The Vagabond King (1956)

★ 5.7 1h 26m IMDb
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Louis XI of France drafts Paris's popular "king" of criminals as Provost Marshal in his fight against usurper Charles of Burgundy and the traitorous nobles who rally around him.

The Vagabond King

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Cast

Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson as Catherine de Vaucelles Died 2010 · Winston-Salem - North Carolina - USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kathryn Grayson  (February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010) was an American actress and operatic soprano singer. From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera...
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno as Huguette Age 94 · Humacao, Puerto Rico Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. Noted for her work across different areas of the entertainment industry, she has appea...
Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke as Tristan Died 1964 · Lye, Worcestershire, England, UK Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years. Hardwicke's theatre work included notable performances...
Walter Hampden
Walter Hampden as King Louis XI Died 1955 · Brooklyn, New York, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Walter Hampden is the artist name of Walter Hampden Dougherty (June 30, 1879 in Brooklyn – June 11, 1955 in Los Angeles) was a U.S. actor and theatre manager.
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen as Thibault d'Aussigny Died 2010 · Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010) was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in over one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his...
William Prince
William Prince as Rene de Montigny Died 1996 · Nichols, New York, USA William LeRoy Prince (January 26, 1913 – October 8, 1996) was an American actor who appeared in numerous soap operas and made dozens of guest appearances on primetime series as well as playing villain...

Audience Reviews

CinemaSerf 6/10 Feb 10, 2023
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at the production meeting when Michael Curtiz and Pat Duggan came up with this concept - a sort of "Camelot" meets "Quentin Durward" musical effort that is not as bad as you might think! We have here a lavish looking historical melodrama featuring Maltese tenor Oreste Kirkop as "Villon", a popular fellow amongst the people who is elected "King of the Vagabonds". Meantime the real King, Louis XI (Walter Hampden), advised by his sagely counsellor "Tristan" (Sir Cedric Hardwicke with hair!) must battle the potential usurper Duke of Burgundy (Tom Duggan) and his rather foppish sidekick "Thibault" (Leslie Nielsen). The action is interspersed by quite frequent little arias that demonstrate that our street-wise hero most certainly has a great voice; limited only by a rather poor libretto - there are only so many things that rhyme with Burgundy. The action scenes provide for plenty of colourful costumes, swash and buckle and it's decently paced with plenty of familiar faces - Jack Lord, Rita Moreno and a rather under-utilised Kathryn Grayson to prop it up nicely. Though it isn't anywhere near as good as "If I Were KIng" (1938) upon which it appears to be based, money has been spent here and it looks good even if the writing and dialogue are poor and many of the scenes pretty heavily staged. Don't write it off, though - if you like the genre then it is still worth a watch, and there's no sign of Howard Keel!

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