Calcutta Tube - Online Bengali Movies/Cinema/Reviews

Sharadindu Based his storyline but never copied 100% as of the original story. The book was extremely popular and many people used it for drama, stage performances and to make movies.

Adaptations

The novel has been adapted many times, mainly for film but also stage, musical, operetta, radio, and television. Probably the best-known version is the 1937 Hollywood movie. The dashingly villainous Rupert of Hentzau has been played by such matinee idols as Ramon Novarro (1922), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1937), and James Mason (1952).

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1896) opened as a play in the West End, co-written by Hope and Edward Rose.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1913) - Starring James K. Hackett, Beatrice Beckley, David Torrence, Fraser Coalter, William R. Randall and Walter Hale. Adapted by Hugh Ford and directed by Ford and Edwin S. Porter, it was produced by Adolph Zukor and was the first production of the Famous Players Film Company.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1915) - Starring Henry Ainley, Gerald Ames, George Bellamy, Marie Anita Bozzi, Jane Gail, Arthur Holmes-Gore, Charles Rock and Norman Yates. It was adapted by W. Courtney Rowden and directed by George Loane Tucker.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) - Starring Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone, Alice Terry, Robert Edeson, Stuart Holmes, Malcolm McGregor and Barbara La Marr. It was adapted by Mary O’Hara and directed by Rex Ingram.

• Princess Flavia (1925), an operetta with the score by Sigmund Romberg.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) - Starring Ronald Colman as Rassendyll and Rudolph, Madeleine Carroll as Princess Flavia, Raymond Massey as Michael, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau. David O. Selznick decided to produce the film, partly as a comment on the Edward VIII abdication crisis[2], and it was directed by John Cromwell. Of the many film adaptations, this is considered by many to be the definitive version.[3] Leslie Halliwell puts it at #590 of all the films ever made, saying that the “splendid schoolboy adventure story” of the late Victorian novel is “perfectly transferred to the screen”,[4] and quotes a 1971 comment by John Cutts that the film becomes more “fascinating and beguiling” as time goes by. Halliwell’s Film Guide 2008 calls it “one of the most entertaining films to come out of Hollywood”.[5]

• Colman, Smith and Fairbanks reprised their roles for a 1939 episode of Lux Radio Theatre, with Colman’s wife Benita Hume playing Princess Flavia.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) - Starring Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, Louis Calhern, Jane Greer, Lewis Stone, Robert Douglas, James Mason and Robert Coote. Stone, who played the lead in the 1922 version, had a minor role in this remake. It was adapted by Edward E. Rose, (dramatization) Wells Root, John L. Balderston, Noel Langley and Donald Ogden Stewart (additional dialogue, originally uncredited). It was directed by Richard Thorpe. It is a shot-for-shot copy of the 1937 film, the only difference being that it was made in Technicolor. Halliwell judges it “no match for the happy inspiration of the original”.[5]

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1961) U.S. television adaptation (DuPont Show of the Month), starring Christopher Plummer and Inger Stevens.

• Zenda (1963), a musical that closed on the road prior to a scheduled opening on Broadway. Adapted from the 1925 Princess Flavia.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1979) - A comic version, starring Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, Lionel Jeffries, Elke Sommer, Gregory Sierra, Jeremy Kemp, Catherine Schell, Simon Williams and Stuart Wilson. It was adapted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and directed by Richard Quine.

• The Prisoner of Zenda (1984) - BBC adaptation starring Malcolm Sinclair.

(Source)
I have watched only two of those Zenda Movies:

The first movie “Prisoner of Zenda”  released in 1937.
Imdb link for the first Prizoner of ZENDA: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029442/
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 black-and-white adventure film based on the Anthony Hope 1894 novel of the same name and the 1896 play. Of the many film adaptations, this is considered by many to be the definitive version.

It starred Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., with a supporting cast including C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor and David Niven. It was directed by John Cromwell, produced by David O. Selznick for Selznick International Pictures, and distributed by United Artists. The screenplay was written by John L. Balderston, adapted by Wells Root from the novel, with dramatisation by Edward E. Rose; Donald Ogden Stewart was responsible for additional dialogue, and Ben Hecht and Sidney Howard made uncredited contributions.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Original Music Score. In 1991, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.

(Source)

The 2nd one I have seen:  “Prisoner of Zenda” made in 1952.

Imdb link for the first Prizoner of ZENDA: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045053/

This time it was a color film. Unfortunately this film was almost 100% copy of the first black and white Prizoner of Zenda. All dialogues and even the positions of camerawork looked complete copy. Then why watch the second one? FOR HUMOUR! Yes. This movie was directed by Richard Thrope. Stewart Granger Played the douple role, a king and a fisherman from England! But Richard thrope had great sense of humour that made the movie lot lively than the old one. Ronald Coleman was good but lacked humor in the old film. Deborah Kerr played the role of Queen of Flavia superbly.

DOWNLOAD PRIZONER OF ZENDA

So, that was the background for the great bengali movie “Jhinder Bandhi”. Notice the similarity between Zenda and Jhind!
Here is something special for you all. Even if you may not get a chance to watch all previous movies, you can read the book here. The book is old enough to enter in the public domain. The book is available at Gutenburg Book Library at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/95 . I recommend that you download the HTML version and save as pdf. Then print ot read at screen.

Direction: Tapan Sinha
Story: Sharadindu Bandhopadhyay adapted from Anthony Hope
Music Direction:Ali Akbar Khan
Lyric: Pandit Bhusan, Dwipnarayan Mithuriya
Playback Singers: Manna Dey..
Cast:Uttam Kumar (Chunilal), Soumitra Chatterjee (Parbati), Arundhati Debi, Radhamohon Bhattacharya, Dilip Roy, Sandhya Roy, Dhiren Mukherjee, Bireswar Sen, Mihir Bhattacharya, Sanjukta Banerjee, Seema Mukherjee,  and more