The Prince and the Pauper

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun
Review: Despite the serious undercurrent of sarcasm aimed at the inequality of economic structures, this film is fun. Errol Flynn is dashing and inspiring. The twins, Billy and Bobby, who star as the Prince and the Pauper, bring a nice boyishness to the film. Honest and fresh-faced, you can't help but love the pauper who only wants the world to understand that he is not the prince. In the end, the whole world is just and the prince gives everyone a reward for their good natures and evil is punished. Such a fable. Such a fairy tale, but it's a fun evening at home.

Rating:
Summary: The Mauch Twins are a delight.....!!!
Review: I loved this movie as a kid and still do as an adult. The Mauch twins, Billy and Bobby are outstanding in every way. When they look into the camera and laugh as they do in several scenes, it is pure magic! This film is highly recommended to both young and old. Too bad "Warner Brothers" did not appreciate their talents and build future films around these extremely talented kids. They were as talented, if not more so,than any other young stars of the period. See for yourself and enjoy the film!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I read the book and i think this movie portrays it just as well. Errol Flynn brightens everything and so does the Pauper twin. I saw this movie in class, and maybe some people thought it boring, but I loved it! (And yes, I am 3 years old)
KIDDING

Rating:
Summary: Good film based on The Prince and the Pauper
Review: I saw this move years ago and decided to watch it again after getting the part of Lady Jane Grey in a local production of Prince and the Pauper. I also bought the book and read it and I would say it is now a favorite! I'm not sure how but they were able to make an enjoyable movie based on a general outline but completely changing the story, but they did! I would recommend this movie but don't expect Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper.

Rating:
Summary: Mark Twain, Warner Brothers' Style
Review: I've never read Mark Twain's novel to be able to say how closely this movie follows to the original story. It certainly has the Warner Brothers' touch. Errol Flynn is his usual dashing, dauntless self, perfectly at home with a sword in hand. Claude Rain again is the cunning, cultured villain, and Alan Hale is a welcome face, although this time he is Flynn's foe instead of friend. As Prince Edward and his look alike beggar friend, the Mauch twins are occasionally annoying, but for the most part quite effective as the victims of a switch that learn to appreciate the other side of life. The story is fun and played with a lot of energy and humour. Don't assume that this is an Errol Flynn video, because he really isn't the star - the twins are the stars. However, there is enough of Flynn to keep his fans happy, and a good enough story and movie to keep everyone happy (including children).

Rating:
Summary: Mark Twain, Warner Brothers' Style
Review: I've never read Mark Twain's novel to be able to say how closely this movie follows to the original story. It certainly has the Warner Brothers' touch. Errol Flynn is his usual dashing, dauntless self, perfectly at home with a sword in hand. Claude Rain again is the cunning, cultured villain, and Alan Hale is a welcome face, although this time he is Flynn's foe instead of friend. As Prince Edward and his look alike beggar friend, the Mauch twins are occasionally annoying, but for the most part quite effective as the victims of a switch that learn to appreciate the other side of life. The story is fun and played with a lot of energy and humour. Don't assume that this is an Errol Flynn video, because he really isn't the star - the twins are the stars. However, there is enough of Flynn to keep his fans happy, and a good enough story and movie to keep everyone happy (including children).

Rating:
Summary: RHYMES WITH TALK
Review: In 1937, the Brothers Warner acquired a unique movie property - identical twin boys named Bobby and Billy Mauch; they looked so much alike that only their mother could tell them apart. Inevitably, the studio decided to cast them in Mark Twain's THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. The fanciful tale was not only a natural for the Mauchs but had great timeliness because it includes scenes of an English coronation. It's the story of mistaken idenity involving Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII, and Tom Canty, a beggar boy. The confusion begins when the Prince takes the Pauper to the palace to play and for fun they swap clothes. Beholding themselves in a mirror, they are amused in that they look exactly alike!............Errol Flynn does well in his role as Miles Hendon, a soldier of fortune and Claude Rains in excellent as usual. Although a lively, enjoyable comedy, this picture proves the Mauch Twins did not a great movie make, it is, however a colourful production nevertheless.

Rating:
Summary: RHYMES WITH TALK
Review: In 1937, the Brothers Warner acquired a unique movie property - identical twin boys named Bobby and Billy Mauch; they looked so much alike that only their mother could tell them apart. Inevitably, the studio decided to cast them in Mark Twain's THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. The fanciful tale was not only a natural for the Mauchs but had great timeliness because it includes scenes of an English coronation. It's the story of mistaken idenity involving Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII, and Tom Canty, a beggar boy. The confusion begins when the Prince takes the Pauper to the palace to play and for fun they swap clothes. Beholding themselves in a mirror, they are amused in that they look exactly alike!............Errol Flynn does well in his role as Miles Hendon, a soldier of fortune and Claude Rains in excellent as usual. Although a lively, enjoyable comedy, this picture proves the Mauch Twins did not a great movie make, it is, however a colourful production nevertheless.

Rating:
Summary: Errol Flynn in Support of Mauch Twins in Classic Twain Tale!
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Not as Good as I Remembered
Review: Saw this WAY back when I was a lilGal, but when I rented it to show my sister-in-law and that toddler nephew so interested in sword fighting, it kinda missed with both of them.

One Mauch twin (Pauper) is talented, and the other (Prince) far less so. Both of them together couldn't equal one Freddie Bartholomew, who is who I kept missing as the movie progressed. He would have done an admirable job in this movie, I've no doubt, and if he had, it would be a well-known classic like his "David Copperfield". Sis-in-law actually wandered away more than once, which she never did during "Lost Horizon", an earlier rental success story.

Swordplay: Well, not many actors in Hollywood could handle a sword like Errol Flynn, but it seems AGES before he makes his appearance in the film. For a bit of a change of pace, he gets to run Alan Hale through! He had been an evil palace guard intent on killing the errant prince-now-king, you see. One reviewer was quite correct in pointing out that Flynn is not the true star of the movie. So, many may make the mistake of renting it to see Flynn and wind up saying, Hey what's with these twins all over the place? I wouldn't be surprised if that impacted its success factor when first released, because obviously Flynn's name would be the drawing card, not the Mauch twins. Toddler nephew's attention could not be held by this movie, unlike "Adventures of Robin Hood", which is a great favorite.

Best work: Although my old favorite Claude Rains is right on hand as the villainous noble blackmailing the hapless pauper, the big surprise was how good Montagu Love was as the ailing King Henry VIII. This same actor appeared in "Adventures of Robin Hood" as the Abbot of the Black Canon, the devious churchman who delivers the line, "By what authority do you John Lackland claim the throne of England?" at Errol Flynn's knifepoint at the coronation scene. Here he rises to the occasion, speaking of how the child king will not be able to trust any advisors and doing his best to muster all his strength for one last address to the court before pooping out and popping off. Chalk one up for this underutilized actor.

Verdict? Not one of anyone's best, except King Harry.