Movies
Royal Flash
Richard Lester, following The Three and The Four Musketeers, perseveres in his creation of two-left-footed swashbucklers. In this mock Prisoner of Zenda, Oliver Reed's and Alan Bates's waxed-mustache Prussian villians are played in the sly comic style of cocked eyebrows, while Malcolm McDowell's British non-hero, a sort of boys'-school mischief-maker and shirker, is unhappily played broader and pushier and chummier. Although the gags are mostly as chintzy as before, the mustily atmospheric images by Geoffrey Unsworth, in princely 19-Century decors, are supremely luxurious. With Florinda Bolkan. 1975.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: PG
