The Royal Bed (1931 Pre-Code Satirical Comedy film)

Produced by William LeBaron and distributed through RKO. The film was directed by and starred Lowell Sherman, along with Mary Astor and Anthony Bushell. The screenplay was adapted by J. Walter Ruben based on the 1928 play by Robert E. Sherwood titled The Queen's Husband. It would be one of a handful of RKO pictures which was produced in both English and French language versions.

Plot
Princess Anne (Mary Astor) plans to run away with Freddie Granton (Anthony Bushell), the commoner secretary of her father, King Eric VIII (Lowell Sherman), once her domineering mother, Queen Martha (Nance O'Neil), has left for a vacation in America. Anne is therefore aghast when the Marquis of Birten (Alan Roscoe) brings news that he has negotiated her political marriage to Prince William of Grec (Hugh Trevor), a man she has never even met. Dismissing Anne's vehement protests, the Queen is delighted, a feeling not shared by Anne's loving but ineffectual father.

Meanwhile, the Premier and General Northrup (Robert Warwick) warn that a revolution is brewing. He wishes to execute large numbers of political prisoners but cannot without the King's signature. The Queen wholeheartedly approves of these stern measures. The King promises to attend to it, but after Northrup and the Queen leave, he orders his secretary to misplace the death warrants. Led by Laker (Carrol Naish), the rebels rise up after Northrup gets Parliament to grant him dictatorial powers. Anne seizes the opportunity to try to flee with Granton, with her father's approval. However, when she believes that the King is in real danger, she refuses to leave him.

Cast
Gilbert Emery
Lowell Sherman as King Eric VIII
Mary Astor as Princess Anne
Anthony Bushell as Freddie Granton
Hugh Trevor as Crown Prince William of Grec
Nance O'Neil as Queen Martha
Robert Warwick as Premier and General Northrup
Gilbert Emery as Phipps
Alan Roscoe as Marquis of Birten
Frederick Burt as Doctor Fellman
Carrol Naish as Laker
Desmond Roberts as Major Blent
Nancy Lee Blaine as Lady in Waiting
Lita Chevret as Lady in Waiting

Production
In September 1930, it was announced that RKO would be producing The Queen's Husband, a successful Broadway play by Robert E. Sherwood (although The Film Daily incorrectly attributed the play to Noël Coward) and disclosed that Sherman would direct and star in the project. William LeBaron, head of production for RKO Radio Pictures, had purchased the rights to Sherwood's play during his trip to New York in early September. Later in the month, Emery's involvement in the film was announced in "an important role".

In early October, Nance O'Neil's attachment in the role of the Queen was reported, with Mary Astor's involvement as the Princess announced the week later. Robert Warwick was loaned from Fox, who pulled him out of the cast of Once a Sinner prior to production, to play the role of Northrup on October 15.

In mid-October, it was reported that United Artists would handle the distribution of the French version of the film, in French-speaking countries. Using an all-French cast, that version was scheduled for release on November 30. The complete cast for the French version, being shot at the RKO lot in Hollywood, was announced at the beginning of November.

On October 21 the final cast was announced, as well as J. Walter Ruben as the writer in charge of the screenplay adaptation, and Arthur Roberts signed on as the editor. The film was already in production by this time at RKO's studio in Hollywood.

In November 1930 it trades paper accounts announced that the name of the film was being changed from The Queen's Husband to The Royal Bed.