A MARK TWAIN CLASSIC FILMED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 April 1937, Page 13

A MARK TWAIN CLASSIC FILMED

SIXTEENTH CENTURY yiLLAINS IN “THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER ’ Holhwood, California. —Two of the professionally meanest men in Hollywood -Claude Rains and Barton MacUne —combine their talents for skullduggery and double dealing for the first time in ' The Prince and the Pauper.” now being filmed at the Warner Bros. Hirst National studios. Rains, a "meanie” of long standing on stage end screen, is taking up right where he left off in “Anthony Adverse,” making tilings lough for little Billy Mauch. who played the role of the

young Anthony in that great picture. He again makes life miserable for the very same youngster in this Mark Twain classic.

lie has the role of the scheming, scoundrelly Earl of Hertford, who, according to the story, attempted to seize control of England at the death cf Henry VIII, by usurping the post as regent to the youthful king. In the mixup between the young prince and pauper when they exchange clothes for a lark, Billy Mauch comes under his sinister sway as the imposter, while his twin brother, Bobby, who is the real prince in the picture, narrowly escapes murder at the hands of Rains’s hirelings. Mac Lane’s villainy is not of such long standing as that of the veteran Rains, but he makes up for lack of experience in downright cussedness that elevates his depravity to the same high level as his fellow player’s. In “The Prince and Pauper” MacLane is cast as John Canty, thief, beggar, murderer and brutal bully of the slums. He plays the role with a gusto tiiat is sure to earn him well deserved hisses when the picture is finally released. As the father of little Tom Canty Mac Lane beats and mistreats Billy Mauch and later makes things tough for Bobby when the prince in the pauper boy’s clothes, is cast out of the palace and mistaken by Mac Lane for his own son.

With so much villainy, there must of course be an heroic avenger, and Mark Twain provided him in the person of swashbuckling Miles Hendon, soldier of fortune, a role which fits Errol Flynn like a glove. When he enlists on the side of the outcast and his keen sword starts flashing ven geance, the villains and persecutors of the youngsters start falling like leaves in a windstorm.

It is a grand story—one beloved by millions, and the late Laird Doyle built a lasting monument to hjs brilliant memory with the screpn play he completed for this picture shortly before his tragic death. William Keighley is directing under the supervision of Robert Lord.