The Best Films of Ronald Colman

The best film stars are defined by their voices and none had a finer voice than Ronald Colman; I would bet it has been imitated more often than any other. His good looks got him parts in silent cinema, but when the talkies came along, he really bloomed—the man with the mellifluous voice. But even with that liquid gold voice, great parts were few and far between, and even this list of his best films gets a bit weak toward the end.

Before his top eight, an honorable mention to Raffles (1930), which defined the “gentleman thief” in film.

#8 – Lost Horizon (1937) — It’s a bit long, and has a dim philosophy, but it also has some nice adventure moments and no doubt felt like the answer to all things for people in the Great Depression.

#7 – My Life With Caroline (1941) — A wild farce with a basic premise that would be hard to believe if the film cared about you believing it. Every few years his wife takes up with a new man, forgetting she’d done it before, and he must persuade her to return.

#6 – Random Harvest (1942) — Colman is a war vet with amnesia who falls in love, gets married, then gets amnesia again and wanders off. It’s a weepy melodrama, but a well-made one.

#5 – A Tale of Two Cities (1935) — It does a passable job of translating a great novel for the screen, and while the directing is mediocre and several actors fail, Colman is excellent; it is one of his best performances. [Also on the Basil Rathbone list]

#4 – Kismet (1944) — A non-musical version of my favorite musical. It’s Arabian fantasy with all sorts of dashing about and romance and swordplay.

#3 – If I Were King (1938) — A witty costume comedy/drama that is really a series of brilliant conversations between Colman (as a roguish poet) and Basil Rathbone (as the king). [Also on the Basil Rathbone list]

#2 – Champagne for Caesar (1950) — In this zany comedy, Colman plays a brilliant man who decides to bankrupt an arrogant businessman by winning a quiz show. Vincent Price is the businessman. [Also on the Vincent Price list]

#1 – The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) — A magnificent Swashbuckler, easily intertwining romance, humor, and heroics. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., playing one of the great cinematic villains, almost steals the show… Almost.

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