The Prince and the Pauper

1977 1h 53m EN

😐

6.1

MID

⭐

6.3

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 63★6.3IMDB · 2,442

DramaAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Tom Canty is a poor English boy who bears a remarkable resemblance to Edward, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry VIII. The two boys meet and decide to play a joke on the court by dressing in each other's clothes, but the plan goes awry when they're separated and each must live the other's life.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Mark Lester
Prince Edward / Tom Canty
Oliver Reed
Miles Hendon
Charlton Heston
Henry VIII
David Hemmings
Hugh Hendon
Ernest Borgnine
John Canty
George C. Scott
The Ruffler
Harry Andrews
Hertford
Raquel Welch
Lady Edith

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Fleischer
Writers: Pierre Spengler, Berta Domínguez D., George MacDonald Fraser
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

49 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Fleischer, shot by Jack Cardiff. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ernest Walter shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mark Lester and Oliver Reed and Charlton Heston carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0077381 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 63 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Fleischer directs. Jack Cardiff behind the camera. Maurice Jarre scores. Ernest Walter cuts. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

149 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
3Directed by Richard Fleischer, shot by Jack Cardiff. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Ernest Walter shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Mark Lester and Oliver Reed and Charlton Heston carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0077381 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 63 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Original score: Maurice Jarre
Editing: Ernest Walter
Makeup / hair: José Antonio Sánchez
Runtime: 113 min · 1h 53m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
IMDB rating: 6.3/10 · 2,442 votes
MPAA: PG

Also by

Richard Fleischer

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2022-09-19
★ 3/10
A very weak and uninteresting film, despite the constellation of great actors. I am not a connoisseur of Mark Twain's work, so I was curious to read some things about the original story he wrote after a trip he made to the European continent. From what I've read on the internet about the story, I believe the movie does justice to the source material, but as I didn't get the story to read it, I want to make it clear that I could be wrong. Summing up in a few words the whole plot, what we have is a story in which a poor teenager, whom his father taught to steal, penetrates the palace of King Henry VIII and comes across the heir to the crown, Prince Edward. The two quickly realize that they are identical lookalikes and the prince decides to change clothes with the beggar so they both go to a masked ball. It turns out that the disguise turns out to be too good, and the real prince ends up expelled from the palace. After some misadventures, he enlists the help of a nobleman who returns to the kingdom after a long journey, making it imperative to undo the mistake before the coronation of the new king, since, in the meantime, Henry VIII dies. The story has its appeal, but I have to confess that it sounded so far-fetched and hard to believe that I couldn't really like it. Forgive me, Twain fans. In addition, I was not pleased with the work of the director, Richard Fleischer. I felt he didn't give the film the most appropriate pacing and dynamics. Technically, the film is not very brilliant: I really liked the costumes, although it is not believable that all that gold and silk apparatus was routine and every day, even for the royalty of the time. And I also liked the scenarios used, which put us in the atmosphere of the time very quickly, both in the courtrooms and in the environments where the poor and the marginalized live. The soundtrack, sometimes a little raucous, works reasonably. Unfortunately, the cinematography has a lot of light and I didn't like it very much, overall. I left the cast for the end because I felt, throughout the film, that there was a huge dissonance between the various actors, something that, associated with bad direction, can help to understand why the film was a failure. There are a lot of solid and well-known names to the public at the time, but even that didn't help to convince people to pay the ticket and see it. We have, however, good interpretations that, ironically or because of the bad conception of the script, fall into the most indigestible characters in the film. Oliver Reed is the most impressive actor and leaves us very impressed, but the character is superb and boastful. Ernest Borgnine also does a good job and is very convincing, but it's impossible to like John Canty and the actor doesn't have much to do other than being obnoxious. Rex Harrison has an interesting role and is good at what he does, but appears very little. The rest of the actors can't enjoy what they get: Charlton Heston almost erases himself, Raquel Welch has absolutely nothing to do and never behaves like a lady, Mark Lester is a weak protagonist and is unable to convince.

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