Rating: 
Summary: Daffy but daft sociological fable, mildly dated
Review: Like the novels of Hermann Hesse and Ayn Rand, my love of this drily funny little movie belongs to the pre-ironic, not-yet-cynical splendor of my early 20s... That said, for all its simplicity, idealism, and panting 1960s enthusiastic vim, TKOH's clear-cut social dichotomy -- e.g., separating the mad from the mad -- never fails to lift the otherwise toothgrindingly lonesome human spirit. Actually, that all sounds too serious -- the movie's incredibly (though Gallicly) funny, and makes a fine double-feature with Marat/Sade.
Rating: 
Summary: What fools we had made ourselves!
Review: Many years ago, I heard an actor talk about acting. He said, actors should be able to bring the reality into drama, and from there, look back the reality. That has always been my philosophy about Art. And that's exactly what this film is about. How foolish our mortals have been, searching the peace in wars. The film was truthful then (1968, when it was released), as it is now. I think it was very mean, but somewhat heart-warming in a way that makes it comfortable to watch. An excellent film!
Rating:
Summary: Charming Comedy - With a Message
Review: Near the end of the First World War, Charles Plumpick is dispatched to a French town that has been wired to explode by midnight. His mission is to defuse the explosives. Never mind that he is an expert at raising and training carrier pigeons. He dutifully sets out on his mission, and avoids capture by the Germans by escaping into an insane asylum.By now, we're all familiar with the idea that war is itself insane. We've all been exposed to the idea that insanity may be a higher form of sanity. What's magical about this film is that it communicates these ideas with such charm and such finesse. I can't imagine that anybody could avoid falling in love with the inmates as they take over the town once it's abandoned. Alan Bates is superb as the gentle yet dutiful Plumpick. A very young Genevieve Bujold is absolutely wonderful as the innocent Coquelicot. I rarely notice the music in a film, but in The King of Hearts it plays a pivotal role in establishing the mood, and accompanying the action. It is also fine music in its own right. This could have been an earnest anti-war film heavy-handedly stating its moral (remember the movie made of Catch-22?). The direction, the music, and the performances of all the actors (Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold are the only names that I recognize, but there isn't a weak performance here), though, lift this far above that level and make it a masterpiece that has stood the test of time well.
Rating:
Summary: Comic masterpiece
Review: Superficially the story of a British soldier who is crowned king by the escaped patients of a mental asylum in a French town deserted by its citizens fleeing the Germans, this comic masterpiece is a not so subtle indictment of a warmongering society where the peaceful lunatics are really the only sane ones left. Alan Bates is absolutely brilliant as the king of the mad assortment of characters including the priceless Duke of Clubs and his wife, the General, and the gorgeous Genevieve Bujold in what may be her first role. It is impossible to describe the wonderful lunacy that has made this film a cult classic, you must see it for yourself, and the version with subtitles is highly preferable to the dubbed one.
Rating:
Summary: A charming classic
Review: The story isn't particularly new or original, and it gives away nothing to say that the message is that sometimes the sane people are inside the asylum. What "King of Hearts" brings to the screen is a thoroughly delightful and charming presentation of this tale. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s when there was a thriving "Art House" film scene and dozens of film societies on every campus it seemed you couldn't open the papers on a weeknd without finding films like "King of Hearts" or "Harold and Maude" playing somewhere. The economics of the film business has changed since then, and there doesn't seem to be room in the local 24-screen multiplex for charmers like this one. Not that it would play well with a crowd raised on Steven Sagal and Madonna. This is from a different era. Hopefully the rise of VHS and DVDs in the intervening years will make this gem (and others like it) a fixture on campuses again. If you haven't seen it yet, do so. Invite some of friends over, pop the disk in the machine and pretend it's 1968 all over again.
