Sorry I missed you last night. I actually did write a blog - most of one anyway - but then I became too tired to finish, and it was also Church night. So, I finished it up just now and here it is :
(from Saturday June 22, 2019) Tonight I watched a classic from Old Hollywood called "The Prince And The Pauper", starring Errol Flynn, Claude Rains and a couple of boys known as The Mauch Twins, Billy and Bobby. This is one of those Golden Era movies that I'd almost guarantee you saw as a child on Saturday afternoon TV, or later in life on a cable station like TCM. At the very least, I'm certain you've seen snippets of it because it's an iconic early costume drama that has had staying power over the many decades since it's release.
In the first decade of sound, Hollywood often looked to England for story lines. Movies about Kings and Queens and knights were popular, as was the mythical tale of Robin Hood, which was turned into another Errol Flynn classic that I am also sure you've seen.
Despite the fact of his stardom entitling him to "above the title" status in this picture, Flynn's role is closer to that of a second lead, due to his limited screen time in the 119 minute film. He doesn't show up until the 53 minute mark, and even then his scenes, while lengthy, are intercut with those of the other characters whose story has already been in play. Still, Flynn's charisma and general "Errol Flynn-ness" give the second half of the movie an extra zip, so his star status is well earned as always.
But "The Prince And The Pauper" really belongs to The Mauch Twins. Unlike Errol Flynn, these boys were not stars nor even prolific child actors. Their IMDB lists 17 credits for Billy, five for Bobby, but they were talented enough to carry a major motion picture and to hold their own in scenes with talents like Claude Rains, Flynn and Alan Hale, among others. They were born in 1921, almost 100 years ago, but they will always remain high-spirited boys because of this film.
"The Prince And The Pauper" is based on a book by Mark Twain (of all people), and the story is a version of the Old Switcheroo involving twin brothers, much like "The Man In The Iron Mask" or any number of other stories. Didn't you ever know a pair of twins in school who would do goofy things like switch classes and take each other's tests?
Well anyway, The Mauch Twins are identical and you can't tell 'em apart, so what happens is that Mauch One is the son of King Henry VIII, and Mauch Two is the son of a brutish bull of a man, a commoner who has no job and who expects his boy, once he is grown, to beg in the streets for him, and even to steal. The father is played by the great character actor Barton McClane, who often showed up as the "heavy" in many a Bogart movie.
The plot is very long and involved, and I'll not have time on a church night to explain it all to you, but suffice to say that the young heir to the throne does not want to rule in the manner of his father Henry the 8th. He is aware that his Dad has had six wives and that none of them are around anymore, including his own mother. His father, monster that he is, loves him however, and gives him the privileges one would expect a young prince to have. Now that his father is dying, the boy extends those privileges to going outside the castle grounds so that he can see how the poor folks live. Remember that this is a Mark Twain parable. While the prince is out, he encounters the poor beggar son of Barton McClane. Seeing as how the boy is beaten down, he invites him back to the King's castle for something to eat. There they bond, and play kid's games like Blind Man's Bluff, and trade stories.
Then they notice that they look a lot alike. The prince tells the pauper to wash up, and to switch clothes with him. Now you can't tell who is the prince and who is the pauper. The real prince - dressed as the pauper - ventures outside the castle walls again just to see what he can see away from his sheltered life. His can get away with this because his father Henry VIII is near death.
But there is an evil controller in the wings, a Noble Lord played by Claude Rains.
From there, the plot will take flight, and will become very involved. Errol Flynn will show up later on as a mercenary soldier, poor but honorable, to rescue the new "pauper" (the actual prince in the pauper boy's clothing) from his tormentors, who range from gutter dwelling drunks at the corner Inn, to local city police who are after the boy for thievery, which he has been forced into.
The story is a fable about the English class system that lasted until the end of Queen Victoria's reign (or is it still going?). It's also about putting yourself into someone else's shoes to see what life is like for that person. Interestingly, Twain used children to demonstrate this principle. The boys are unencumbered by fixed adult opinions and prejudices. All either one wants, once the situation goes haywire, is to be returned to their home, so they can live the only lives they know - their own.
The Pauper doesn't want to be King. He wants to be back home in Offal Court, his village. And while the Prince doesn't want to live the life of a pauper, having experienced a taste of that life he has new sympathy for what the poor folk endure on a daily basis.
The Mauch Twins pull this off with a lot of flair. Claude Rains is dastardly as the villainous Lord Protector. Errol Flynn is young here, just 28, and so still has the somewhat more innocent "who, me"? charm of his early roles. He was still great later on, but he dissipated quickly in mid-life and only lived to be 50.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Prince And The Pauper", a movie whose message is just as relevant today if not more so. You probably already saw it when you were a kid, as I say, but watch it again all these years later for a dose of classic Hollywood Magic. /////
(tonight, June 23 2019) : This eve I did not have a movie, but I watched an episode of "Rawhide" and also one of my last few "Tales From Tomorrow" episodes, in which a shyster criminal, a "general practitioner" who will take on most any job as long as he doesn't have to risk his neck, is approached in his makeshift office by an authoritative woman (Esther Ralston) who makes him a proposotion.
She wants him to break in to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to steal major works. He scoffs that it would be impossible. The woman, who has an Amazonian bearing and who is filmed at a disconcerting angle that establishes her dominance, then extends to the goofy lowlife a device that she says will enable him to steal the artworks in question without a problem.
It is an "accelerator", worn on the wrist like a watch, that emits a beam that will cause the wearer to move about at nearly the speed of light.
She tells him he will not even be seen by the museum guards, let alone be caught.
Who is this woman?, the thief wonders. But he is more preoccupied with the money she has offered him. He accepts the job, and then sets out to recruit an assistant. He shows a few crook friends his new device, to mixed results. Finally, Jack Warden (who would later play "Jigsaw John" on TV in the late 70s) agrees to help him steal the artworks.
Time is stopped when they enter the museum. But a newspaper headline is touting an H-Bomb Test that is scheduled the same day. My goodness, folks.
"Tales From Tomorrow" was produced in the years 1951 -1953, at the height of the Cold War and the bomb scares of the era, the fear that a Hydrogen Bomb would explode and end life on Earth as we knew it. This fear - and it was very real - was played up for it's dramatic value in many a sci-fi anthology show. The episode of "Tales" was extremely effective; I had Goose Bumps at the end when the question is left hanging.....
The singing in church this morning was good. Now I am Super Tired but will see you in the morning once again after a hopefully restorative sleep. Tons of love are being sent at this very moment......
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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