Product Description

One of the most popular foreign films of all time, playing continuously in some theatres for over five years, King of Hearts is a "bright, lilting, whimsical, lyrical" (Cue) comedy thatcleverly satirizes the absurdity of war with a "message [that is] meaningful and entertaining" (Boxoffice). Bumbling Scottish Private Plumpick (Alan Bates) is sent to a village in the beautiful French countryside during World War I on a suicide mission to detonate explosives set bythe retreating German army. The village, soon to be blown sky-high, has been abandoned by its inhabitantsand replaced with escapees from the local insane asylum. Now, with the mentally challenged running the town, Plumpick is crowned King! But his new title brings him his first horrible decision: to carry out his deadly mission or join the ranks of the blissfully ignorant who know nothing about war. King of Hearts is subtle, visually striking and, in short, the "ultimate display of madness" (Life)!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13424 in DVD
• Brand: BATES,ALAN
• Released on: 2001-04-10
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
This film was a touchstone of the late 1960s, when it was seen as an antiwar allegory for a world in which madness seemed to reign. Of course, that would probably be true whenever this movie was shown, wouldn't it? Directed by Philippe de Broca and set during World War I, King of Hearts stars Alan Bates as a Scottish soldier separated from his unit in France. He wanders into a small French village that has been abandoned by its residents in the face of oncoming combat. Instead, the town is populated by the residents of a nearby insane asylum, whose keepers have fled--a fact that escapes the innocent soldier, who assumes these are the regular folks. A film that celebrates the innocence and wisdom of the insane, even as it questions who the real madmen are. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Enchanting fantasy; topical allegory; classic movie
A fairy tale set in a French town caught between the opposing armies of the First World War, "King of Hearts" has lost none of its beguiling charm in the 35 years since its original release, nor has its message grown stale. Alan Bates shines as Charles Plumpick, a simple private in a Scottish regiment and perhaps the only sane man in the abandoned town. But is his world of war and brutality really any saner than the make-believe world conjured up by the escaped inmates of the town lunatic asylum, the only residents Private Plumpick encounters during his reconaissance? It is a point of view that depends entirely on one's perspective. This whimsical, gentle tale challenges the watcher to reexamine what constitutes true madness, just as the asylum characters force Pvt. Plumpick, having been to his initial discomfort acclaimed as the King of Hearts, to choose which role he prefers: king of the fools or fool for King George V? Broca directs his own screenplay with a deft touch and using a stellar cast of mostly French actors. A very young Genevieve Bujold makes one of her earliest appearances in a major picture. The English subtitles aren't the best I've seen (and unlike the VHS version, are distractingly present even during English dialogue), but far better than the awful English-dubbed version of "King of Hearts" that is sometimes broadcast or sold. (The best subtitles I have ever seen were on a print that circulated around theatres during the 1970s and 1980s, but I've never seen this version used for home video.) The score by Georges Delerue is one of his best.

Quelle Surprise! This DVD version has, without fanfare, at least two entirely new scenes in the film that I have never seen before (and I first saw this in 1977). The first is a lengthier "homily" by Monseigneur Marguerite (aka Bishop Daisy) in the church before Charles' coronation. But the real grabber is an added scene at the very end of the movie that offers a parting glance at the primary players and a final bittersweet twist. Where on earth did this footage come from, and why has it been missing from this film for so long? Does this DVD version offer a "better" ending than the familiar one? It's debateable. But it's certainly intriguing.

Charming Comedy - With a Message
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.

Biting and witty satire
I have to admit that for someone who is normally not much of a movie enthusiast this is one of my all time favorite films. The film is a darkly satiric comedy that pokes fun at the absurdity and futility of war. When a group of inmates from a local insane asylum escape during the chaos and confusion into the abandoned French town, the stage is set to ironically contrast the insanity of war brought by supposedly sane people with the harmless behavior of the supposedly insane inmates who are acting out the roles of normal town citizens. And yet it is the innocuous and inoffensive inmates who are caged and ostensibly sane people are making war and running around free.

The inmates wander into the town and assume various roles, from the barber to the mayor. The inmates do this so convincingly that the young corporal who is sent to warn them of the approaching Germans at first can't tell the difference, which becomes a metaphor for the real question in the move, which is, who is really crazier: the inmates, or the "normal" people and soldiers fighting the war?

Unfortunately, the young corporal is unable to avert the confrontation between the British and German companies who march into town, and when the other British troops arrive, the inmates realize it's time for them to go back to their former home in the asylum.

I didn't know most of the cast, except for Adolpho Celi (I recognized him as the heavy from an early Jame Bond movie), Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold, but I thought all the performances were superb, especially Jean-Claude Brialy, who played the mayer, Pierre Brasseur, who played General Geranium, and the barber (unfortunately I don't recall his real name. Overall, a great movie and a brilliantly witty satire and stinging indictment of the futility and absurdity of war.