The Prince and the Pauper dvd movie.|
The Prince and the Pauper buy bestselling dvd movies, videos find reviews, ratings, prices |
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List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $17.99 You Save: $1.99 Features • Black & White • Closed-captioned • Dubbed • DVD-Video • Subtitled • NTSC In Theaters : 08 May, 1937 DVD Release : 26 August, 2003 |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | The Twain and the Movies Have Met |
| Mark Twain's witty and delightful blending of historical fact forms the basis for this rousing "trading places" adventure in medieval London.
This is a film where you can turn off the picture and just listen to Erich Wolgang Korngold's wall-to-wall score, where each scene has its own theme, as do the leading characters. Korngold envisioned his film scores as operas without words, where he pitched his music to that of the actor's voices, the melody varying in tone and tempo to reflect their feelings. The climatic Coronation sequence, featuring St. Luke's Choristers, from Long Beach, CA, is spectacular. This was one of the composer's favorite scores, which he later reworked into Violin Concerto in D. Op. 35. (The Itzhak Perlman Edition, EMI records Ltd 2003). If this weren't enough, the period settings, costumes and mise-en-scene are incredibly detailed and richly textured. The once-in-a-lifetime cast, headed by Errol Flynn, the remarkable Mauch twins, Claude Rains and a host of familiar Warners character actors, is impeccable. Even Shawn, Prince Edward's giant Irish wolfhound, is a scene-stealer. William Keighley's direction is first-rate, as is Sol Polito's black and white cinematography, where each set-up enhances the drama of the moment. The term Black and White is clearly a misnomer... never more apparent than in viewing this film, with its shimmering silver halide crystals, which have never been more beautifully presented on the screen. The transfer to DVD is stunning and the sound track comes through loud and clear on my system. Hardly just a kids' film, this is one for the ages with its dark themes of poverty, child abuse, political skulduggery and talk of beheadings. Rest assured that all's well that ends well, with Errol Flynn coming to the rescue in the nick of time! In the words of the N. Y. Times in its original review: "The novel and the screen have been bridged so gracefully that we can not resist in saying that the Twain and the movies have met." |
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