THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL

Lord Olivier and La Monroe

THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL (1957). Director: Laurence Olivier.

"We are not dealing with an adult but an unruly child."

On the eve of the coronation of the new British King in 1911 London, the Grand Ducal Highness of the Balkan nation of Carpatha, AKA Charles (Laurence Olivier), invites a pretty American showgirl named Elsie (Marilyn Monroe) to supper at the Carpathian embassy. Alas, the Grand Duke doesn't realize that Elsie is a lot smarter than she looks -- and not quite as "easy" as he hopes. During the night and the following day, the two argue and banter, and Elsie manages to wend her way into Carpathian politics and  more via the Duke's son Nicky (Jeremy Spenser), soon to be king, and the prickly if lovable Queen Dowager (Sybil Thorndike). The cast in this entertaining if overlong comedy, including Jean Kent as an actress friend of Charles and Richard Wattis as Northbrook, a liaison, is uniformly excellent. Olivier is fine as the rather stuffy if amorous duke, and Monroe is natural, unaffected and marvelous -- luminescent, in fact -- as Elsie. I'm not the first to think that she sort of out-acts Olivier at times, but both are splendid. The ending is a bit strange, but this is a colorful, unusual picture.

Verdict: The High and the Horny. ***.

BRITANNIA MEWS

Maureen O'Hara and Dana Andrews

BRITANNIA MEWS (aka The Forbidden Street/1949). Director: Jean Negulesco.

In Victorian England Adelaide Culver (Maureen O'Hara of The Parent Trap), who comes from a wealthy family, falls in love with her painter-teacher, Henry Lambert (Dana Andrews of Where the Sidewalk Ends), and decides to marry him. The two reside in an area of tenements known as Britannia Mews, which Adelaide has been fascinated by since girlhood. Henry, who has made a group of intricate puppets that Adelaide has no use for, gets little work done and drinks too much, a situation that leads to tragedy. Blackmailed by an ugly and pitiful old woman known as "the Sow," (Dame Sybil Thorndike of The Prince and the Showgirl), Adelaide figures she has little to look forward to in life until she meets a man named Gilbert Lauderdale (also Dana Andrews), who bears a strange resemblance to Henry.

O'Hara and Andrews

Britannia Mews, which was rechristened The Forbidden Street for, presumably, box office reasons, is an odd picture that goes in a lot of different directions but on the other hand is entirely unpredictable. It's completely absorbing, although one can't say that it's completely satisfying. The performances are quite good, however. Andrews was supposedly angry that his voice was dubbed in British prints, but in the print I saw the dubbed voice was only used for bearded Henry, not clean shaven Gilbert, so this may have been intentional all along; in any case it's an excellent job of dubbing by the uncredited actor. Dame Sybil Thorndike, made up to look like the most hideous of harridans, certainly scores as Mrs. Mounsey, AKA the Sow. Anthony Tancred is also effective as Adelaide's sympathetic brother, Treff. Wilfrid Hyde-White has a small role as their father. This has an interesting score by Malcolm Arnold.

Verdict: Interesting aspects to this, but one can't quite escape the impression that this is just a well-polished bodice-ripper with pretensions. **3/4.