Command Performance (1931) On DVD

Actor:         Neil Hamilton, Una Merkel
Director:    Walter Lang
Genre:         Drama
Year:            N/A
Studio:         Alpha Video
Length:        1 hours, 9 minutes
Released:   February 25, 2014
Rating:         Not Rated
Format:        DVD (NTSC/Region 1)
Misc:             Black & White
Language:   English
Subtitles  :   N/A

DESCRIPTION:

Peter Fedor, a stage actor in the kingdom of Sherblandt, faces a royal dilemma: In real life, he must masquerade as a prince and win the hand of a princess. If he fails, his punishment will be death. If he succeeds, his reward will be imprisonment!

Desperate to ally themselves with the neighboring kingdom of Kordovia, Sherblandt's rulers hope to forge an alliance with the marriage of their Prince Alexis to Kordovia's Princess Katerina.

The ne'er-do-well prince refuses to court her, so Peter -- a dead-ringer for the prince -- is enlisted to impersonate him and woo the lovely lady. Peter will need to be on guard as a Kordovian duke has his eye on Katerina and has been arranging fatal "accidents" for all of her suitors!

The old "Prisoner of Zenda" adventure gimmick of a look alike taking the place of a country's leader also worked well for comedies, from The Great Dictator and The Great Race to this royal farce, based on a then-recent Broadway play. Up-and-coming comedy queen Thelma Todd appears inCommand Performance's opening sequence.