The Mudlark (20th Century-Fox), based on Theodore Bonnet's 1949 bestseller, embroiders the legend of the slum waif whose naive devotion to the Crown coaxed Queen Victoria out of a 15-year solitude and awakened Parliament to its social responsibilities. Produced in England by U.S. moviemakers, the picture drew some British sniping, even before the cameras turned, for its casting of Irene Dunne as the Queen. The sniping was resumed when the film was picked as Britain's Command Performance movie in November.
U.S. moviegoers—and most Britons, for that matter—will look hard, and probably in vain, to find any real grounds for controversy. Some...
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