Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

The Prince and the Showgirl Blu-ray Movie Review

An American bombshell in London.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 29, 2023

Starring the truly head-scratching combination of Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier (who also directed), The Prince and the Showgirl is based on Terence Rattigan's then-recent stage play The Sleeping Prince. "Opposites attract" wasn't exactly a new concept in romantic comedies, but here the differences between voluptuous, naïve American Elsie Marina and stuffy old Carpathian Prince (Regent) Charles are so extreme that it's almost crazy enough to work. Though likely enjoyable for die-hard fans of either actor, The Prince and the Showgirl is too lightweight and uneven to truly register as anything other than a cinematic curiosity or an even more watered-down precursor to Pretty Woman.

Since most rom-coms rarely start off at full steam, The Prince and the Showgirl introduces its two titular characters separately. Prince Charles (Olivier), awaiting the coronation of George V along with his 16-year old son Nicholas VIII (Jeremy Spenser) and maternal grandmother (Sybil Thorndike), is currently staying in London and brought to a show by civil servant Northbrook (Richard Wattis). Said show is "The Coconut Girl", which Charles enjoys and is ushered backstage to meet several performers including lovely Elsie Marina (Monroe). Not surprisingly, he falls head over heels with the blonde bombshell and invites her to a midnight dinner at the Carpathian embassy, which she gladly accepts. But rather than a well-attended public party, she soon realizes the prince plans to seduce her during a much more private affair and, given Elsie's turbulent history with aggressive men, she rejects his clumsy advances.

Of course, what follows is a bit of will-they-or-won't they rom-com teasing... combined with a dose of political intrigue, once Elsie overhears a secret behind-the-scenes plot to overthrow Charles involving members of the German embassy. It's the second oddly-paired element in The Prince and the Showgirl but goes down a little smoother, because this film's primary plot -- the budding romance between our two leads -- is lukewarm at best, never really achieving that crucial "sizzle factor" that Olivier was clearly aiming for. Try as they might, Elsie and Charlies never feel like all that great of a match, although their separate performances are decent enough to please fans of either actor.

In fact, "separate performances" is probably the biggest reason why The Prince and the Showgirl achieves little more than international appeal bolstered by its obvious star power. Olivier's film famously fell victim to trouble behind the scenes, with stories involving perpetually late and inconsistent appearances by Monroe (who purchased the rights to Terence Rattigan's stage play, in which Olivier originally performed opposite Vivien Leigh) and regular on-set friction with the director, who reportedly also threw her acting coach, Paula Strasberg, off the set at least once. This can likely be chalked up to a potential vanity project gone awry (which might actually apply to either side)... but any way you slice it, Monroe and Olivier's backstage turbulence sadly doesn't translate to much on-screen heat.

Yet despite its obvious flaws, The Prince and the Showgirl still has an unshakable charm that's aided by the supporting cast and its production and costume design, all of which work overtime to fill in the blanks when its A-story doesn't generate enough excitement to keep things rolling. (At 117 minutes it's also a bit long in the tooth, but that's much more of a subjective criticism.) Either way, Warner Archive has offered ample support for the film's obvious technical strengths in the form of another top-tier restoration that makes The Prince and the Showgirl sparkle like new. While its bonus features come up disappointingly short, this is an otherwise solid package for fans of the film.

The Prince and the Showgirl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, The Prince and the Showgirl absolutely wows on Warner Archive's new Blu-ray, showing off its colorful costume designs and Prince Charles' palatial estate in grand fashion. As these screenshots demonstrate, this is an outstanding restoration that handily beats all previous home video releases in every possible department: cleanliness, fine detail, texture, color saturation, contrast handling, black levels, stability, and more. You name it, and Warner Archive's Blu-ray handles it perfectly. Not surprisingly, their gentle touch preserves the appearance of natural film grain, giving The Prince and the Showgirl a refreshingly unprocessed appearance that's right in line with their best-looking Blu-rays and truly worthy of a full five-star rating. Disc encoding is also top-notch as usual, with no unsightly banding, excess noise, macro-blocking, posterization, or compression artifacts to speak of. It's truly one of the finest-looking catalogue titles I've seen thus far, which as far as I'm concerned is par for the course when it comes to Warner Archive's basically untouchable reputation for top-tier restoration work.

The Prince and the Showgirl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This by-the-book DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track, like most titles in WAC's back catalog, is presented as a split mono mix that preserves The Prince and the Showgirl's one-channel roots. Dialogue is, for the most part, crystal clear and it's balanced very well with the background effects and Richard Addinsell's score. Although it's unavoidably a little thin on the high end, there are no obvious drop-outs, pops, or other age-related defects, with an overall sonic presence that stays front and center with a good amount of weight. It's obvious the original optical source was in fine shape and, as usual, Warner Archive has given it yet another purist-friendly restoration with no added sweetening.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the film; they're formatted nicely with no sync issues.

The Prince and the Showgirl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with attractive but kina misleading poster-themed cover artwork. The extras are unfortunately thin... even for a lightweight title like this one, given the star power involved.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:20) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

The Prince and the Showgirl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Laurence Olivier's The Prince and the Showgirl, his fourth of only five directorial attempts, is a sporadically engaging romantic comedy whose international appeal and obvious star power clearly outshine the end result. Yet fans of both Olivier and leading lady Marilyn Monroe will undoubtedly find this to be a fun throwback, faults and all, which has been restored beautifully on Warner Archive's new Blu-ray. The lack of bonus features and my lukewarm opinion of the film don't exactly make this a fully recommended blind buy, but the right audience will certainly enjoy it.