Review of The Prince and the Showgirl

Miss Monroe's personal troubles have been well - documented and hardly bear repetition here.However,it is clear that she was scarcely in control of her own life by the time she came to England in 1956 with her new husband the deeply uncharismatic Mr A.Miller on a kind of working honeymoon.To make Mr T.Rattigan's "The sleeping prince" into a movie Sir L.Olivier needed a star attraction and there was none bigger than "Marilyn",an entirely artificial media - created persona Miss Monroe hid behind. In an era riven with snobbery it was truly believed that Sir L. was "The Prince"slumming it with the dumb blonde American movie star who was extremely lucky to be on the same set with him. In reality the reverse was true.Sir L.was a huge ham at home only with the works of a playwright dead for 400 - odd years,and almost incapable of a believable portrayal of any man born since about 1600.His magnificent voice was a gift that he abused for the greater part of his movie career.Only in "Term of Trial" and "Bunny Lake is missing" did he connect with the 20th century in any meaningful way.He had more funny voices than Mr P.Sellers and wasn't as amusing.As the eponymous prince he took his cod - German impersonation out of the box and gave it an airing,applied his Brylcreem liberally and suffered nobly as Miss Monroe,superbly lit by Jack Cardiff,glowed ethereally in every scene.He gave every impression that it was just another day at the office for him whilst she portrayed awe and innocence and a degree of humanity that was clearly beyond her supposed superior. He may well have felt he was not being given due respect by her and her entourage,he was a "Sir" after all,and an obviously tense and anxious set is not liable to produce a light and frothy movie which is what "The Prince and the Showgirl" should have been. Instead he shows off abominably,overacts alarmingly and,in the love scenes has all the ardour of a monocled codfish. With the biggest movie star in the world and a great Shakespearean Actor on board it could have been a wonderfully entertaining experience,but the impression I came away with was that of a rather distant man unable to empathise or even cope with a talent vastly different to his own. But it is Miss Monroe for whom the movie will be remembered,not the man who went on to make "The Jazz Singer"