Happy Birthday….Prince Sirki???

I’m sure some of you that regularly read DV are surprised that The Prince is not being featured for his er, ‘regular’ duties. But in fact, it was 78 years ago today that the first film incarnation of Prince Sirki, masterfully portrayed by Frederic March, was introduced to American film audiences in the 1934 release of DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY.

As previously written, The Grim Reaper decides to take a three day break from his duties to find out why mortals fear him. He adopts the guise of Prince Sirki and he stays at the estate of Duke Lambert. During his stay, he meets and discovers the lovely Grazia (Evelyn Venable)  has fallen in love with him, and he, with her. The Duke, whose son was to marry Grazia, begs him to renounce his love and let her live. Death must decide to seek his own happiness or to sacrifice it to let Grazia live. I’ll leave it to you to watch it for the outcome.