Superior to the 1956 Vagabond King

I was looking up info on English translations of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. I saw the name of Justin Huntly McCarthy. it was a "6 degree of separation" thing that led me to his story of Catherine de Vaucelles and François Villon. I was instantly taken with it. And having seen both If I were King and the 1956 Vagabond King, I have to call this the better movie.

Of course Katherine Grayson is a fantastic Catherine de Vaucelles. Easy on the eyes. Trills like an angel. And Oreste Kirkop as François Villon is an opera singer. And there's technicolor. But Frances Dee is just as alluring. And there's only one Ronald Coleman. Devil-may-care and insouciant. And as ardent a suitor as ever was. I was spellbound at his contriteness when he finally confessed all to his lady love. And his François Villon looks grubbier than Kirkop's; maybe it's the black-and-white.

And black-and-white; I love eye-popping color as much as any other movie maven; but there's something about pristing black-and-white that just evokes the sense of watching some thing truly classic and archival.

And Basil Rathbone is a hoot. Totally unrecognizable as the cerebral Holmes or any of the arrogant movie villains he plays. He almost evokes the memory of cimena portrayls of Ebezener Scrooge with the cackle, the capering, and the snide sneer (pardon the alliteration)