The King's Thief

Filmdoms most notorious cad, George Sanders, makes a second film appearance as King Charles II of Great Britain, the first being in Forever Amber. Charles II has come down in history as a pleasure driven hedonist, he's not called the Merry Monarch for nothing.

Hedonist he was, but that was also so much image management as well. He had a good head on his shoulders, he survived the defeat of his father and a decade of exile to return as King in 1660. The man that has come down to us in history is hardly likely to have been taken in the Duke of Brampton as played by David Niven.

But that's what this film asks us to believe. We're given no real reason why Charles has placed such confidence in the fictional Duke, but he has. So Niven's got himself a real nice racket going, he denounces folks as traitors and Charles believes him and executes them. And their property goes to him.

In fact Niven's got himself as little black book with a Restoration Dun&Bradstreet rating on all the richest and loyalest of Charles's subjects. The book unfortunately falls into the hands of highwayman Edmond Purdom. Then Purdom makes an alliance of more than one dimension with the daughter of one of the late nobility, Niven's had done in, Ann Blyth.

Niven looks very uncomfortable in the part of villain one of the few, maybe the only one he ever did. Purdom and Blyth are reunited from the film they did the year before, The Student Prince, which was far better than this. Sanders saunters his way through Charles II again. If he had been this dumb, the Popish Plot which occurred later on in his regime would have knocked him off the throne.

One of the dumber swashbuckler films I've ever seen. Only for the quality of the players which includes Roger Moore as one of Purdom's gang does it get as high a rating as it does.

How bad is this thing? Well, let's just say Robert Z Leonard was brought in to rescue it. Just think about that for a second. I mean, to paraphrase George Clooney in "Michael Clayton", Robert Z Leonard isn't the guy you bring in to RESCUE a piece of crap. He's the friggin guy you FIRE so you can bring in a guy (like Vince Minnelli on "The Bribe") to rescue a piece of crap. Also, it's most disconcerting to see David Niven in a moustache twirling villain part. He's such a good actor that he's ok but it speaks volumes about how his career was languishing at this mid 50s point, before Hecht Hill Lancaster rescued him and it in "Separate Tables", that he was consigned to parts that Christopher Lee would have spat upon. C minus.

PS...A previous reviewer wrote that this is his favorite Robert Z Leonard film. That's like saying Chad is your favorite poverty stricken nation.

Even lavish sets and costumes and a background score by Miklos Rozsa can't save THE KING'S THIEF from the boredom of a banal script. Lots of flashing swordplay takes place, but none of it has enough sizzle to make up for a tiresome story about a scoundrel (David Niven) who is keeping his thievery a secret from Charles II (George Sanders).

The best sequence involves an adventurous escape from heavy chains in a prison dungeon and a final encounter in a tower holding fabulous jewels whereby our hero ultimately wins the approval of Charles II.

David Niven does well enough as the charming thief, handsome Edmund Purdom is nimble and rugged enough as a swashbuckling highwayman, and Ann Blyth is pretty in her costume finery. But none of them have more than cardboard characters to work with and the end result is a routine period adventure wasting a talented cast.

Even Rosza's score is less memorable than most of his work for this kind of swashbuckler.

This is an old-fashioned adventure movie, but there's nothing wrong with that! Our time period is the 1660's or so, with Charles II on the English throne. That the film is in color helps a great deal, allowing us to fully enjoy the fine costumes and the beauty of the leading lady. There is some good swordplay and other good action scenes. The knowledgeable film fan will spot a number of familiar faces in the cast. This film puts many of the backlot locations of MGM to good use. They're gone now; you can appreciate them here. Recommended.

Edmund Purdom plays "Michael Dermott" a petty crook and the hero in this tale of a 17th Century plot by the evil, ambitious "Duke of Brampton" (David Niven) to amass a fortune by denouncing as many wealthy nobles as he can before he can depose the weak Charles II (George Sanders) and rule Britain. Ann Blyth is the daughter of one such man who was hung for treason. She enlists the help of Purdom and they set out to foil these dastardly plans with the aid of the Duke's self-incriminating little black book. It's a fine looking film, and Niven and Sanders put some class into it. Otherwise, though, the leads are quite feeble as is the script.