''The King on Main Street'', also known as ''The King'', is a 1925 American silent

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Monta Bell Louis Monta Bell (February 5, 1891 – February 4, 1958) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Biography Monta Bell first appeared in theatrical venues with Washington D.C. stock companies and then took up journalism an ...

and starring

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley Ku ...

and

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ei ...

. The film was adapted for the screen by Bell, and was based on the play ''The King'',

Leo Ditrichstein Leo Ditrichstein (January 6, 1865 – June 28, 1928) was an Austrian-American actor and playwright. Biography He was born on January 6, 1865, in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary. He was educated in Vienna and was naturalized as an American citizen ...

's adaptation of the 1908 French play ''Le Roi'' by

Gaston Arman de Caillavet Gaston Arman de Caillavet (13 March 1869 – 13 January 1915) was a French playwright. Early life Gaston Arman de Caillavet was born on 13 March 1869. He was the son of Albert Arman de Caillavet and Léontine Lippmann. His maternal grandfa ...

Robert de Flers Robert Pellevé de La Motte-Ango, marquis de Flers (25 November 1872, Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados – 30 July 1927, Vittel) was a French playwright, opera librettist, and journalist.Pierre Barillet, ''Les Seigneurs du rire: Flers – Caillavet – ...

, and

Emmanuel Arène Emmanuel Arène (1 January 1856 – 14 August 1908) was a French journalist, playwright and republican politician who was deputy for Corsica for many years and senator of Corsica in his last years. He was involved in scandals over maritime mail con ...

. It was produced by

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and t ...

and distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. ''The King on Main Street'' includes two sequences filmed in early two-strip

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

. These sequences, along with a print of the film, still exist. The film is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

and is available on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Plot

King Serge IV of Molvania (Menjou) comes to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to conduct business with Arthur Trent (Kilgour), but instead goes to

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

, where he meets Gladys Humphreys (Love) and John Rockland (Shaw). John, not knowing the king's royal identity, invites him to his home at

Little Falls, New Jersey Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The township was named for a waterfall on the Passaic River at a dam near Beattie Mill. As of the 2020 census, the township's population was 13,360 reflecting a decrea ...

. The king falls in love with Gladys, but Trent catches them in a compromising situation, and blackmails the king into completing their business deal. The king leaves the United States and Gladys forever.

Cast

Production

The film was partially filmed on location in New York, New Jersey, and Coney Island. Bessie Love's performance of

the Charleston The Charleston is a dance named after the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called " The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson, whic ...

in this film popularized the dance within the United States.

Reception

The film did well at the box office, particularly in small town America.

References

External links

Databases

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Video

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Imagery

Lobby card

Poster
1925 romantic comedy films 1920s color films 1925 films American black-and-white films American films based on plays American romantic comedy films American silent feature films Famous Players-Lasky films Films directed by Monta Bell Films set in New York City Paramount Pictures films Silent films in color Surviving American silent films 1920s American films Silent romantic comedy films Silent American comedy films {{1920s-romantic-comedy-film-stub