On the eve of his coronation as king, Rudolph V of Ruritania falls ill. He has been poisoned by his evil half-brother, Grand Duke Michael. Unwilling to let Michael seize power, the King's subordinates hit upon a daring plan. Rudolf Rassendyll, a visiting Englishman and distant relative of the royal family, bears a startling resemblance to the King. Using him as substitute, the coronation proceeds as planned. Realizing his scheme has been foiled, Michael kidnaps the real King and holds him captive in the Castle of Zenda. Rassendyll leads a rescue party to free the King, but realizes that giving up his royal duties may not be as easy as he thought...

Rex Ingram followed up his box-office smash The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) with this adaptation of the classic 1894 novel by Anthony Hope. Owing to his prior film's success, the director was granted an enormous budget for The Prisoner of Zenda. Massive construction crews built 72 buildings, eventually making up six city blocks worth of dwellings, to create the fictional kingdom of Ruritania. 10,000 extras were employed during the coronation scene. Twenty-six costume designers labored four months to make the costumes, assisted by 540 tailors and dressmakers. Leading man Lewis Stone is best known as Mickey Rooney's stately father in the Andy Hardy film series, but at the time he more resembled Ronald Coleman, who would later play Rudolf in the 1937 remake. The actor who makes the biggest impression is Ramon Novarro, playing a supporting villain. Even though he already had small parts in almost 100 films, The Prisoner of Zenda was considered Novarro's "big break." (Indeed, he would be top-billed in re-release prints.) Navarro would later cause a sensation with his revealing costumes in the original Ben-Hur (1925). Afterwards MGM heavily promoted him as a "Latin Lover" and sex symbol in movies such as The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), Mata Hari (1931) and The Barbarian (1933). Shortly following the completion of filming, Rex Ingram eloped with lead actress Alice Terry. They remained married until the director's death in 1950.