The Beloved Rogue | |
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![]() Original theatrical poster | |
Directed by | Alan Crosland |
Written by | Paul Bern (adaptation & scenario) Walter Anthony (intertitles) |
Based on | If I Were King by Justin Huntley McCarthy |
Produced by | Joseph M. Schenck |
Starring | John Barrymore |
Cinematography | Joseph H. August |
Edited by | Hal C. Kern |
Production companies | Art Cinema Corporation / Feature Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 10 reels (9,264 ft) |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Beloved Rogue is a 1927 American silent romantic adventure film, loosely based on the life of the 15th century French poet, François Villon. The film was directed by Alan Crosland for United Artists. [1] [2]
François Villon is played by John Barrymore, and other cast members include Conrad Veidt as King Louis XI and Marceline Day as Charlotte de Vauxcelles.
The story had been filmed in 1920 as If I Were King with William Farnum. The film was later re-made in the sound era again reverting to its original title If I Were King (1938) with Ronald Colman, and as an operetta in The Vagabond King (1930), and again in 1956.
François Villon is a poet and avid patriot whose father was burned at the stake. François is particularly committed to helping the oppressed and the weak. The Duke of Burgundy is out for the French throne. With cunning and deceit he tries to deceive the superstitious king, who is warned by his astrologers about a war with Burgundy. So the king also gives in to the demand that his ward Charlotte marry the Burgundian Count Thibault d'Aussigny.
On "All Fools' Day" François is elected King of Fools by the population. During the festivities, the Duke of Burgundy encounters the rabble and wants to end the celebration. François Villon recognizes the Duke and demands that the crowd remove him from his horse. The melee is interrupted by the arrival of King Louis and his entourage. The King, fearing an affront to the duke, banishes François from Paris. Soon thereafter, while Villon endures his banishment at a hostel outside of Paris, a wagon filled with food, which the Duke has sent to the King, stops outside of the hostel. Villon's desire to ridicule the King gets the better of him, and with his two loyal friends, Little Jehan and Nicholas, they steal the wagon in order to send the food to the people instead of the king. Climbing the treacherous walls of the city, they use the King's catapult to shuttle the food into town to care for the poor.
François is accidentally catapulted into the city. He ends up literally flying head first into the room of Charlotte de Vauxcelles. She and Count Thibault d'Aussigny have been forced to take refuge at an inn during a snow storm when Charlotte's sleigh breaks down. Entering the room to interrupt Charlotte's and Villon's encounter, the count pursues the surprised poet. A comical battle ensues in which François defeats Thibault. Charlotte decides to run away with the poet. But François is captured and Charlotte surrenders to her fate.
François is brought to Burgundy, tortured and, as a special wedding surprise, locked in a cage. Surprisingly, soldiers attack the king who has been convinced that the wedding is part of an intrigue against him. The soldiers free François and Charlotte, who now want to get married.
Cast member Dick Sutherland, like Rondo Hatton a couple of decades later, suffered from acromegaly.
According to "Hazard of the Game", an episode of the Thames documentary Hollywood , Paul Malvern, John Barrymore's stunt double, insisted on extensively testing a stunt involving a catapult and a net with sandbags before performing it, because he had doubts about the initial mathematics used for coordinating the stunt.
John Barrymore viewed the premiere of the film with a large picture palace audience. Unknown to the audience, he was standing at the back of the movie house. Barrymore apparently was discontented or bemused or perhaps being self-effacingly charming regarding his own performance, stating "what a ham".
The only surviving domestic print of The Beloved Rogue was found in John Barrymore's former mansion by its subsequent occupant, Edgar Bergen, who donated it to the American Film Institute. It was subsequently preserved by the Library of Congress.
Year 1461 (MCDLXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
François Villon is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these experiences in his poems.
Louis XI, called "Louis the Prudent", was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII.
