THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (1937)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 118 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD (1.37:1)
Director: William Keighley, William Dieterle
Cast: Errol Flynn, Claude Rains, Billy Mauch, Bobby Mauch
Errol Flynn stars in this delightful adaptation of Mark Twain's classic tale The Prince and the Pauper. Set in Tudor England two nearly identical boys are born on the same day in 1537 Edward Tudor (Bobby Mauch) is born the Prince of Wales, son of King Edward VI (Montagu Love, The Voice of Terror) of Wales. The other is born a pauper growing into a street beggar named Tom Canty (Billy Mauch), the motherless son of an abusive drunk (Barton MacLane, The Maltese Falcon). It so happens that penniless Tom ends up in the company of the young prince, and after noticing how similar they look they exchange identities, but a mix up witht he palace guard finds the prince thrown out onto the streets, while the pauper Tom is misidentified as the heir to the throne, and it is thought that soon-to-be-king is mentally ill, as he is adamant that he is not the prince Before it can all get straightened out the long-ill King dies and and the scheming Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains, The Invisible Man) becomes King Edward’s protector, where he can siphon wealth from the castle coffers, well aware of the switch-up. He sets one of the Captain of Palace Guard (Alan Hale Sr., Colt. 45) has under his thumb to seek out and dispatch the real heir to the throne before the truth can be revealed, while holding a potential beheading over Tom's head should he reveal the truth and not play along with his demands.
Errol Flynn stars in this delightful adaptation of Mark Twain's classic tale The Prince and the Pauper. Set in Tudor England two nearly identical boys are born on the same day in 1537 Edward Tudor (Bobby Mauch) is born the Prince of Wales, son of King Edward VI (Montagu Love, The Voice of Terror) of Wales. The other is born a pauper growing into a street beggar named Tom Canty (Billy Mauch), the motherless son of an abusive drunk (Barton MacLane, The Maltese Falcon). It so happens that penniless Tom ends up in the company of the young prince, and after noticing how similar they look they exchange identities, but a mix up witht he palace guard finds the prince thrown out onto the streets, while the pauper Tom is misidentified as the heir to the throne, and it is thought that soon-to-be-king is mentally ill, as he is adamant that he is not the prince Before it can all get straightened out the long-ill King dies and and the scheming Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains, The Invisible Man) becomes King Edward’s protector, where he can siphon wealth from the castle coffers, well aware of the switch-up. He sets one of the Captain of Palace Guard (Alan Hale Sr., Colt. 45) has under his thumb to seek out and dispatch the real heir to the throne before the truth can be revealed, while holding a potential beheading over Tom's head should he reveal the truth and not play along with his demands.
Meanwhile, the young King is pauper's clothing finds life outside the castle walls rather difficult, and after inciting a riot of scorn after proclaiming himself to be the King he is saved by Miles Hendon, a good natured soldier of fortune who doesn't believe the kid's story about being the King, but he takes him in anyway, offering him shelter. However, when the Earl of Hertford's assassin shows up to kill the child Miles realizes the improbable story is true, and helps him return to the palace before the false king's coronation and prove his true identity.
A solidly entertaining flick from start to finish this period set film has lush production design, convincing locations, and a solid cast. Twin actors Billy Mauch and Bobby Mauch are terrific as the splitting image prince and pauper, each getting the chance to walk in each others foot prints for a bit and finding out the harsh realities of life, while Errol Flynn gets some decent swashbuckling action, and Claude Rains is pretty terrific as the conniving power/money hungry Earl of Hertford. Likewise, Montagu Love love as the short to live
King Edward VI who looks back on his life and legacy in his waning years, and the words of wisdom to his heir are effecting. There have been many adaptation of Twain's story made through the years, and I was a bit surprised that this is the only one I have managed to get under my belt after all these years, it's a pretty terrific flick and Warner Archive knocked it out of the park with a stellar A/V presentation.
Audio/Video: The Prince and the Pauper (1937) gets a region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive sourced from a 4K scan of the original nitrate negative. It's a very pleasing HD mage for a film of this vintage, the source looks terrific with nary a blemish, the monochromatic image is strong with strong blacks and excellent contrast and grayscale. A bit of softness creeps in during select scenes but overall it's quite a treat. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. There's some light his and background noise present but the track is remarkable clean and well-balanced, dialogue sounds crisp and clear and the rousing score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (The Adventures of Robin Hood) sounds wonderful.
Extras include atrio of vintage Merrie Melodies shorts, plus the 4-min Original Theatrical Trailer. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a one-sided wrap featuring the original illustrated movie poster.
Special Features:
Special Features:
- Merrie Melodies Shorts: Plenty of Money and You (7:16), Streamlined Greta Green (8:10), Sunbonnet Blue(7:21)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3:58)
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