TheLittleSongbird The Vagabond King did have the ingredients in the first place to be good. And it was. The story is rather old-fashioned and has a couple of dull spots, but I also think it is quite charming and well-meant too. You do forget that though when you see the lavish production values, the costumes, sets and photography are all gorgeous to look at, and hear the beautiful score and memorable songs that add so much to the film's quality. Song of the Vagabonds is especially catchy. The choreography and direction, apart from a couple of stage-bound moments, are otherwise skillful. The cast also add a lot. Kathryn Grayson is a charmer, Rita Moreno plays her role with both grace and fire and you can never go wrong with Vincent Price as narrator. The real surprise though was Oreste, handsome in looks, dashing in acting ability and ringingly resonant in voice, one does wonder why he like the film was forgotten afterwards. All in all, a very well-done film that is worthy of more appreciation. 8/10 Bethany Cox

bkoganbing For any of you who have heard that this version of The Vagabond King is terrible, that simply isn't so. It's not the best production of a classic operetta ever brought to the screen, but it's far from terrible. The only thing that was happening was that movie musicals themselves were slowly dying out and operettas were a thing of the past. This Paramount production, a remake of the 1929 version the studio did with Dennis King and Jeanette MacDonald was really the last operetta ever done for the big screen.Today's audiences probably know the straight dramatic version of Justin Huntly McCarthy's play If I Were King, done on the silent screen by John Barrymore and for sound by Ronald Colman. Rudolf Friml's original operetta adaption premiered in 1923 on Broadway with lyrics by Brian Hooker. The main songs from that score plus several new ones composed for this version by Friml with lyrics by Johnny Burke. This was the last movie score done by Burke, he and his partner Jimmy Van Heusen had come to a parting a couple of years earlier. Nothing memorable in the new songs, but they are interpolated nicely into the story.This was a farewell for many people. This was Kathryn Grayson's last film, it was also the last for Walter Hampden who played Louis XI. It was the first and last for her leading man, Maltese tenor Oreste. Originally Paramount was going to get Mario Lanza, but Kathryn Grayson whom he did two films with and didn't get along with balked. Lanza himself was proving difficult at that time so Paramount used Oreste himself. Oreste isn't bad as the dashing Francois Villon, but public tastes were changing and operetta parts just weren't to be had any more.This romantic tale of the beggar/poet who saves Paris from invasion by the Duke of Burgandy was fashioned by Rudolf Friml and Brian Hooker into one of operetta's best loved scores. No more romantic melodies were ever written than the plaintive Some Day or the appealing duet Only A Rose. And operetta never had a better song to rouse the populace than the Song Of The Vagabonds. Friml was at his career height when he wrote this score. Rita Moreno is also in this film and she plays Hugette, the tavern girl crushing out big time on Francois Villon, who has eyes only for the royal ward Katherine Vaucelles who Grayson plays. Her number is the Waltz Hugette which enjoyed something of a revival that year because it was sung by Susan Hayward in I'll Cry Tomorrow. If you'll remember Hayward played Lillian Roth in that film and the Waltz Hugette was one of several of Roth's songs that she sang in that film and made a record of. Roth played Hugette in the 1929 Paramount version of The Vagabond King.Operetta is gone now, no one writes soaring melodies of love, romance, and derring do any more. But if you like the art form with the sappy plots and all as I do, than you can't go wrong with this version of The Vagabond King.

williams1809-2 Enjoyable version of Rudolph Friml's operetta.Beautiful score song by Oreste and Kathryn Grayson.This was Oreste's only film.I read somewhere that the moviegoing public did not take to him .I think this because younger movie goers did not have the exposure to this music.If Nelson and Jeanette had startd in the fifties,I doubt they would have enjoyed the success they had in the thirties.Personally ,I considered Oreste a fine tenor and I still enjoy his recording of The Vagabond King.I wish they would show a marathon of operettas, so that the older viewers,such as myself ,could relive the pleasant movie going memories of yesteryear

stageham-3 This 1956 film version of the Rudolph Friml operetta "The Vagabond King" is a seldom seen gem of a production. Starring Kathryn Grayson, this was meant to be a star vehicle for European opera star Oreste. It didn't quite happen. It is wonderful however seeing some big name stars when they were very young performing in supporting roles. Leslie Neilson, of Naked Gun fame, Jack Lord of Hawaii Five-o, and Rita Moreno all put in admirable performances. It's even narrated by Vincent Price. Some day soon it'll be released on video.