If I Were King 1938

Paris has long been besieged by the Burgundians, and at the center of the unrest is the roguish François Villon, Ronald Colman, a quick-witted troublemaker raised by the devoted priest Father Villon, C. V. France. After one audacious theft—raiding a royal storehouse—he flirts with danger in a crowded church, where he sights the striking Katherine DeVaucelles, Frances Dee. He strings together a poem he claims was written just for her, and though she seems guarded at first, she offers him an alibi when soldiers move in to take him away.

The ever-calculating King Louis XI, Basil Rathbone, is desperate and suspicious of a traitor at court. In disguise, he slips into a tavern to test the loyalties of his men after receiving an intercepted coded message. Villon, ever the provocateur, ridicules the king and boasts that he could govern better if given the chance. When the watch arrives to seize him, a chaotic riot erupts and Villon ends up killing Grand Constable D’Aussigny, John Miljan, only to discover afterward that D’Aussigny may have been the turncoat. The king, amused and intrigued, rewards the poet by naming him the new Constable, hoping that a commoner might do what nobles could not.

Villon finds himself drawn to Katherine, who serves as a lady-in-waiting to the queen, Heather Thatcher. They fall in love without realizing the other’s true identity, and Louis ruthlessly warns Villon that execution awaits in a week. Facing a near-impossible siege, Villon, inspired by Katherine, engineers a daring move: the King’s storehouses release six months’ worth of food to the starving Parisians, momentarily stalling the assault and giving the city a chance to rally.

Now under constant watch, Villon escapes the palace brink and rides a revival of citizen courage to drive back the Burgundians. The invaders are forced back, and the siege begins to crumble. Yet, unaware of the full impact of his actions, Louis has Villon arrested once more. It is only when Katherine and Father Villon testify on his behalf that the King recognizes the debt he owes and goes personally to free him.

From that point, a wary mutual respect blossoms between king and poet. Louis contemplates a pardon that would exile Villon from Paris rather than condemn him, but Katherine, guided by Father Villon, presses on. She tracks François as he heads south, squeezing the crucial news from Father Villon and following in her carriage at a discreet distance, waiting for François to tire on the road and for what comes next.