Who payed the critics

Purely Joyful Movie!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I must say, Pinewood Studios in the UK often does some interesting back drop scenes in films, and this one is no exception. The Coronation Scene and the stained glass sequences in the Abbey are top notch visuals. In fact the camera work of the scenic 1911 period film is really excellent kind of. This is the kind of film that has lots of scenery to watch and the images are worth seeing.Lawrence Olivier is credited as Director and Producer here. There are scenes stocked with 100's if not 1000's of extras in the background. Monroe owned the production company but it is obvious that Pinewood let the company use their resources ca rte blanch.Whatever you have to say about Olivier's Direction, the images on the film are extraordinary. Noteworthy for Monroe fans are the advantages taken of getting her figure into the film frames too. While she is in one of her not skinny periods, her image on camera does not suffer when she has on great clothes and jewels for sure.The story is not badly done, and Monroe plays dumb and smart in different scenes. Her and Lawrence do quite a few scenes together in this one. The coronation has little or no dialogue which is not just effective but takes advantage of a Monroe who was very difficult to work with.This is not a film for intellect, or even plot, and some of the comedy is amusing but only works somewhat effectively. Monroes camera angles work very very well. It is worth trying to see a big talent Olivier try to star, direct, and produce the vehicle and bring it out of a shipwrecked state into a good film. They almost succeed.

A delightful confection. You know that I like singing and dancing. Marilyn does a delightful dance here, in the Regent's digs at the embassy. She sings, too. Is that her voice? I don't know. I hope so. Marilyn needed a light abdominal girdle, however. All in all, the white dress was beautiful -- but did she wear it for three days straight? Ugh.Still, she is the star. More people remember her than remember Olivier or Dame Sybil, sad to say. Marilyn is a one-name star very popular to this day, 2014. I feel, as a trained actress, that "you have to be smart to play dumb." Marilyn was the epitome of Method-smart.Olivier was a stuck-up snob. His character was that, plus one reads that as an actor opposite Marilyn plus being the director and producer Olivier is still a stuck-up snob. I remember his creepy persona in "Marathon Man," and he could be a frightening persona.The young king was a delight. Dame Sybil was awesome. The British aide was comical, yet proper when necessary. The violinist/barber was hilarious.I tried to watch this once, and thought it slow. I tried to watch it again, and actually watched the whole thing. As a history graduate, I kept noticing similarities to real-life early 20th century history. 1911 was the eve of the Titanic disaster. 1914 would bring an assassination that set off World War One (The Great War). Royal houses would crumble. Some nations would disappear forever.The Regent called Americans "dumb" or something like that. Marilyn (Elsie Marina) got incensed. She was proud to be American. She even tried to explain general elections to Olivier/Regent. You go, Marilyn. That Elsie understood the German language was a plus. When the young king spoke German on the telephone, Miss Marina figured it all out.Breathless Marilyn. Overtaking/overshadowing Olivier. Dame Sybil really loved Miss Marina, and most of the time I had no trouble understanding the speech of Dame Sybil. She came off as a little dotty, but like Marilyn she knew every word and phrase she was speaking. Alas! 10/10

It was during the Prince and the Show girl and not far into the film that my water broke that August night in 1957.MY first baby was coming... Leslie JuneOddly, enough not until yesterday; 5/14 do I actually see it again.Wasn't Marilyn wonderful; he such a clod but she got a kick out of the bore he portrayed. She was as natural as an actress could be and thoroughly beautiful. The script itself was great. Don't know why I have never been a dedicated fan of Oliver and certainly with this film my eyes and ears were on Marilyn and her humorous line. It was a pick up as this time I only had a bad cold.

Romantic comedy about Balkan royal (Laurence Olivier) visiting London and falling in love with American showgirl (Marilyn Monroe). I really thought going into this it would be better than it was. It isn't bad really just kind of dull and slow. Marilyn's good but comedy doesn't seem to be Olivier's strong suit. The humor in general is kind of stagey and old-fashioned, even for 1957. Lots of tired jokes about royalty and their kooky ways, how they like to be addressed and so on. Richard Wattis does his best George Sanders impersonation. Olivier directed this as well as starred so maybe that's part of the problem. Perhaps a more experienced comedy director would have known that this movie desperately needed a shot of adrenaline and, well, some 'oomph.'