Royal Flash (1975)

A rather lazy and irresponsible cad (Malcolm McDowell) has duped the military into thinking he is a war hero when, in fact, he's a coward. He is coerced by a Prussian statesman (Oliver Reed) into impersonating a Danish prince (also McDowell) at his marriage to a German princess (Britt Ekland) for political reasons. Based on the novel by George MacDonald Fraser (who adapted his book into a screenplay) and directed by Richard Lester. Fraser had adapted Dumas' THREE MUSKETEERS for Lester previously and the irreverent slapstick tone of that film carries over into ROYAL FLASH but not as successfully. While moderately enjoyable, the gags are rather stale and it's often easy spot a sight gag even before it happens. But the production values courtesy of Terence Marsh and Alan Tomkins are impressive and MacDowell has just the right touch of impudence to carry off the shenanigans. Still, there are large pockets of tedium. With Alan Bates, Florinda Bolkan, Bob Hoskins, Lionel Jeffries, Joss Ackland and Christopher Cazenove.