King Ralph

Movie
German title	King Ralph
Original title	King Ralph
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1991
length	97 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
Rod
Director	David S. Ward
script	Emlyn Williams ; David S. Ward
production	David S. Ward
music	James Newton Howard
camera	Kenneth MacMillan
cut	John Jympson
occupation
	John Goodman : Ralph Jones / King Ralph I.; Camille Coduri : Miranda Green; Peter O'Toole : Sir Cedric Willingham / King Cedric; John Hurt : Lord Percival Graves; Richard Griffiths : Phipps Duncan; Leslie Phillips : Gordon; James Villiers : Hale; Niall O'Brien : McGuire; Joely Richardson : Princess Anna; Julian Glover : King Gustav; Judy Parfitt : Queen Katherine; Rudolph Walker : King Mulamboa; Michael Johnson : Hamilton; Jason Richards : Baby Ralph II.;

King Ralph is a 1991 American comedy film starring John Goodman , John Hurt and Peter O'Toole . The film is based on the novel Headlong by Emlyn Williams.

action

By unfortunate coincidence, all members of the British royal family were electrocuted while taking a family photo . The first private secretary, Sir Cedric Willingham, feverishly tries to find a legitimate heir to the throne . After an intensive search, an illegitimate child of the family is found. However, Ralph Jones does not quite meet the expectations of a future king: The American earns his living in Las Vegas playing the piano. Still, you decide to give it a try.

Having just lost his engagement, Ralph lets himself be convinced to come to the UK with no idea what is expected of him. Even when Sir Cedric tries to teach him everything that a king must know and be able to do, but above all what he is not allowed to do, Ralph always goes overboard.

When King Ralph meets the charming nightclub stripper Miranda Green on a secret excursion, things get tricky: Lord Percival Graves of the House of the Stuarts is only waiting to expose the last heir to the House of Windham (alluding to the House of Windsor ) in order to to inherit the throne.

He offers Miranda a lot of money to have scandalous photos of King Ralph taken unnoticed. Miranda wants to prevent this from happening, but a photographer manages to take a few pictures that show Ralph and Miranda kissing.

Ralph is now getting better and better at his new role as king. He passed his first state reception with flying colors, because King Mulambon, his guest from Africa, just didn't like the stiff court ceremonies and took a liking to the unconventional manner of his host.

The Prime Minister and Sir Cedric decide that the King must marry and arrange a ball with Princess Anna of Finland . There are large Finnish orders for the ailing British economy in prospect, so a connection at the highest level would be just right. After some initial reluctance, Ralph agrees, even if he's still in love with Miranda. Lord Percival bribes the king's butler and through him sends Miranda an invitation to the ball. On the evening of the event, he whispers to the naive king that he should just let himself go at the ball, that is sure to be well received by the guests. Ralph, encouraged by his success with King Mulambon, then tries to loosen up the stiff mood at the ball by playing a wild rock'n roll number on the spinet . The ball guests, especially the Finnish royal couple, are horrified. Just as this embarrassment comes to an end, the unsuspecting Miranda shows up at the ball. At this moment Lord Percival passes the scandalous images to the Finnish king. The guests of state leave the ball indignantly. The long-awaited major order has burst. The king's popularity has hit rock bottom.

But Sir Cedric gets on the track of the intrigues. He informs the King and Scotland Yard . Butler Gordon's handwriting is identified, arrested and confessed. In the meantime, King Ralph discovered that Sir Cedric would also have come into question as heir to the throne. But he had renounced because he lacked the courage and he has no children to secure the succession .

King Ralph has the British House of Lords convened. Lord Percival continues to incite the lords against him before the king's arrival. Now Ralph appears in the session, which is televised live . He apologizes to the British people for making many mistakes and announces that he has signed a major industrial contract with King Mulambon. The negative mood begins to change. Now the king exposes who was trying to sabotage him and has Lord Percival arrested in accordance with the High Treason Act of 1702 for attempting to interfere with the succession of the monarchy of Scotland Yard. Then he reveals to the Lords that Sir Cedric is also entitled to the throne. Then he officially abdicates and hands over his office to Cedric. This noble gesture caused a storm of enthusiasm across the entire house and the people of England.

Ralph packs his things and says goodbye to the now monarch, King Cedric. Then Ralph is made Duke of Warren. Ralph wins Miranda for a fresh start and a little later they live happily ever after with a child at Warren Castle. King Cedric has set up a music studio especially for Ralph, which he uses extensively.

Reviews

"Ward arranges this story as gag fireworks, but most of his blasts fizzle out as duds. The film relies too much on Goodman's quaint joke, but the good man alone doesn't make the comedy funny. "

- epd film 6/1991

"Exuberantly played and perfectly timed comedy that derives its humor mainly from the collision of American (in) culture and English tradition, without using cheap gags."

- film service 10/1991

background

The Treason Act 1702, quoted by Ralph, really does exist. He imposed the death penalty for the crime of interfering with the succession of the British monarchy , which was only officially commuted to life imprisonment in 1998 . Contrary to what Ralph claimed in the film, however, it was not under Wilhelm III. adopted but in the first year of Queen Anne's reign .

In the film, King Ralph I receives the King of Finland and his family. With Friedrich Karl von Hessen, Finland only had a nominal king for two months towards the end of the First World War in 1918.

The name of the Finnish king, " Gustav ", is a Swedish, more precisely a Nordic first name and is not used with this variant as a first name in Finnish. The Finnish variant for Gustav is Kustaa, but this first name is rare.

A gag of the film could hardly be translated into German: Ralph is presented with a selection of typically English dishes. As an American, he doesn't know the English dessert cake “ Spotted Dick”, confuses it with the sausages from “Bangers and Mash” and asks which animal this “Dick” ( penis ) is from. In the German dubbing one made do with the designation "Gefüllter Dödel".