's Quo Vadis? transformed the veteran leading man into a sort of Mr. Ancient World - going on to unlikely but nonetheless successful turns in the aforementioned Ivanhoe, 1955's Quentin Durward and this mammoth medieval extravaganza.

Knights of the Round Table was filmed at the Boreham Wood backlot of MGM's British studios and used the same castle built for the Ivanhoe set. Despite authentic locales, the production was a troubled one. The cold, drizzly weather hampered shooting and a strike of extras forced director Richard Thorpe to travel to Ireland to shoot a particular battle scene. But the problem with extras continued as the Irish recruits refused to wear the heavy armor required for the scene unless they were paid a bonus. When the British Association of Motion Picture Producers heard about the Irish extras, they refused to allow the film's producers to use them at all. As a solution, Thorpe approached the Eire government, which allowed the director to use their soldiers as extras in the battle scene. The Guinness heiress also allowed the use of her estate for some location shooting. Second unit man Yakima Canutt was entrusted with directing 100 trained stunt riders and the caterers had their work cut out for them with a total of 3000 production people to feed every day. It was not unusual for their shopping list to include requests for 975 pork chops, 300 pounds of potatoes, or 400 gallons of coffee and tea.

Among the cast members, Ava Gardner was probably the least pleased with her role in Knights of the Round Table. She later commented, "What was I doing in that costume epic, for heaven's sake?" Not only did the actress dislike the dreary weather but, as a self-confessed night-owl, she hated getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning to put on complicated costumes and heavy makeup. She was also bored by the lack of nightlife in the small English villages where they were staying and matters weren't helped when her husband at the time, Frank Sinatra, would show up on the set. They were going through a difficult time in their marriage and often engaged in terrible marital spats. But, there was one consolation for Gardner. She was now a bona fide star at MGM and, with a new contract, was able to command $17,300 a week for 50 weeks a year with a two picture minimum.

Director: Richard Thorpe
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Screenplay: Talbot Jennings, Jan Lustig, Noel Langley, based on the novel Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory
Cinematography: Stephen Dade, F.A. Young
Editor: Frank Clarke
Art Direction: Alfred Junge, Hans Peters
Music: Miklos Rozsa
Cast: Robert Taylor (Sir Lancelot), Ava Gardner (Queen Guinevere), Mel Ferrer (King Arthur), Anne Crawford (Morgan Le Fay), Stanley Baker (Modred), Felix Aylmer (Merlin)
C-116m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.

By Mel Neuhaus & Jeff Stafford

4:00 a.m. (ET)/1:00 a.m. (PT)
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (1937)

The Prince and the Pauper (1937) is a classic adventure yarn, from the storybook opening sequence to scenes of 16th century palace life, royal intrigue and, of course, dashing swordplay between Errol Flynn and every miscreant who crosses his path. Based on Mark Twain's story of a youthful prince who exchanges identities with a pauper boy, The Prince and the Pauper stars Montagu Love (The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938) as King Henry VIII, Claude Rains (Casablanca, 1942) as the treacherous Earl of Hertford, twins Bobby and Billy Mauch as Prince Edward and pauper look-alike Tom Canty, and Errol Flynn as Miles Hendon, a soldier of fortune who befriends the prince and restores him to his rightful throne. Directed by Warner Brothers veteran William Keighley, The Prince and the Pauper was released in 1937, coinciding neatly with the fanfare surrounding the coronation of King George VI of England. Because Flynn's price was considered too high by the studio, the dashing swordplay and roguish charm of Miles Hendon was almost portrayed by Patric Knowles (The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1936) or George Brent (Dark Victory, 1939). Both were secretly tested for the role. Only Flynn had the verve the producers required, and the job was his. Flynn arrived on the set in January, 1937, suffering from pneumonia and a sinus ailment. As a dashing hero in knee breeches and silver sword, Flynn's performance is none the worse for wear. Off-camera, he entertained the young Mauch twins by teaching them practical jokes. Playing to Depression-era audiences, The Prince and the Pauper weaves populist themes with fantasy storytelling. The lavish coronation scene that concludes the film is studded with extras, the St. Luke's Choristers choir, and sumptuous costuming.

Director: William Keighley
Producer: Robert Lord, Hal B. Wallis (executive)
Screenplay: Laird Doyle, based on the novel by Mark Twain
Cinematography: Sol Polito
Editor: Ralph Dawson
Art Direction: Robert M. Haas
Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Cast: Errol Flynn (Miles Hendon), Claude Rains (Earl of Hertford), Henry Stephenson (Duke of Norfolk), Barton MacLane (John Canty), Billy Mauch (Tom Canty).
BW-118m. Close captioning.

By Jessica Handler