The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Mark Twain (novel)
Laird Doyle (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 May 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Mark Twain's Immortal Classic !

Plot:

Two lookalike boys, one a poor street kid and the other a prince, exchange places to see what the other's life is like.

Plot Keywords:

Guard | Ward | Slum | Attempted Murder | Thief

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	Miles Hendon
Claude Rains	...	Earl of Hertford
Henry Stephenson	...	Duke of Norfolk
Barton MacLane	...	John Canty
Billy Mauch	...	Tom Canty (as The Mauch Twins)
Robert J. Mauch	...	Prince Edward (as The Mauch Twins)
Alan Hale	...	Captain of the Guard
Eric Portman	...	First Lord
Lionel Pape	...	Second Lord
Leonard Willey	...	Third Lord
Murray Kinnell	...	Hugo
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Archbishop
Phyllis Barry	...	Barmaid
Ivan F. Simpson	...	Clemens (as Ivan Simpson)
Montagu Love	...	Henry VIII

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #2932) | Australia:G

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

The coronation scene was on a set that duplicated Westminster Abbey and took seven days to shoot.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the boys exchange roles, as the Prince (as Tom) goes out to get his dog at the stable he picks up a large candle, but when he comes out the door he no longer has it.

Quotes:

[the boys are switching clothes - the prince holds up one of Tom's tattered garments]
Prince Edward Tudor: Are there in any vermin in this?
Tom Canty: So few you'll hardly notice them at all, your highness.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Tripping the Rift: Nature vs. Nurture (#1.9)" (2004)

Definitive version of much-filmed tale

Watching a movie like this is like returning to a much-loved home: tattered townspeople with cor-blimey accents mingle in a suspiciously clean-looking olde-worlde England, bad guys wear their badness on their sleeve for everyone to see, and the screen is filled with reassuringly familiar character actors. Hollywood historical adventures of the thirties - you just can't go wrong.

The Mauch twins are so alike you tend to think you're watching one actor playing two parts, but, in today's effects-heavy climate, the decision to use twins rather than Freddie Bartholomew in a dual role (and no doubt utilizing split-screen techniques that would look distinctly dodgy today)can be seen to be a wise one.

Director Keighley maintains a brisk pace throughout, and elicits a suitably dashing performance from a young Errol Flynn who, although top-billed, does not appear until the film is nearly half over. If you're a fan of old movies you'll love this one, and if you're not you just might be converted.