Rating: NR
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 01/08/2002
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol/Por/Japanese
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: 5.1/1
Run Time: 117 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
The title of the Anglo-American
The Prince and the Showgirl could well have alluded to the genuine stations in life of stars
Sir Laurence Olivier and
Marilyn Monroe. Based on the
Terence Rattigan play
The Sleeping Prince, the film casts
Olivier as
Charles, prince regent of Carpathia, who is in London to attend the 1911 coronation of
King George V.
Monroe is deceptively dizzy American chorus girl
Elsie Marina, who while performing in a West End revue catches
Charles' eye. The prince arranges for
Elsie to attend an "intimate supper" at his hotel suite. Though
Elsie successfully wards off
Charles' advances, she drinks too much bubbly and ends up falling asleep. Comes the dawn, and
Prince Charles is anxious to show the awkward
Elsie the door. She, however, has fallen in love with the prince, and sticks around long enough to upset a plan to overthrow the Carpathian throne, and to patch up a feud between
Charles and his son
Nicholas (
Jeremy Spencer).
Olivier directed as well as starred in
The Prince and the Showgirl; he knew he had his work cut out for him in dealing with the mercurial
Marilyn Monroe, but he managed to hold his temper and to extract a delightful comic performance from the actress. Alas, the film was a box-office disappointment, leading many Hollywood insiders to moan and wail that
Monroe was "washed up" in films -- at least until her spectacular comeback in
Billy Wilder's
Some Like It Hot (1959).
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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