The King of Paris: A bit dusty, but charmingly manipulative

Is it worth the watch?

If you like old, slightly creaky British dramas from the 1930s, you might get a kick out of this. It’s definitely not for everyone. If you hate watching men be absolute control freaks for ninety minutes, stay far, far away. 🙄

The King of Paris moves at its own pace. It doesn’t care if you’re bored. It just wants to show you how a big-shot theater guy ruins a young woman’s life because he can’t handle losing his grip on her.

Cedric Hardwicke is in this, and honestly, he carries the whole thing. He’s got that specific kind of charisma that makes you want to root for him right until he does something so selfish you just want to yell at the screen.

The whole marriage-by-trickery plot is… well, it’s gross. But the movie doesn’t really treat it like a tragedy. It treats it like a business transaction that went sideways. That’s the weirdest part.

Random thoughts from my notepad:

• The lighting in the dressing room scenes is strangely flat. It looks like they were shooting in a basement.
• Ralph Richardson shows up and tries to make the best of a script that feels like it was written in a hurry.
• There is a moment near the middle where the pacing just hits a wall. I almost checked my phone.
• The Russian girl character? She gets the short end of the stick. Every time she tries to have a personality, someone tells her to go back to rehearsals.

It’s not as interesting as The Wandering Jew, but it has a certain vibe. It’s like eating stale bread—it’s not great, but it’s food.

I found myself wondering if this felt as dated in 1930 as it does now. Probably not. People were way more into the 'genius man manipulating the ingenue' trope back then. Whatever.

The dialogue is very stagey. People say things like, "You are my creation!" and they actually mean it. No one talks like that in real life, thank god.

The ending isn't some big fireworks show. It just kind of... stops. You walk away feeling like you watched a very long play that was missing the final act. It’s fine, I guess. If you’re a completionist for this era, go for it. Otherwise, maybe just watch something else. 🍿