The Duchy of Burgundy emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the Frankish Empire. Upon the 9th-century partitions, the French remnants of the Burgundian kingdom were reduced to a ducal rank by King Robert II of France in 1004. Robert II's son and heir, King Henry I of France, inherited the duchy but ceded it to his younger brother Robert in 1032. Other portions had passed to the Imperial Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles, including the County of Burgundy (Franche-Comté).
If I Were King is a 1938 American biographical and historical film starring Ronald Colman as medieval poet François Villon, and featuring Basil Rathbone and Frances Dee. It is based on the 1901 play and novel, both of the same name, by Justin Huntly McCarthy, and was directed by Frank Lloyd, with a screenplay adaptation by Preston Sturges.
André Maranne was a French-born British actor best known for playing roles in English-language films beginning in the mid-1950s.
Dennis King was an English actor and singer.
Henry Victor was an English-born character actor who had his highest profile in the film silent era, he appeared in numerous film roles in Britain, before emigrating to the US in 1939 where he continued his career.
Antoine I de Croÿ, Seigneur de Croÿ, Renty and Le Roeulx, Count of Porcéan, was a member of the House of Croÿ.
Charlotte of Savoy was Queen of France as the second spouse of Louis XI. She served as regent during the king's absence in 1465, and was a member of the royal regency council during her son's minority in 1483.
Charles, Duke of Berry, later Duke of Normandy and Duke of Aquitaine, was a son of Charles VII, King of France. He spent most of his life in conflict with his elder brother, King Louis XI.
The Adventures of Quentin Durward, known also as Quentin Durward, is a 1955 British historical film released by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The screenplay was by Robert Ardrey, adapted by George Froeschel from the 1823 novel Quentin Durward by Sir Walter Scott.
Lucy Beaumont was an English actress of the stage and screen from Bristol.
The Vagabond King is a 1925 operetta by Rudolf Friml in four acts, with a book and lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, based upon Justin Huntly McCarthy's 1901 romantic novel and play If I Were King. The story is a fictionalized episode in the life of the 15th-century poet and thief François Villon, centering on his wooing of Katherine De Vaucelles, and relating how he becomes “king for a day” and defends France against the invading forces of the Duke of Burgundy.
The Vagabond King is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical operetta film photographed entirely in two-color Technicolor. The plot of the film was based on the 1925 operetta of the same name, which was based on the 1901 play If I Were King by Justin Huntly McCarthy. The play told the story of the real-life renegade French poet named François Villon. The music of the film was based on a 1925 operetta, also based on the play If I Were King by McCarthy. The operetta is also titled The Vagabond King with music by Rudolph Friml and lyrics by Brian Hooker and W.H. Post. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
The Vagabond King is a 1956 Paramount Pictures musical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Kathryn Grayson, Rita Moreno, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Walter Hampden, Leslie Nielsen, and Maltese singer Oreste Kirkop in his only feature film role. It is an adaptation of the 1925 operetta The Vagabond King by Rudolf Friml. Hampden plays King Louis XI. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.
The Oubliette is a 1914 American silent historical drama film directed by Charles Giblyn, featuring Murdock MacQuarrie, Pauline Bush, and Lon Chaney. It is part one of a four-film series directed by Giblyn called The Adventures of François Villon. The Oubliette was written by Harry G. Stafford, based on a short story of the same name by George Bronson Howard published in The Century Magazine.
The Higher Law is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Charles Giblyn and featuring Murdock MacQuarrie, Pauline Bush and Lon Chaney. It was written by Harry G. Stafford, based on a story by George Bronson Howard. This film was the second in a series of four films called The Adventures of Francois Villon. Lon Chaney was featured in this one, as well as in the first installment, The Oubliette (1914), but did not appear in the other two. The film is now considered to be lost.
Gilbert Motier de La Fayette Seigneur of La Fayette, Pontgibaud, Ayes, Nébouzac, Saint-Romain and Montel-de-Gelat was a Marshal of France, namesake of and relation to Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
If I Were King is a 1920 American silent drama film produced by Fox Film Corporation, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, and starring William Farnum as François Villon with Fritz Leiber, Sr. and Betty Ross Clarke.