Meanwhile, Rupert tries to alienate Antoinette from Michael by telling her that Michael will marry Flavia once Rudolf is out of the way. In the days that follow, Rasssendyll becomes acquainted with Flavia, and the two fall in love. With Rudolf guarded by a handful of trusted retainers at Zenda Castle, Michael tries unsuccessfully to bribe Rassendyll into leaving. Rassendyll is forced to continue the masquerade. Later, when Rassendyll returns to the lodge to switch places with the king once more, he and Sapt find only the corpse of Josef ( Snitz Edwards), the servant left to guard the king. Afterwards, he is driven to the palace in the company of the universally adored Princess Flavia ( Alice Terry). The Englishman is less certain, but he tosses a coin, which lands in Rudolf's favor, and Rassendyll goes through with the ceremony. The colonel declares that it is Fate that brought Rassendyll to Ruritania he can take Rudolf's place with no one the wiser. The country is dangerously divided between the supporters of Rudolf and of Michael. Sapt is afraid that if the coronation is postponed, Michael will seize the throne. The next morning, Sapt is unable to rouse him the wine was drugged. After Rudolf tastes it, he finds it so irresistible that he drinks the entire bottle by himself. During the meal, a servant brings in a fine bottle of wine, a present from Michael delivered by his henchman, Rupert of Hentzau ( Ramon Novarro). The king is delighted with his double and invites him to dinner. Astounded by the uncanny resemblance between Rassendyll and their liege, they take him to meet Rudolf at a hunting lodge. The day before the coronation, Rassendyll is seen by Colonel Sapt ( Robert Edeson) and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim ( Malcolm McGregor). He encounters an acquaintance on the train there, Antoinette de Mauban ( Barbara La Marr), the mistress of the king's treacherous brother, Grand Duke 'Black' Michael ( Stuart Holmes). The ceremony goes well, and he gets acquainted with the charming royal bride, related princess Flavia, but afterward the king is found to be abducted he must continue the charade and once the hiding place, the castle of Zenda, is found is involved in the fight between political parties for control over Rudolf V, his throne and his bride, for which a formidable third candidate, Michael's disloyal co-conspirator Rupert of Hentzau, was waiting in the curtains.Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll ( Lewis Stone) decides to pass the time by attending the coronation of his distant relation, King Rudolf V of Ruritania (also played by Stone). An Englishman vacationing in a Ruritarian kingdom is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.Įnglish trout fisher Rudolf Rassendyll is about the only tourist not coming for the coronation of Central-European King Rudolf V at Strelsau, but happens to be a distant relative and is approached on account of their canning resemblance to stand in for the drunken king, in order to prevent his envious half-brother Michael, who arranged spiking his wine to seize the throne when the reputedly less then dutiful Rudolf stays away.

The prisoner of zenda film 2012