Review: The Prince and the Showgirl

Based on “The Sleeping Prince”, American showgirl understudy Elsie Marina (Marilyn Monroe) catches the eye of Grandduke Charles, the Prince Regent of the fictitious Carpathia (played by Lord Laurence Olivier) just looking for a little hanky-panky. He invites her to a private party for two, and much of the film follows his unsuccessful attempts at jumping her bones. Eventually, though, they fall in love. Jeremy Spenser plays the Prince Regent’s pro-German teenage son, Dame Sybil Thorndike his mother-in-law The Queen Dowager, and Richard Wattis plays the Prince Regent’s attaché.

 

Dealt with in “My Week With Marilyn”, the backstory/filming of this 1957 film from director/star Lord Laurence Olivier turns out to be much more fascinating than watching the film. Scripted by Terence Rattigan (“Brighton Rock”, “The Winslow Boy”) from his own play, it’s incredibly stagy, mostly tedious, and the two stars are far from their best. Laurence Olivier can act, but in my opinion he often (especially in later years) chose to do accents and ham it up instead. That’s the case here, and he’s all the more foolish for it. Yes, this is basically a comedy, but Olivier is fatuous, caricatured…and frankly boring. He makes comedy seem like tough, torturous work. He’s silly, stiff and phony, which is a shame because his dictatorial character is quite amusing as scripted by Rattigan. In fact, despite being one-dimensional, it’s the best thing about the story, which is otherwise pretty naff. I mean, they eventually remade it with Fran Drescher, what does that tell you? It’s seriously dumb, and Olivier looks completely miserable in a project I just don’t see the appeal in for him. And yet, he had already played the role on stage, albeit with his wife Vivien Leigh opposite him.

 

As for Marilyn Monroe, she’s impossible to take your eyes off, but even she’s been better. I don’t think this film’s failure is remotely her fault, however. She still manages to upstage her leading man, who had probably hoped some of her obvious charm would rub off on him. Instead, they both look like they don’t want to be anywhere near one another. It’s kinda interesting to see Monroe play a slightly more sophisticated/mature version of her usual bubble-headed character. She’s not playing an educated woman here or anything, but she’s not nearly as naïve and airheaded as some of her other parts. However, this is the one role where I can actually see a little of the off-screen drama, she’s just slightly ‘off’ here. I think a whole helluva lot of that is due to the anti-chemistry she shares with the dictator/star (not a typo). Young Jeremy Spenser as Olivier’s son, is much, much better than Olivier. Veteran character actor Richard Wattis plays the foppiest fop who ever fopped fop, and is quite clearly the only one here having any fun. Seemingly wearing more makeup than the entire line-up of Twisted Sister circa 1986, he’s a scene-stealer in a film full of people who frankly look like they don’t want to be there.

 

To be honest, I get the feeling that Mr. Olivier and comedy don’t much belong in the same sentence, possibly even the same hemisphere. The best thing in the entire film is the gorgeous set design, otherwise this is pretty lousy, miserable, and mostly unfunny. Ms. Monroe is always eye-catching, but with zero chemistry with her leading man (and director), stagey direction, and a pretty dopey premise, this just isn’t any fun. Probably Monroe’s worst film, though she looks stunning as ever. It’s easy to see how this one flopped, despite the star power involved. For a light romantic comedy, it’s awfully stuffy and heavy going.

 

Rating: C