1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_prince_and_the_showgirl_the_prince_and_the_showgirl_32631435_500_388.jpg]] |
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3 | ''The Prince and the Showgirl'' is a 1957 ScrewballComedy film starring Creator/LaurenceOlivier (who also directed) and Creator/MarilynMonroe. It was adapted by Terence Rattigan from his own 1953 [[TheFilmOfThePlay stage play]] ''The Sleeping Prince''. |
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5 | Set against the backdrop of the 1911 coronation of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor King George V]], the film stars Olivier as Prince Charles, a strict {{Ruritania}}n regent, and Monroe as Elsie Marina, a fun-loving American showgirl. Before long, Elsie finds herself involved not only in a royal romance, but in some international intrigue which [[AvoidingTheGreatWar could lead to a world war]]. |
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7 | Twenty-first-century audiences may know this movie best as the FilmWithinAFilm in ''Film/MyWeekWithMarilyn''. Coincidentally, ''My Week with Marilyn'' was released in 2011, exactly a century after the 1911 setting of ''The Prince and the Showgirl''. |
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10 | !!This film provides examples of: |
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12 | * AvoidingTheGreatWar: Carpathia is in the Entente Alliance, but the underage King Nicolas is pro-German. Impatient to assume power, he plots with the Germans to oust the regent, an action which could lead to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI starting three years early. Elsie prevents this from happening by mending the relationship between Prince Charles and King Nicolas. |
13 | %% * DefrostingIceQueen: Defrosting ice ''regent'' to be precise. |
14 | * EasilyOverheardConversation: Nicholas (the sixteen year old king of Carpathia) has an entire conversation ''in front of Elsie'' [[spoiler: about his plans to overthrow his father with German help]]--and while it is in a different language, it also happens to be one that Elsie speaks... |
15 | * TheEdwardianEra: Technically, it takes place during the coronation of King Edward's successor, but still. |
16 | * ExtremelyShortTimespan: The movie takes place over the course of three days, specifically June 21 to June 23 of 1911 |
17 | * CantHoldHisLiquor: Elsie gets drunk on what the Regent claims is the normal amount of vodka to add to a four-year-old child's morning milk. Thing is, so does he... |
18 | * CurtainCamouflage: Mild version, as the Regent is in a different room but peers out the window as Elsie talks to her friends from the next balcony. |
19 | %% * GrandeDame: The Queen Dowager, played by Dame Sybil Thorndike |
20 | %% * HighClassGlass: Prince Charles wears one |
21 | * HypocriticalHumor: The Regent repeatedly criticizes Elsie for the things that he promptly does himself. |
22 | %% * ManicPixieDreamGirl: Elsie |
23 | %% * NaiveEverygirl: Elsie |
24 | * NoSenseOfHumor: Elsie tells her friends that the Regent has no sense of humor. When he confronts her on this, she modifies it to being a [[GermanHumor "Carpathian"]] sense of humor: just as good, but...different. |
25 | * OnlySaneMan: Poor Northbrook |
26 | * {{Ruritania}}: Prince Charles is the prince regent of a fictional Balkan country called Carpathia, presumably named for the Carpathian Mountains. |
27 | * RunningGag: Elsie making the Regent pin his farewell-gift brooch to her dress....every time she's about to leave. |
28 | * SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Prince Charles is savvy, Elsie is energetic. |
29 | * SmarterThanTheyLook: Elsie might be a ditzy understudy theatre girl, but she isn't ''dumb.'' |
30 | * UptightLovesWild: Prince Charles is uptight, Elsie is wild |
31 | * YouAreGrounded: The Regent grounds his son (the King of Carpathia) on learning that he's put a clandestine call through to the German embassy. |
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