DVD The Prince and the Pauper
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Review(s): DVD The Prince and the Pauper | |
| A Fine Historical Drama (not a swashbuckler) |
In this 1937 adaptation of the Mark Twain novel, Errol Flynn is billed as the star, but actually he's only a supporting character here. The stars of the movie are Billy and Bobby Mauch, twin brothers who appeared together in several 1930's movies. Here they play Prince Edward and Tom Canty, lookalikes who grew up in very different circumstances. By a series of mishaps they end up living in each other's shoes for a while, and each comes out the richer for the experience. Like 1939's "Elizabeth and Essex," this movie isn't so much a swashbuckler as it is a serious period costume drama. Claude Rains appears as the scheming Earl of Hertford who wants to be the power behind the throne, and Montague Love does a pretty darn good Henry VIII. Barton Maclane is pretty scary here as the father of Tom Canty, a murderer and thief. The scenes where he knocks around his son, quite frankly, are pretty hard to watch for modern eyes. One of the triumphs of the story is that young Tom escapes not only poverty, but an abusive home as well. This movie isn't in the same league as "Robin Hood," but it is a high quality production that deserves attention.(Trivia: this is the only movie where the great Alan Hale plays a bad guy to Errol Flynn's hero.)
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| Worthy version of an old warhorse |
The Prince and the Pauper was Mark Twain's own personal favourite of all his tales and Hollywood would seem to agree with this authorial self-assessment as it is the most often filmed of his works
Having said that ,this lavish Warner Brothers movie from 1937 is not taken directly from Twain but from a stage version of the story .It is the tale of two look-alike boys .One is the son of Henry V111 ,Prince Edward ,later to be the short lived Edward vi ,and the other a beggar boy from the streets of London ,one Tom Carty .These roles are played by respectively ,Bobby Mauch and his twin Billy .
They switch roles ,without declaring this and the beggar finds himself taken for the cossetted prince while Edward is thrust into the teeming London streets and narrowly escapes beating from his drunken and abusive father
While the beggar boy posing as prince is mired in court intrigue ,especially as he seeks to avoid manipulation by the devious Hereford(Claude Rains)the real Prince tries to resume his former life and is derided as mad when he insisits he is the real heir to the throne .He meets wondering freebooter Miles Hendon (Errol Flynn )whose initial sceptical amusement at the boy changes over time to a realosation that he is telling the truth and setsa out to restore the boy to his rightful place .This is no easy task in the face of attempted assassins and the need grows more urgent when King Henry dies and the coronation of the wrong boy seems inevitable
The Hal Wallis production is suitably ornate and the coronation scene is especially well mounted .Also adding substantially to the appeal of the movie is a strong Korngold score .
The problem for devotees of Errol Flynn as they watch the movie will be twofold .It takes some time for his character to appear and there is no strong female star for him to spark off against .For my money he was always at his best with a strong performer like de Havilland to inteact with and this is lacking here .The twins are earnest and likeable but not especially good actors but Rains as ever is excellent as the villain
Its a good movie but would have benefitted from getting Flynn into the action earlier by some script trimming
Enjoyable but not great
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| Errol Flynn in Support of Mauch Twins in Classic Twain Tale! |
In 1937, the WB, capitalizing on Errol Flynn's spectacular performances in CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, cast him in four films, with varying degrees of success. The best, by far, was William Keighley and William Dieterle's production of the Mark Twain classic, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, where he supported new WB 'discoveries' Billy and Bobby Mauch, portraying London urchin Tom Canty and his look-alike, Prince Edward Tudor. The twins were gifted, young (12 at the time of the filming) actors, with a Freddie Bartholomew-like quality of engaging innocence, and they gave this version of the oft-filmed tale a sense of reality that split-screen performances by a single actor could never achieve.The story is an engaging one, as young Canty, inspired by his mother and a local priest to dream of a finer life than his father, an ill-tempered beggar (Barton MacLane) could provide, sneaks onto the grounds of Buckingham Palace. There, he meets young Prince Edward, who is thrilled to meet a boy his own age...and, after cleaning him up a bit, is astonished to discover that the pair could pass as twins. Edward decides this is a golden opportunity to see what life outside the Palace is really like, so, against Canty's misgivings, the two exchange clothing, and the Prince leaves...creating far more of an uproar than either boy could ever imagine! Canty is soon considered 'mad', as he insists he is not Edward, and the Prince, abused and ridiculed by Tom's father, is unceremoniously thrown off the Palace grounds when he attempts to return, by a disbelieving Captain of the Guards (Alan Hale, in the first of 12 films he'd make with his friend, Errol Flynn). The ambitious Earl of Hertford (the always brilliant Claude Rains) investigates Canty's claim, and realizes, after interviewing the Captain, that the boy is telling the truth, giving him a golden opportunity to seize power. Ordering the Captain to find and kill the Prince, the Earl then threatens to kill Canty if he doesn't obey his commands. Things grow desperate for the young Prince, as he attempts to evade his murderous 'father' on the streets, until Miles Hendon (Flynn), a roguish but good-natured 'soldier-for-hire' comes to his aid. Offering his protection to the lad, Hendon thinks him a bit balmy, as well...until events (the child's obvious despair over the death of Henry VIII, the Palace search party, and a sword duel with the Captain, where Flynn KILLS Alan Hale!!!) convince him otherwise. Then it becomes a race against time to smuggle the real King into the Coronation, before Canty is crowned, and the Earl assumes "the Power behind the Throne". Blessed with a gifted cast, including wonderful character actor Montagu Love as the dying Henry VIII, the film offers a truly exceptional film score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (who would eventually expand the theme into a symphonic work). Audiences have always been surprised that Errol Flynn's role is not larger, but as a faithful Twain adaptation, the focus had to be on the two boys, and not on the impoverished soldier. Flynn had fun playing Hendon, and the Mauch twins were nothing less than superb as the leads. With THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD less than a year away, and Errol Flynn's star continuing to ascend, the WB had every reason to celebrate, and THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER is a pleasure to watch, to this day!
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