Let’s get Nostalgic !!
Prisoner of Zenda
Author: Anthony Hope
This is one classic thriller of a story and an adventure and we enjoyed reading this classic. There could be about 3-4 movies already made on this classic and few more copying the idea of this classic – so we don’t have any regrets of telling you more about it…
This is a story written in “I” format where Rudolf Rassendyll (The main hero) relates the story to us. He is a distant cousin / brother of Rudolf the 5th … the person who is supposed to be crowned King of Ruritania (a fictitious kingdom somewhere in the East Europe). He decides to attend the coronation and travels to Ruritania.
There he meets Col Sapt and Fritz von Tarlenheim – loyal assistants of Rodolf the 5th… They are taken aback by striking similarity in his looks with to be King of Ruritania. Then they have a party in forests where to be King also is present and is in awe of similar looking person. They are consuming wine when Michael, The Duke of Strelsau also known as Black Michael passes on a drugged bottle of wine to them… The coronation is to be held the next day…
Next morning when they try to wake up the King – they cannot due to drug overdose and they know that if he misses the coronation – it will be Michael who will be coroneted by the people of Ruritania and that’s what Michael wanted… So they real Rudolf wakes up – they will switch him and ask Rassendyll to leave the Kingdom to keep the secrecy.
They manage to convince him and he impersonates the Rudolf V and attends the coronation which happens without any issues. When they go back to where the real Rudolf V was – he is missing… Someone has abducted him in their absence and they once again convince him to impersonate till they find out his whereabouts…
During this time he meets Princess Flavia and gets attracted to her and in her interactions with him even she gets attracted to him – the change in him is main reason of attraction. Secretly, they fall in love with each other… and eager people of Ruritania keep pressing them to declare their wedding date – she is loved by the masses and all hail her as the next Queen.
Meanwhile, Antoinette de Mauban, Michael’s mistress, does not want to lose him to Flavia. If Michael becomes the King by exposing the fake Rudolf, then he has to marry Princess Flavia. She tells Col Sapt that the King has been abducted by Black Michael and kept a Prisoner at the castle of Zenda.
So Col Sapt along with Rudolf who is poasing as the King decide a plan of hunting expedition near Zenda and proceed there… It’s here that we are introduced to Michael’s henchmen – three of them attack Rassendyll but they are able to thwart the attack…
When the attack fails, enters the character of Michael’s trusted and the most dangerous henchman – Rupert of Hentzau. By far this character holds more attention than the actual villainous character of Michael. The character of Rupert of Hentzau became so famous that Anthony Hope wrote a sequel by his name which is another book to discuss … He is an unparalleled swordsman and a master at throwing daggers to kill his victims – totally fearless and deadly…
Anyway, coming back to the information – Rupert meets Rassendyll with offer from Michael of 1 million crowns to leave the Kingdom never to return which Rassendyll rejects. Upon rejection, Rupert attacks Rassendyll and flees throwing a dagger at him and injuring his shoulder.
Then Col Sapt and his men kidnap Johann, a servant in the castle and bribe him into telling all he knows about the castle and the guard there. He informs that the King is captive in a cellar with instructions to kill him if Rassendyll or King’s loyal men attack and throw the body into the moat. It will actually make no difference to Michael because then Rassendyll will become the King of Ruritania. He also knows that Rassendyll cannot unmask him without telling the people that he is their fake king…
Rassendyll swims across the moat as per the information given by Johann and kills the guard of the moat and enters the castle. He hears the King speak to his captors and returns to others to make a plan to rescue him but they are attacked by three of the six henchmen. Two of them are killed at the cost of Col Sapt’s few men and Rupert safely makes it back to the castle.
Later Rassendyll has an encounter with Rupert again when the true colours of Rupert come to fore… He is attracted to Antoinette de Mauban’s beauty and wants her… He advises that Col Sapt should attack the castle – Michael will kill the king and Col Sapt then will kill Michael. This way they both will be able to split the wealth of the king and get to be with their ladies… Rassendyll rejects again…
What happens next is something we will want you to read or see in the movies that are made on the novel…
We believe that a movie made in 1937 is the best of all but others are made in 1952 and 2004 and other two made for TV shows. Also Peter Sellers has a movie on this story which is a bit comic and doesn’t gel with the thrill of the book. It’s up to you if you want to watch a movie based on this book or read the book instead… We will recommend reading the book for it’s pure thrill…
See you soon, with information about a new book…
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