Warner Bros. Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The Prince and the Showgirl
SOME COUNTRIES HAVE A MEDAL FOR EVERYTHING
An American showgirl becomes entangled in political intrigue when the Prince Regent of a foreign country attempts to seduce her.
- Original title
- The Prince and the Showgirl
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Mar 8, 2026 · via TMDB
Luckily Queen Elizabeth II allowed some of her own Coronation footage from 1953 to double up for her grandfather’s forty-odd years earlier and so provide a backdrop for this unlikely romance between a visiting prince regent and a theatrical type who might well have piqued the interest of Edward VII. The fastidious prince (Laurence Olivier) is attending the ceremonies with his mother-in-law, the deaf as a post Queen dowager (Dame Sybil Thorndike) and his teenage son, the king (Jeremy Spenser) and staying at their embassy under the watchful eyes of the Foreign Office’s finest “Northbrook” (Richard Wattis). It’s the latter man who has to arrange entertainments for his guest so organises a visit to the theatre where he takes a liking to the plain speaking American “Elsie” (Marilyn Monroe). When she is invited back for a candlelit supper, she knows all too well what he has in mind and so begins a cleverly constructed cat and mouse game that sees her soon get used to the vodka, champagne, caviar and machinations of her host. Meantime, the young King is getting fed up playing second fiddle to his father and so is doing some plotting of his own - some scheming that soon involves “Elsie” in a little unexpected familial peacekeeping duties. It’s a sumptuously staged costume drama for which I felt both Olivier and Monroe ideally suited. His direction allowed himself to effortlessly become the foil for a Monroe who is on entertaining form throughout with a performance that might have impressed George Bernard Shaw. The pacing is a little uneven, with Olivier also keen to include some lengthy ceremonial imagery (and music) which does rather call an halt to proceedings towards the end, and I could also have done with a bit more from Dame Sybil and from the scene stealing Wattis but in the end I felt this as much a meeting of acting styles and generations as it was a period drama and despite my initial reservations, I did quite enjoy it.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
TCM
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Marilyn Monroe
Elsie
Laurence Olivier
The Regent
Sybil Thorndike
The Queen Dowager
Richard Wattis
Northbrook
Jeremy Spenser
King Nicolas
David Horne
The Foreign Office
Harold Goodwin
Call Boy
Gladys Henson
Dresser
Jean Kent
Maisie Springfield
Charles Victor
Theatre Manager
Daphne Anderson
Fanny
Vera Day
Betty
Gillian Owen
Maggie
Esmond Knight
Hoffman
Paul Hardwick
Major Domo
Rosamund Greenwood
Maud
Andreas Malandrinos
Valet with Violin
Aubrey Dexter
The Ambassador
Maxine Audley
Lady Sunningdale
Carole Gray
Dancer (Uncredited)
Dido Plumb
Dignitary (Uncredited)
Carmen Dillon
Art Direction
Jack Cardiff
Director of Photography
Anthony Bushell
Assistant Director
Laurence Olivier
Director
Marilyn Monroe
Executive Producer
Laurence Olivier
Producer
David Maysles
Producer's Assistant
Richard Addinsell
Original Music Composer
Terence Rattigan
Screenplay
Terence Rattigan
Theatre Play
Bodas de Papel
The Gondoliers
Theater Of Faces
Mountain King
Greek Gossip
Clarity
Sano Sansar
Back to the Future
Angel's Friends - Between Dream and Reality
City Lights
October Rhapsody
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Red Shoes
The Gold Rush
Rebecca
To Be or Not to Be
Shrek
Annie Hall
Aladdin
Imagine Me & You
Jules and Jim
Moulin Rouge!
True Romance
Head-On
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Les amoureuses
Sore: A Wife from the Future
Three Colors: White
Pandora's Box
The Remains of the Day
An American Werewolf in London
Match Point
Shrek 2
Stranger Than Fiction
The Illusionist
(500) Days of Summer
Bernard and the Genie
Ghost
The Edukators
Breakfast on Pluto
Love Actually
The Holiday
Dating Amber
Notes on a Scandal
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wild at Heart
The Scent of Green Papaya
The Science of Sleep
The Time Traveler's Wife
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
An Education
After Everything
50 First Dates
Cruel Intentions
Darling
Sayedat el kasr
Tangled: Before Ever After
Sleepless in Seattle
About a Boy
Russian Dolls
The Vexxer
Love in the Time of Advertising
Bean
Fever Pitch
Carry On Cabby
Shrek the Third
Sleepless
Premaku Velayera
TMNT
Breaking and Entering
Bartok the Magnificent
Carry On Henry
Hampstead
Valley Girl
Paradise
Nino Live
Head in the Clouds
9 Dead Gay Guys
Beauty and the Beast
Royalteen
The Tall Guy
Carry On Loving
Dead Fish
9 Songs
Jaan Tere Naam
Happy Campers
The Extraterrestrial Woman
Khanuma
The Adventures of Villar
Nest of Vipers
Tékasztorik
Boldly Go
A Christmas Blessing
Hunger
Once Upon a Fish
Perhaps
Lane Woods Finds Love
In Her City...
Trio
What If?
Like A Hook into an Eye
Sofia
When I Come Around
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
The Kissing Booth 2
Coming to America
The Kissing Booth 3
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
The Wedding Date
A Little Romance
The Wedding Singer
Chasing Papi
The Wrong Paris
A Royal Christmas
Mischief
Hollywood Stargirl
Indiscreet
Little Miss Marker
Little Italy
Easy Virtue
That Touch of Mink
Wedding Crashers
Wedding Season
Relationship Goals
Yoh! Bestie
Keeping the Faith
This Time Next Year
Only the Lonely
Love Jacked
The Baxter
Cousins
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters
The Matchbreaker
Love Birds
Good Advice
Speechless
The Right Kind of Wrong
All Over the Guy
Jun 13, 1957
