The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
The only movie ever made by Marilyn Monroe Productions, The Prince and the Showgirl is a monumental film in Monroe’s career. Going straight from her powerhouse performance in Bus Stop to producing her own Laurence Olivier film (and having her name appear before his in the credits), this was likely the peak of Monroe’s power in the industry, shaping her own project independently of the studio system. It’s also a terrific romantic comedy, and my favorite Monroe performance ever.
The Prince and the Showgirl is a classic fish-out-of-water tale and a sort of reverse Roman Holiday. Monroe plays Elsie, a small-time theater actor wooed by the prince of a foreign nation (Olivier). The film delights in the contrast between his stuffy, royal posturing and her plain-talking, everywoman attitude. But the majority of the tension comes from her resistance to his advances, and the film is fairly blunt about the playbook run by lecherous men.
Elsie is invited over by the prince for dinner in what turns out to be a secluded, one-on-one meal. As he strains to turn on the charm, Elsie understands the implications of the situation and, almost bored by his clumsy attempts at seduction, calls him out on them. “Oh no, I know every move,” she says. Elsie smiles and eye rolls through the rendezvous, alternating between playing along and outright mocking the prince. But the underlying danger of her situation is felt, and I’m not sure if the film would strike the same tone if Monroe herself weren’t producing it. Eventually, she rejects him. “You made a pass and I turned it down,” she says, in what feels like a direct response to the horrid ending of Bus Stop.
The film later inverts this initial seduction, with Elsie mirroring every move the prince tried at the beginning: she pushes away the table of food, sits him down in the chair, pours him a vodka. Like the earlier scene, the prince thinks he is in control, but Elsie now maintains total authority over the situation. Whereas he seduced her by playing up her desire for romantic love, she seduces him by playing up his desire for political power. It’s a clever suggestion that these distinct passions aren’t that far apart.
Why Elsie changes her tune on the prince is up for debate — at times it seems she is genuinely won over by the promise of being loved; other times it seems she’s having a blast toying with him. He tries to talk down to her about politics, but as with many Monroe films, the men are dolts who see far less than she does. The title of the film proves to be ironic: after the opening scene she is the unflappable royalty and he is the bumbling showman.
As Elsie, Monroe gives the most dynamic and confident performance of her career. She is elegant and poised, and takes up a natural presence on the screen that fluidly carries the film. In earlier films such as Niagara you could feel Monroe leaning into the idea that she is a spectacle to be observed and marveled at; In The Prince and the Showgirl, she is both a beauty and the steady foundation driving the narrative forward. A gifted physical performer, Monroe is able to show off her screwball comedy chops in the role while also reeling off some of the most precise, spirited line readings you’ll ever hear.
One thing I always love about Monroe is how sunny her characters are in the face of cynics. The people around her may be talking down to her or griping about their own problems, but she possesses a wisdom and sincerity that steers them back toward hopefulness. This quality is often in service of her finding love, but Elsie is different; it seems she has no higher objective than spreading love to those around her.
By the end of the film the prince has completely fallen for her and invites her back to his home nation. In a typical Hollywood romance, she’d cave to his charms and venture off to a new life in a foreign land. Here, though, Elsie opts not to go with him. She leaves open the possibility that they might reconnect later, and then simply walks out the door, back into her own life. It’s a shame we never got more films from Marilyn Monroe Productions — her management of the film makes it a more profound and complex story. The Prince and the Showgirl stands as an early example of how having women both behind the camera and in front of it can shape the final product in meaningful ways. I’m grateful Monroe was able to pull off at least this one, a real gem of the romantic comedy genre.
Rating: 4/5