{"id":48351,"date":"2020-03-27T10:22:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T17:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48351"},"modified":"2020-11-27T16:28:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T23:28:35","slug":"king-steps-out-the-1936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48351","title":{"rendered":"King Steps Out, The (1936)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;ll look you in the eye later; I&#8217;m too busy now.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Poster-191x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-48354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Poster-191x300.png 191w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Poster-652x1024.png 652w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Poster-81x128.png 81w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Poster.png 701w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 191px) 100vw, 191px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nTo prevent her sister (Frieda Inescort) from having to marry the Emperor of Bavaria (Franchot Tone), &#8220;Sissy&#8221; (Grace Moore) travels incognito to Tone&#8217;s court, where she poses as a dress-maker and attempts to seduce him.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cross-Class Romance<\/li>\n<li>Franchot Tone Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Josef von Sternberg Films<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Musicals<\/li>\n<li>Romantic Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Royalty and Nobility<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nLoosely based on the life of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria\">Empress Elisabeth of Austria<\/a>, this romantic comedy &#8212; directed by Josef von Sternberg for Columbia Pictures after he completed <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26970\"><em>Crime and Punishment<\/em> (1935)<\/a> &#8212; featured operatic soprano <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grace_Moore\">Grace Moore<\/a>, who only appeared in nine films before dying in a plane crash at age 48. Unfortunately, the storyline here is utterly tiresome, and Moore&#8217;s presence grates on one&#8217;s nerves (at least, my own). This is clearly a film for those who like their narratives feathery light, and don&#8217;t mind scenarios interrupted by trilling arias which instantly cause male romantic leads to swoon. Meanwhile, the ongoing &#8220;comic relief&#8221; is tiresome; nobody, really, comes off well here. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Josef_von_Sternberg\">Wikipedia&#8217;s article on von Sternberg<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Columbia had high hopes for Sternberg&#8217;s next feature, <em>The King Steps Out<\/em>, starring soprano Grace Moore and based on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fritz_Kreisler\">Fritz Kreisler<\/a>&#8216;s operetta <em>Cissy<\/em>. A comedy of errors concerning Austrian royalty set in Vienna, the production was undermined by personal and professional discord between opera diva and director. Sternberg found himself unable to identify himself with his leading lady or adapt his style to the demands of operetta. Wishing to distance himself from the fiasco, Sternberg quickly departed Columbia Pictures after the film&#8217;s completion. <em>The King Steps Out<\/em> is the only movie that he insisted be expunged from any retrospective of his work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I can&#8217;t say I blame him. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Creative sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets-1024x650.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"406\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets-1024x650.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets-128x81.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets-768x488.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/King-Steps-Out-Sets.png 1535w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; you can definitely skip this one. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0027847\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1936\/05\/29\/archives\/grace-moores-first-operetta-the-king-steps-out-opens-at-the-music.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/80382\/the-king-steps-out#articles-reviews?articleId=354845\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll look you in the eye later; I&#8217;m too busy now.&#8221; Synopsis: To prevent her sister (Frieda Inescort) from having to marry the Emperor of Bavaria (Franchot Tone), &#8220;Sissy&#8221; (Grace Moore) travels incognito to Tone&#8217;s court, where she poses as a dress-maker and attempts to seduce him. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cross-Class Romance Franchot Tone Films Historical Drama Josef von Sternberg Films Mistaken or Hidden Identities Musicals Romantic Comedy Royalty and Nobility Review: Loosely based on the life of&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48351\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48351"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55357,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48351\/revisions\/55357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}