source: King of Hearts

Trailer—Le roi de coeur

Le roi de coeur

During WW1, an insane asylum is left between the German and French battle lines. The abandoned inmates get out and take over the town. This is where the main part of the movie deals with. At the end, the German and French armies realise the area is free and return simultaneously. A big battle occurs in front of the insane patient's eyes. They realise these people outside the walls must be crazier than those civilized people inside the walls. They return to their asylum, making sure the gates are locked to keep out those crazies outside the walls! Sad sad world outside. Safe inside the walls.

When will this film be available to buy? This moving and surreal film deserves to be seen. One of the late Alan Bates' finest roles. The lunatics do not just take over the asylum, here they take over the town! Some find the themes of this film trite, yes it may be termed simplistic, but this is its great charm. It moves and engages, and its final scene with Bates choosing to return to the asylum and his friends over his military life is heartbreaking. The film is able to question notions of alienation and what is 'mental illness'? Who is REALLY crazy? The generals or the inmates? Who decides who is free and who is locked up? A very interesting cult 60's film which along with 'Morgan!' takes a serious look at humanity, war and society.

some here may say this film is outdated. but the story and its telling are superb. the subtleties, the wry humor, cinematography, acting are all great. genevieve bujold is gorgeous and moving. alan bates an excellent pick for the lead. the twists of plot and irony of war and the insane asylum as metaphor all mesh perfectly. there are many fine qualities in this film that will never be outdated. i suggest there's even an undertone related to the Vietnamese conflict raging in the year this was made. a must-see!

One of greatest movies of all time, it is charming and sweet, funny and romantic. It is a unique film that at once captures the best of humanity and the folly of war. Set in a small town in World War I France, it has a crazy premise that works because the film is true to that premise to the very end. Everything about it is superb: the acting, the direction, the writing, the score, the cinematography. Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold are perfectly cast in the lead, but the entire cast is great. The music is beautiful. The ending is brilliant. If you rent it, be sure you get the subtitled version. It is in three languages (French, English, German), and the dubbed version loses a lot.

If you really really like the single joke in the film (i.e., a soldier stumbles into an insane asylum and is proclaimed their king), then you'll no doubt think this film is brilliant. My problem is that I kept waiting for MORE. But, the only thing I got was a rather bland film apart from his dealings with the inmates. In fact, the film really looked much like the Richard Lester film How I Won the War (1967)--another spoof of war that just didn't seem very funny to me either. I think the same material could have been handled much better with perhaps a more Monty Python approach (as was first brought up by muscoe from California) or perhaps by giving it the Peter Sellers touch--anything to make it more than a single joke film. I just thought it was tiresome and wonder if maybe those who made the movie were perhaps using drugs that made them THINK it was so !@&%!# funny--after all, it was made in the 1960s.

One of the great ones; makes you ask the question, " Who are the real lunatics?" Excellent cast and direction; done with rare humor, yet carries a profound message

A timeless and exquisite treatment of profound and compelling issues, this 1966 International collaboration, was one of the few films ever to give tasteful testimony to being truly sane, or maybe I should say being truly (in)sane in a cruel and berserk world. If you liked Life Is Beautiful, E.T., Star Wars, The Great Dictator, Gandhi, Henry V, Blazing Saddles, or Rain Man... you will probably love this movie. It remains for me among the top three or four, of all movies I have ever seen.