"PRINCE AND THE PAUPER."

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 24, 21 October 1937, Page 14

"PRINCE AND THE PAUPER."

History romance and adventure are combined" in the Warner Bros.' film version of Mark Twain 's unmortal "The Prince and the Pauper," which screens at the Regent Theatre tonight. Former stage presentations of the classic have been hampered somewhat by the neces-sity of having the two title roles played by one actor (or actress). And in the silent film version, trick "shots" and double exposures were used. But the Mauch twins, Billy and Bobby, twelve-year-old actors of no mean dramatic ability, have solved that problem. Billy and Bobby are identical twins, so what could be more fitting than that Bobby should play young Prince Edward, heir to the Throne of King Henry VIII., and that Billy (whom you will remember as young "Anthony Adverse") should play Tom Canty, the pauper boy who looked exactly like the Prince? All 'the colour and drama of sixteenth century England is brought to life on the screen, and the magnificent coronation scene in which the pauper boy, who has exchanged identities with the Prince js almost crowned King of England, is oue of the most dramatic screen moments of recent years. Miles Hendon, soldier of fortune and befriender of the two boys, is splendidly portrayed by Errbl Flyim, f resh from his triumphs in ' ' The Charge of the Light Brigade" aud "Green Light." Claude . Rains, master villain of the screen, plays the rascally old Earl of Hertford, and Barton MacLane is the pauper boy 's thieving father. Phyllis Barry (as a barmaid), Alan Hale, Robert Adair, Henry Stephenson, Halliwell Hobbes, and a score of others turn in notable performances.