The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)

a beautiful meeting. more precious than the story, the unconvincing scenes or dialogues. more important than the revelation from backstage. because it is a splendid clash between two styles. because Marylin Monroe shines and Laurence Olivier has an admirable demonstration of exploration of humor sources. because the film could be reduced at the scenes in which they are together. at a seductive duel . sure, political ironical theme, the flavor of modern fairy tale, the references to different personalities and historical situations are not easy to be ignored. but are only details. the motif is simple - Marylin Monroe has the right partner for an inspired self definition as actress. and that is the basic argument for rediscover this special comedy.

Fmovies: It is interesting that a number of films set during the 1900s and early 1910s, both comedies such as 'The Assassination Bureau' and serious dramas such as 'The Riddle of the Sands' and the Robert Powell version of 'The 39 Steps', focus on diplomatic attempts to prevent the outbreak of a European war, even though we know that in real life such attempts were to end in failure. Perhaps this reflects a view that 1914 was the year that witnessed the modern age's loss of innocence and that the history of the twentieth century would have been immeasurably happier if the First World War had indeed been averted.

'The Prince and the Showgirl' is another comedy that looks back to the pre-1914 era as a lost golden age. It centers upon Grand Duke Charles, the Prince Regent of the Balkan state of Carpathia, who, while in London for the coronation of King George V, meets, and has a brief romance with, Elsie Marina, an American-born showgirl working in a London music-hall. Their association is encouraged by officials of the British Foreign Office, who are seeking to encourage the pro-British policies of the Carpathian government and to prevent a shift towards a pro-German stance which could threaten the peace of Europe.

Laurence Olivier is today- rightly- regarded as one of Britain's greatest heavyweight actors of the twentieth century, a man who (unlike some of his fellow theatrical knights) was at home in film roles as he was in the classical Shakespearean dramas in which he made his name. Marilyn Monroe is- perhaps wrongly- widely regarded as a lightweight Hollywood starlet whose main talent was looking decorative in a series of undemanding parts. When the two went head-to-head together, however, there was an unexpected result, with the lightweight beating the heavyweight by a knockout.

The above boxing metaphor was suggested by the numerous stories about the strained relations between Olivier and Monroe during the making of the film, supposedly caused by what he saw as the inadequacy of her performance. If those stories are true, I think that Lord Olivier should perhaps have looked more closely at the beam in his own eye than at the mote in hers. Although this is not Monroe's best film, there is nothing particularly wrong with her portrayal of Elsie, who comes across as a typical Monroe character- empty-headed and flirtatious, but basically decent. It was Olivier's Grand Duke who struck me as the main problem with the film.

Although Charles is supposedly the Hungarian-born ruler of a Balkan kingdom, he speaks English with the heavily guttural pseudo-Germanic accent normally associated with British actors playing Nazis of the 've haff vays und means' school. To strengthen the impression, he occasionally barks German interjections such as 'Himmel!', 'Dummkopf!' 'Schweinehund!' and even 'Donnerwetter!', an imprecation I have never heard a real German use. (The few extended examples of German dialogue in the film suggest that the Carpathians not only speak English with a German accent, but also speak German with an English one. To judge from Sybil Thorndyke's efforts, their French is even worse).

Given that his persona is uncomfortably close to the standard cinematic version of an SS officer (an association that must have seemed even more apparent in 1957 than it does today) and that his preferred method of solving the political problems of Carpathia is to imprison without trial as many opposition politicians as

This is an odd, quirky movie that I can't say I really enjoy. Like many of Marilyn's movies, they come off being unbalanced, but this is the first, and only movie made by her own production company. There are some good parts, and there are even more boring, and "Plug in the coffee pot to keep me awake" moments.

Still, if it's on TV, I'll tune in for one scene only. The coronation scene, which has no dialog, concentrates almost solely on Marilyn's emotions while she watches history being made. Through her, we are drawn through the scene, and at least I, experience a full range of emotions to almost being on the brink of tears at how beautiful this scene is. With a close up of her face, she fades away and a glorious circular stained glass window appears, then to another stained glass window of cliffs that transforms and becomes real, long enough to hear the sound of a ship's horn in the distance, to the "violence, violence, violence!" chant and the thundering canon which brings this wonderful scene to its conclusion.

That scene alone, with a few other glorious shots of Monroe make this movie worth watching.

The Prince and the Showgirl fmovies. Just saw this again the other day after many years, and was impressed by Monroe's effortless upstaging of Olivier, who gives the most hammy, artificial performance of his career, unsurprising as he is directing himself.

If you want to see what star quality means, just watch their scenes together. He is desperately trying to ACT and eclipse her. All she has to do is just BE there in shot.

