The Vagabond King (1956)

I have been working on some of the songs from the Rudolf Friml musical/operetta and so thought I would take a look at this filmed version; I wasn't expecting it to be terribly good or terribly close to the source material, although I know the latter only from the prompt lines and lyrics in the score and from the original novel ( Read more... )

Leonard Maltin rates the film at 2 stars out of 5, which is probably fair enough.

But going into it with low expectations I did actually enjoy it more than I might have thought. Largely I suspect this is down to Walter Hampden's scene-stealing performance as wily old Louis XI -- the lovers are wooden and it's hard to have much sympathy with them, but the King is a three-dimensional character.

Multiple variants

I heard a woodpecker drumming this afternoon -- an unusual sign of spring, but a sign nonethless...

Thinking out loud:
I have almost translated the final section of my current song project -- or to be more precise I have translated it in multiple variants, none of which are entirely satisfactory :-(( Read more... )