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Biggest scene in The Prince and the Pauper is naturally the Coronation, for which Warners used their big new Stage 22, too ft. longer than the lot's ordinary 40-ft. stages; a small army of extras, the St. Luke's Choir and six technical advisers. In this scene Tom Canty, already prayed over, sworn and anointed, is about to get the crown when Prince Edward comes scampering up Westminster Abbey's central aisle to present his claims. When Tom Canty corroborates them, the Archbishop of Canterbury agrees to crown Edward if he can tell the whereabouts of the Great Seal of England. Edward does so with some difficulty. When next seen he is on the throne distributing rewards to those who deserve them, passing laws for the improvement of the slum population, and taking waivers on the Earl of Hertford.
The Prince and the Pauper is not and does not aim to be screen drama of cosmic import, superspectacle or Hollywood picture-poem. It does aim to be, and is, a frisky, fresh and wholly likable comedy by the best comic writer, for the screen or otherwise, whom the U. S. has yet produced. Directed by William Keighley, acted by Warner Brothers' most high-powered cast since Midsummer Night's Dream, staged by Robert Lord and scored by Erich Korngold, it should amply grace next fortnight's Coronation. It should also grace, if not climax, the careers of two amiable young actors from Peoria, Ill. who, among Hollywood's currently swollen quota of remarkable children, are perhaps the most remarkable.
Billy & Bobby Mauch (pronounced mock) are more extraordinary than Shirley Temple because there are two of them. They have an advantage over the Dionnes because they are interchangeable. In The Prince and the Pauper, it is not possible to say which Mauch played which. The original plan was, not to have one play Prince and the other Pauper, but to have Billy play all the palace scenes and Bobby play all the guttersnipe scenes, regardless of which character appeared in them. This plan came to nothing because it suited the Mauch twins' sense of humor to switch from time to time. This was by no means the first trick of the kind they had played. The Mauch brothers got their Hollywood jobs not because they looked alike but because they both look like Fredric March. Producer Wallis, who had been scouring the U. S. for a ten-year-old to play young Anthony in March's Anthony Adverse, found the Mauchs, signed Billy for the part. In Anthony Adverse Bobby Mauch's job was stand-in for his brother. He apparently discharged his duties faithfully. Actually he did nothing of the sort. When the picture was over, he and Billy confessed to Director Mervyn Le Roy that they had switched jobs whenever they felt like it. Neither Director Le Roy nor anyone else knew the difference at the time or in the picture.