The King's Jester

Michel Simon is magnificently Laughton-esque as Rigoletto the hunchbacked clown in the dramatic version of the Victor Hugo play that was to form the basis for the opera of Giuseppe Verdi. The film also features Maria Mercader as Gilda, Rigoletto's lovesick daughter who falls in love with the lecherous king, played by Rossano Brazzi. Favorite actress of Mussolini's fascist regime, Doris Duranti, performs a deliciously vampy dance as the prostitute Margot-Maddalena. Mario Bonnard directed this true gem from the Italian fascist era.