Rating:
Summary: An unpretentious but superb critique of dehumanizing society
Review: This film revives in an eminently reachable way a tragic conflict already posited by ancient Greek philosophy between "nature" (human nature) and "convention" (society.) The "inmates" or "lunatics"are not insane in an objective clinical sense, but only in the sense of rejecting the dehumanized values (including the ravages of war) imposed by a corrupt, alienated, and dishonest society. That the inmates stand for "nature" or human nature is indicated by their names (General Geranium, Bishop Daisy, the Duke of Clubs/Clover, Mmme. Wild Rose, and Coquelicot/Red Poppy. The "lunatics" humanize whatever they come in contact with - tanks, fireworks, German soldiers, and Scottish soldiers - and they bring out the "flower" in Private Plumpick (Alan Bates). The film suggests touchingly the gentleness and decency of a communitarian but individualistic society based on solidarity rather than hierarchy, domination, egoism and alienation. All this with the lightest of touches and genuine creativity and humor - and a magnificent cast starring some of the greatest French actors. A MUST-SEE, BUT NOT DUBBED OR LETTERBOX.
Rating:
Summary: A buck-naked skip with birdcage!
Review: This gem should hit many different emotions for the avid viewer. A true parade of carnival characters set in an antiwar theme -- this bit of royalty of the heart brings up aTHE enigma: Is the difference between psychosis and psychic just a paper-thin line of cultural subjectivism? Is the lunacy of blowing up yet another vacant city on the path to glory any different that skipping naked down a path with a birdcage in one's hand? This film started the boomers reading subtitles and (hopefully) brought them out of their fears of foreign film. (Don't get the dubbed version, it lacks so much charm.) Its popularity had a great deal to do with the country's mass-consciousness about the Viet Nam war; but I hope it would have found the same audience without such a catalyst. One feels like dancing in a fountain and blowing bubbles on the back of a bus after seeing this great flick. Keep a kazoo handy; you'll want to have something to toot after the film is over and you are left to your organized sanity! Better yet, follow it up with the 1972 release of "The Ruling Class" and have yourself a truly insane evening of jocularity.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful.
Review: This is a movie everyone should see. I know that everyone always writes that, but I really mean it. I've never seen another movie like it in my whole life. there's something hauntingly, charmingly true about it. The story is set in 1918, in a small french town that has been evacuated because there's a bomb hidden. A scottish soldier is sent in to disable it, but he doesn't know where it's hidden or when it's going to go off. Accidentally freeing all the inmates of the insane asylum who've been left (by the fleeing townspeople) in the town, the soldier finds himself stuck among them, trying to convince them to leave, but having no luck. the inmates are irresistibly lovable, carefree, full of wisdom and completely free of all societal restraints. it's impossible not to fall in love with the world they create in the evacuated town. I think the movie is only made better by being in another language: reading the subtitles, you can imagine the characters saying the lines in any way that you want. French is such a beautiful language: that, combined with the unobtrusive music, makes for a film strangely silent and beautiful. It makes me cry. Please go watch it. It's definitely one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: The King of Hearts
Review: This is one of the greatest films ever made and has a charming, subtle non-pedantic way of questioning oppressive and dehumanizing social values and institutions. It is magnificently acted - a stellar cast - and deeply moving. It endears human beings to us without being pollyanish. However, I recommend only the original French with subtitles. I saw a dubbed VHS version which destroyed the character of the film with its mechanical, lifeless dubbed voices. Also, PLEASE NO LETTER-BOX, which gives us 10% wider screen but a loss of the whole movie. It destroys intimacy and clarity.
Rating:
Summary: The King of Hearts
Review: This is one of the greatest films ever made. It has depth, without being pretentious, with a light, amusing, and touching style. It gently questions without pedantry some of the more dehumanizing aspects of social institutions and false values. It helps restore our faith in human beings without being naive or sanitizing. It offers a wonderful blend of irony, compassion, and deft underlying tragedy with humorous overtones. It has a memorable cast and superb directing and music. However, PLEASE NO LETTER BOX. The 10% or so gain in screen width is more than offset by the loss of the whole movie in terms of clarity and intimacy.
|
