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The Prisoner of Zenda
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Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau and Ronald Colman as Rudolf Rassendyll cross swords in a dramatic duel scene from the 1937 film The Prisoner of Zenda.
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Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau and Ronald Colman as Rudolf Rassendyll cross swords in a dramatic duel scene from the 1937 film The Prisoner of Zenda.
The Prisoner of Zenda Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (left), and Ronald Colman in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), directed by John Cromwell.

The Prisoner of Zenda

film by Cromwell [1937]
Written by
Lee Pfeiffer
Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. His book The Essential Bond: An Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (written with...
Lee Pfeiffer
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

The Prisoner of Zenda, American adventure film, released in 1937, that was based on a stage adaptation of Anthony Hope’s 1894 novel of the same name. Rudolf Rassendyll (played by Ronald Colman) is an Englishman vacationing in an unnamed central European country, where he attracts stares from locals who mistake him for the country’s soon-to-be-crowned king. Upon noticing Rassendyll at a game reserve, Colonel Zapt (C. Aubrey Smith) and Capt. Fritz von Tarlenheim (David Niven)...

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