This version of The Prince and the Pauper had all the ingredients to be good, and it was, great even. Maybe some of the first half of the film takes a little too much time to get going, but everything else really shines. The sets and costumes are very handsome and colourful and the film is sumptuously photographed too. Korngold's score is superb, very sweeping and bombastic, I would go as far to say that it is almost as good as his score for The Adventures of Robin Hood which I have long considered one of the all-time greats in that regard. The dialogue is suitably witty, the swash-buckling itself is energetically and never clumsily choreographed and the story is as timeless as ever. Billy and Bobby Mauch are very endearing as the twins and although he doesn't appear until halfway through Errol Flynn is a gallant charismatic presence. Montagnu Love is a characterful and moving King Henry, but faring best are Claude Rains, doing urbane in a way not many other actors could do, and Alan Hale as a suitably villainous Captain. All in all, a great film, worth noting for Korngold's score, the production values and Rains. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Review of The Prince and the Pauper
