I love this movie so much

The Age of Commercialism

Perfect cast and a good story

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

IMDb reviews are not infallible, but they are usually reasonably reliable. Not so in this case. This movie is a combination of two popular contemporary themes, the princess who is mistaken for a commoner (or vice versa) and the hasty wartime marriage. Both are treated much better in every such movie I can think of. The themes have lost their appeal and relevance, and what we are left with is a very dull movie with a lame script and boring actors. Numerous reviews say this film is not just humorous but hilarious. I didn't laugh once. Didn't even smile.Olivia de Havilland, of course, I exempt from the "boring" category. As ever she is sweet, charming, endearing, and thoroughly delightful. But opposite her is a blank space called Bob Cummings, who is superficial and puerile. How could anyone think that a character far less intelligent and educated than she could be a good match? His moment of trying to be masterful with de Havilland makes him look childishly bad-tempered, and the scene in which he struggles with correct terminology makes it embarrassingly obvious how dumb he is. It is also embarrassing that, for much of the movie, de Havilland is led to believe that, while she was unconscious, he undressed her and saw her naked. This is not funny--it is leering and distasteful. It is also out of character for de Havilland to become friendly, then romantic with someone who would do this. There are other foolishly unrealistic bits for the sake of a laugh--when she gets out of bed, for instance, wearing Cummings's pajamas, she nearly trips, as she has on pj's that look big enough for someone eight feet tall.It's also bizarre that de Havilland, desperate to sleep, takes five sleeping pills. Later she is unknowingly given two more. For heaven's sake, who doesn't know that taking several sleeping pills means you risk not waking up at all? Certainly not someone as sensible and educated as she is.The other main male part is filled by Charles Coburn. When given amusing lines and when there is not too much of him, as in Heaven Can Wait or The Lady Eve, he can be amusingly rakish or crooked. Here, as the soul of propriety, and with nothing funny to say, he is just a boring blowhard--and hardly easy on the eye. Gladys Cooper is insulted by the role given her--this eminent and distinguished lady has only a few lines to say, none of them at all interesting.On the plus side, the movie has Jack Carson and Jane Wyman (each very appealing, they make a very cute couple). But their parts are also too small and pretty feeble. And Jane Wyman isn't herself yet. I kept wondering when she was going to put in an appearance before I realised she was the actress with the long, blonde curly hair. Very disconcerting.It's hard to get a dog wrong, but the makers of this movie could not even manage a nice Scotch terrier to impersonate President Roosevelt's dog, Fala. This one has very prominent teeth, and in closeups he looks rather alarming. I wouldn't trust him around my ankles.While some flag-waving propaganda is understandable in a wartime movie, the filmmakers go too far when they present Bob Cummings with this "dilemma": He can marry a doll like Olivia de Havilland and have £150,000 spending money a year (think what that would be today!) if he gives up his American citizenship. I wonder how many men in the audience would immediately and vehemently turn that down!I originally was drawn to this movie because I thought it was based on the Damon Runyon story of the same title, about a female hack driver and her horse named Goldberg. THAT is a really good story, it is really funny (I laughed out loud at the end), and a smaller and more profitable investment of your time than this piece of junk.

I thought it was really funny at the beginning when the princess had a couple of sleeping pills, and then, being dragged by the pilots who found her not waking up. Seriously, Olivia de Havilland done that scene so well that I cant believe shes still alive today and is 100 years old! She really reminds me of Audrey Hepburn and her love interest on this, Robert Cummings reminds me of Frank Sinatra. They both really are a good match like it was a good idea to have them on together in this!Im glad it even won an Oscar, although I wouldn't expect it to get that far but De Havilland I think really made this film shine! Its very good, please watch this if you like royal romance films!

When I sat down to watch this film, I frankly wasn't in the mood for a comedy. And I wasn't always impressed with Olivia de Havilland in comedies, although I felt she was one of best actresses of her generation. However, this turned out to be quite a pleasant romantic comedy.De Havilland and Bob Cummings had some fine chemistry on screen, and I've long felt that Cummings has been unfairly forgotten, despite some very fine performances in films such as Hitchcock's "Sabateur" and the fine comedy "The Devil And Miss Jones". Cummings plays an airline pilot here, who falls in love with a woman he doesn't realize is a princess. Of course, Cummings ruined his film reputation when he moved to television and -- in the mid-1950s -- got into amphetamines.There's a good supporting cast here, as well. Charles Coburn is one of the best of the character actors, although I can't say this is his best role. Jack Carson is the best friend, Jane Wyman the best female friend, Harry Davenport as a Supreme Court Judge, Gladys Cooper as a governess and secretary, and Minor Watson as a diplomat. Unfortunately, the film is so focused on De Havilland and Cummings that the supporting actors don't get as much screen time as they deserve.The one real criticism is the running gag early in the film about sleeping pills. It is important to the story, but it went on too long.However, all things considered, this is a pleasant and entertaining film. It's a light comedy, and not the heavy duty drama in which de Havilland excelled, and it's a great film for Cummings. It's worth a watch.

It is, after all, 1943, so you've got to expect a little propaganda from a film, even if it is a comedy called "Princess O'Rourke," starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings, Jack Carson, and Jane Wyman. DeHavilland is a princess visiting in New York, en route by plane to San Francisco to escape from boredom. Before she leaves, she gets a sleeping pill from her uncle's secretary (Gladys Cooper) but when it doesn't work immediately, she gets another one from the flight attendant, one from the copilot (Jack Carson), and finally, two from the pilot, Eddie (Robert Cummings). Then she can sleep. Unfortunately, the plane has to turn around and return to New York and the princess can't be awakened. Eddie takes her to his place to sleep it off - all very chaste, of course - and the two fall in love.Olivia de Havilland is very beautiful and was one of the best actresses in Hollywood. Alas, she didn't always get a chance to show it. But she is certainly lovely as a young woman torn between loyalty and love. Her sleeping pill scene and the scene where her uncle discusses a possible American suitor with her are wonderful and demonstrate her impeccable timing. Jack Carson and Jane Wyman are delightful as Eddie's friends, and Cummings gives an energetic performance as Eddie. In the film Eddie's birth date is given as 1914; Cummings was actually born in 1908 and was around 33 when the movie was made (though released in 1943, the film was made over a year earlier). He retained his youthful appearance well past the 1950s, during which time he played a swinging bachelor in his television series. Charles Coburn provides excellent support, and Gladys Cooper is totally wasted in a role that she must have been assigned for some contractual reason."Princess O'Rourke" enters the realm of whimsy when the President and his "little dog Fala," as Roosevelt referred to his buddy, take a hand in the romance. The dog playing Fala is excellent! One interesting bit of trivia: It's rare to see a film released 63 years ago in which two of the stars are still alive (in fact, it's rare to see a film released 63 years ago in which even one star is alive), but at this writing, both de Havilland and Wyman are still with us. So is "Princess O'Rourke." It's light and enjoyable.