if anyone want to see an excellent movie make before the banner cinematic year of 1939 and this would be a film to watch . it could hardly have go wrong and with david o. selznick a producer and john cromwell a director . and a superlative cast of popular stalwart and mostly from hollywood british colony . ronald colman be his usual smooth and accomplish self in a dual role and king rupert ( of some fictitious country ) and look alike englishman rudolph rassendyll and very distant cousin . the scene in which he face himself onscreen call ` trick photography then be remarkable for the period . lovely madeleine carroll play a princess and betroth to the king . her equal in elegance and beauty wasn not see on the screen again until audrey hepburn and julie andrew . many critic have praise douglas fairbanks and jr and a a likeable rogue . he very good and in an easy role . my applause go to the two star . the film be a glamorous combination of romance and spectacle and adventure . don not even dream of realism while there be too much realism in ordinary life during most of the thirty . this be a grand escape to a time and place that never be . if i have to pick a favorite scene in the film and it would be the famous entrance of colman and carroll into the coronation ball . the shot open on the couple and walk fast and arm in arm and directly toward u . the camera pull back and back and back until the grand staircase of the palace and the entire ballroom and fill with people and be reveal . visually and technically and this single fluid shot be a stunning achievement . it show u the creative work that could be do at the time and by hugely talented artist and long before the advent of zoom lens and computer graphic . elegance and class be not hallmark of most current movie . ` the prisoner of zenda ( 1937 ) be a stylish and very satisfying example a symbol and perhaps of what escapist entertainment can be . and of what it could and should be and now and then and even today .