Search - The Prince and the Showgirl on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1957 DVD Release: 01/08/2002 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Japanese, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 57 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 9 Genres: Comedy, Romance, Romantic Comedy See Also: The Prince and the Showgirl [Special Edititon]

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

Marilyn Monroe - Elsie Marina
Laurence Olivier - Grand Duke Charles
Sybil Thorndike - Queen Dowager
Richard Wattis - Northbrooke
Jeremy Spenser - Prince Nicholas

This one-time-only pairing of Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, The Prince and the Showgirl, comes to DVD with a standard full-frame transfer. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai, and Japanese subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials are limited to a theatrical trailer. While it is nice to have this film available on DVD, Warner Bros. could have done a much better job with this release. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide