Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Mikado (1939)


General Film Distributors (UK)
Directed by Victor Schertzinger
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

A Japanese prince goes incognito when his father forces him to become engaged to an unflattering lady of the court. He wanders the country as a minstrel, falling in love with the beautiful Yum-Yum. She is also engaged to another man, the reluctant grand executioner for the state. The Emperor demands that a beheading take place, so they fake the prince's death to satisfy him. However, this gets them their own execution date and they make a grand bargain to get out of it. The sets and costumes are superb, the songs by Gilbert and Sullivan classic, but the two main leads lack chemistry and as a result it is emotionally unsatisfying.

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