AllMovie

Ludwig Berger is a prominent filmmaker of the silent and early sound eras who was displaced by history and unfortunate circumstances. His 1930 version of The Vagabond King is a case in point -- a highly regarded early musical that was shot in two-color Technicolor, no less, it suffered from the same problem that almost every talking picture made before 1932 did, including static camera work and sluggish, flaccid editing, so that as soon as the novelty of sound wore off -- as it did very quickly -- so did any appeal that the movie had. In this case, some attractive singing by Jeanette MacDonald and Dennis King (recreating his role from the stage version) falls by the wayside thanks to the technical limitations of the early talkies. The historical interest is still considerable, and fans of MacDonald and King (not to mention Lillian Roth and Warner Oland), will still want to see the film. But those familiar with the Ronald Colman non-musical retelling of the same story, If I Were King, done later in the '30s (or even the 1956 musical remake of this property, starring Kathryn Grayson), may well prefer those versions for their sheer technical superiority. Additionally, and as a warning to those seeking out this version of The Vagabond King, the few illicit copies circulating around appear to be in black-and-white.