Ingram was as noted for his abilityTo keep large-scale productions moving as for his genius at creating stars.For Horsemen, he had discovered Rudolph Valentino. In this perennial favorite, the look-alike cousin ofA kidnapped king takes his place to thwart the plans of the evil BlackMichael who wants to steal the throne and the king's beautiful fiancée.Metro entrusted the production to Rex Ingram, an Irish-bornActor-turned-director who had scored a huge hit the year before with TheFour Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Named after the novel's setting the Ruritanian Romance combines the glamour of the European aristocracy with swashbuckling adventure and tales of doomed love between royalty and commoners.
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(Other successors who come to mind are Basil Rathbone, James Mason and Alan Rickman). It's fair to say that Novarro pretty much stole the film with hisTongue-in-cheek playing, making him one of the first in a long line of charismatic movie villains who would make evil dangerously seductive. But once he saw the devilish humor in RamonSamaniego's eyes, he knew he'd found his man, though the actor would soon change hisScreen name to Ramon Novarro. He set out toFind a tall, Germanic blond in his mid-thirties, and wound up with a shortMexican actor of only 23. Although Terry and Lewis Stone (as the identical cousins) wereSlated for the film's starring roles, Ingram realized that much of thePicture's success would depend on the proper casting of Rupert of Hentzau,The henchman who does all of Black Michael's dirty work.
La Marr hadActually been discovered by Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., who had cast her asMilady de Winter in his 1921 version of The Three Musketeers.The Prisoner of Zenda would make her a star, nicknamed "The Girl TooBeautiful." She was too beautiful to survive, as it turned out, dying aFew years later from a combination of tuberculosis and drug abuse. Her dark looks and large, brooding eyes provided aPerfect contrast to Terry and made her more than a match for the exoticNovarro, with whom she would share a wicked seduction scene. AlmostAs adept at scene stealing was Barbara La Marr, cast as Black Michael'sDevoted mistress.
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