The Prince and the Showgirl

+ intro by season curator Kimberley Sheehan

Marilyn Monroe is an American chorus girl who snares a prince, in the first film produced by her own production company.

  • Director

    Laurence Olivier

  • With

    Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike, Richard Wattis

  • UK 1957. 117min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    U

In 1911, British monarch George V’s coronation brings the Prince Regent of Carpathia to the city, where he has an unforgettable encounter with a chorus girl. Monroe produced this collaboration with Laurence Olivier after her company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, purchased the rights to Terence Rattigan’s The Sleeping Prince. Although Olivier made Prince Regent’s role in the stage version very much his own, here he is outshone by Monroe as the vivacious Elsie Marina. Her natural charm and ease eclipse his more formal acting style. Nevertheless, the frisson between them creates a delightfully charged chemistry.

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