All the King's Horses

1935

1h 27m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

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Comedy

Romance

Music

A Hollywood actor visits a mythical country where he looks like the king and confuses the queen.

Directors

Frank Tuttle

Writers

Frank Tuttle(screenplay by)

Frederick Stephani(screenplay by)

Frederick Stephani(adaptation by)

Stars

Carl Brisson

Mary Ellis

Edward Everett Horton

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Top cast

Carl Brisson

King Rudolf XIV …

Mary Ellis

Elaine, the Queen of Langenstein

Edward Everett Horton

Count Josef 'Peppi' von Schlapstaat

Katherine DeMille

Fraülein Mimi

Eugene Pallette

Conrad Q. Conley

Arnold Korff

Baron Kraemer, Lord Chamberlain

Steffi

Ilonka

Count Batthy

Chorine on Train (uncredited)

Edwin Maxwell

First Gentleman

Directors

Frank Tuttle

Writers

Frank Tuttle(screenplay by)

Frederick Stephani(screenplay by)

Frederick Stephani(adaptation by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

If you can imagine a “Prisoner of Zenda” with musical numbers, then you’re halfway there with this rather mixed up hybrid. We even have another “Rudolph” (Carl Brisson) who has been neglecting his queen (Mary Ellis), so she absconds from their palace telling him she shall only return once he mended his ways. Now the king does actually quite like his wife, and so when his beardless doppelgänger “Rocco” arrives in the kingdom, he is hired to take his place on the throne whilst the real monarch goes off to woo back his lady. Snag? Well there are two. Firstly, they end up with the ebullient “Conley” (Eugene Pallette) doing much of the governing - and reasonably well too. Secondly, the queen returns to her home and starts to feel a reignited affection for her husband - but not the right one! With the real king miles away and the false one increasingly embroiled in this romantic confusion, what’s going to happen next? Might treason be about to be committed? The story itself it completely forgettable fluff, but there are a few musical numbers from Messrs. Horan and Herendeen that do their job adequately and an entertainingly staged big set-piece dance number towards the end that rather sums up the stylish romantic escapism of the thing. Ellis plays well; Brisson has something of the Romanov to him which helps a little and both Pallette and Edward Everett Horton’s “Count Peppi” amiably enliven this soapy drama. You’ll never remember it, but it’s a watchable enough, cheerful, song and dance costume caper.

Geronimo196707 Aug, 2025