Summary
A porcelain monarch, Felix of Wallonia, roams his echoing palace like a sorrowful portrait—crowned yet hollow, craving the perilous luxury of unqualified affection. Statecraft shackles him to Louise, dissolute Princess of crumbling Trebizond whose libertine pulse beats for Stepan, Felix’s own heir-in-waiting. One twilight, through a lattice of gilt and guilt, the King witnesses their illicit fusion; the spectacle detonates his last tolerance for throne or title. Cloaked in anonymity, he crosses the Atlantic with only a faithful baron for ballast, trading scepter for serving-tray inside the chromium citadel of American mogul J.P. Morton. Amidst vacuum-cleaner cords and cocktail chatter he collides with Marcia—heiress, insurgent, aurora. Masquerade frays: an ambassador unmasks him at a gilded ball; a hired assassin’s forged letter brands him charlatan; bullets kiss flesh yet cannot sever the filament now strung between sovereign and commoner. Convalescent ardor flowers into elopement, paternal fury into incredulous obeisance once Morton learns the butler is regal blood. Duty, that ancient predator, hauls Felix home where Stepan’s tyranny bleeds the realm. Marcia, believing love incompatible with coronation, abdicates her hopes. Morton, quintessential capitalist Zeus, purchases an entire kingdom—titles, tiaras, troubles—delivering them gift-wrapped to the cathedral steps. On the dawn of political matrimony Felix discovers his decreed bride Louise has evaporated; in her place stands Marcia, newly ennobled Princess of a bought-and-paid-for Trebizond, ready to co-pilot a bifurcated throne. The film ends not on a kiss but on a merger: two realms, two hearts, one precarious future—an operatic merger of private longing and public necessity.
Synopsis
Felix, the King of Wallonia, is sad. He wants to be loved for himself, not for his title, and he finds it a hard job. Because of state reasons, he has to marry Louise, Princess of the neighboring State of Trebizond. The old Prince, her father, craves the elixir of youth, and gets drunk so often that Trebizond is in bad shape. Thus, it is up to Felix to be King of both States. But Louise has a love affair all of her own. Felix sees her in the embrace of Stepan, the heir presumptive to his throne, and disgusted with things in general and Louise in particular, he flees to America in disguise. With him goes his faithful comrade, Baron Tarnow. By a strange twist of circumstance he takes a job as butler in the home of J.P. Morton, multi-millionaire. There he meets Marcia, Morton's daughter, and the jig is up. He loves her. At a ball given by the Mortons an ambassador from Wallonia recognizes his King. At word from Felix, the ambassador introduces him to the Mortons as a Count. Felix creates quite a stir. Janzi, a bandit, whom Stepan has sent to America to do away with Felix, sends the Mortons a note. He describes Felix as an impostor and a fraud. Thus is Felix ordered out of the Morton home. Janzi and his confederates try to kill him but succeed only in wounding him. Marcia, feeling that she really loves him, saves him from death and nurses him back to health. Then Felix and Marcia elope and plan to get married. Papa Morton catches them and prepares to let Felix have it, but his true identity is revealed. Morton realizes that Felix is a real King. The Ambassador urges Felix to return to Wallonia. Since Stepan has become King, the people are being outraged. Because of his royal blood, Marcia knows that she cannot marry him and so gives Felix up. He returns home and pays Stepan for his villainy. Then, to save the State, he prepares to marry Louise of Trebizond. No matter what the cost the State must be saved. Pop Morton finds that Marcia loves Felix and that the separation is making her unhappy. So, like a real American millionaire, he buys up the Kingdom of Trebizond, royal titles and all. When Felix goes to the altar to be married, he finds that the Princess of Trebizond is his own little Marcia. Long live the King and Queen of Wallonia-Trebizond.