Whenever they are on screen, it is always her that one's eyes are drawn to and she gives such a natural performance throughout it almost seems as if she isn't acting at all. She also copes with some extremely tricky dialogue, giving the lie to her inability to remember lines. These are often done in a single take - one scene in particular, early in the film as she is leaving the house before Olivier arrives home, talking rapidly to Richard Wattis as they walk down the long staircase, is outstanding.

So, the film is worthwhile in showing Monroe as the great star she was - and revealing Olivier to only be capable of mere caricature (that fake German accent is so awful) without a strong director to rein him in.

Considering that all of the backstage talk on the making of 'The Prince and the Showgirl' tells us that a huge rift developed between Oliver and Monroe, their chemistry in this charming comedy is incredible and very apparent. Oliver has his stuffiest role since 'Pride and Prejudice' and does a standout job. Their would-be seduction scene early on, where a tipsy Monroe confronts him with a show of confidence amidst her giggles, is a highlight of the film and sets the tone for the kind of banter between them.

Marilyn never looked more elegant than she does here, costumed and coiffed to look incredibly beautiful. The others in the cast are all impressive in their supporting roles but the main drawback is a script that lumbers along, poorly paced and finally going nowhere. At least twenty minutes of footage could have been clipped to make the whole thing more watchable.

But if you enjoy seeing Marilyn play comedy, this is the one for you. Never has she shown such a flair for enjoying herself in a role. One would never suspect that rumors of unprofessional behavior and disputes with Oliver were even remotely true. The finished product has a glossy, elegant and thoroughly professional look--and as I said before, the only drawback is the script itself and a story too slight to make it totally absorbing. But Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe are both excellent--and, surprisingly, Monroe even upstages him more than once.

This is one of those movies where the set pace of events are known to the audience, so that when it reaches it's conclusion we are aware that what we (the audience) might wish can happen for the two leads is not going to be possible.

It is 1911, and we are in London for the coronation week of King George V and his wife Queen Mary. If you have read THE GUNS OF AUGUST by Barbara Tuchman, this event was the last great occasion for the appearance of all the crowned heads of Europe prior to the destruction (in seven years) of three leading houses (Hohenzollern, Romanov, and Hapsburg) due to World War II. Despite the survival of several other monarchies in Scandanavia, the Benelux countries, and (in revival) in Spain, the three lost ones of 1918 are now joined by the lost ones of the Balkans. And it is the Balkans that is the spot that Laurence Olivier's Carpathia is located in.

In reality Carpathia is part of Hungary and Roumania. Part of it (Transylvania) is well known through the story of Dracula. But for the sake of this story, it is an independent kingdom like Roumania, Bulgaria, and Serbia at that time. Prince Charles, the Regent of Carpathia, is running the country until his son King Nicholas comes of age in 18 months. So sometime in 1913 Nicholas will start ruling in his own name, and he is pro-German. Charles is pro-English. This would be unimportant but Carpathia has the fourth best army in Europe, so if it shifts it's position it may cause an unbalanced international situation that may lead to a general war.

Charles (Laurence Olivier) and Nicholas (Jeremy Spenser) and Nicholas' grandmother the Queen Dowager (Sybil Thorndike) are attending it. Charles is being monitored by Foreign Office official Northbrook (Richard Wattis), who wants to make sure the Regent is happy on his visit. Charles attends a show, and decides that one of the minor actresses, Elsie Mariner (Marilyn Monroe) should be invited to the Carpathian Embassy for a late supper. Despite misgivings Northbrook arranges for Elsie to show up.

But Elsie (although welcomed by the amorous Charles) finds she has to watch as he spends time talking about a political problem at home - the capture of one of Nicholas' clique of pro-German friends who has been caught with some compromising documents that would hurt the King. Charles plans to squeeze the arrested man for all the information he can get about Nicholas' schemes, but admits to his telephone informant that he is more likely to have problems about the situation from President Taft and his meddlesome Americans than from anyone else. Elsie, who overhears this, is angered (she is an American). The result is a moment that most fans of Monroe don't recall. They remember that she sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy once, but here she toasted President William Howard Taft with champagne.

Charles finds Elsie not like other women he has had one night stands with. First, he never gets to first base with her (she gets drunk and falls asleep, despite his varied attempts to get her into the right mood and position). Second, she does not leave as he hopes, but keeps getting stuck deeper and deeper into the embassy and the Royal Family's world (even attending the coronation at Westminster Abbey). She is there for the embassy ball, and she even has a second night where she is in control of the trysting. Charles married his late wife and did his duty for her and her country, but he finds he loves Elsie. But he is leaving at the start of the third day for Car