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09/29/2016 12:01 AMOn Saturday, Oct. 8, The Clinton Family Festival will screen The Prince & The Pauper, starring Errol Flynn, at Andrews Memorial Town Hall, 54 East Main Street, Clinton at 7 p.m.
Admission is free, and the event is open to the public. Children under 14 must accompanied by a responsible adult.
The movie The Prince and the Pauper is based upon a book of the same title written by Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens. Set in 1547, the book was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States and was Twain’s first attempt at historical fiction. Twain was already living in Hartford at the time of its publication, which was five years after his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and four years before The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
It is the story of young Tom Canty, the youngest son of a poor family living in Offal Court, London, with a thirst for knowledge, who has been taught to read and write by a local priest. Hanging out near the palace gates one day, he sees the Prince of Wales, Edward VI. When he comes too close, he is nearly caught and beaten by the Royal Guards. However, Prince Edward stops them and invites Canty into the palace. There, the two boys (played by twins Billy and Bobby Mauch) get to know one another and are fascinated by each other’s life and their uncanny resemblance to each other.
For fun, the boys decide to switch clothes. The Prince, forgetting that he is still dressed in Canty’s rags, goes outside the palace to take to task the guard who was going to beat Canty. But dressed as he is, he is not recognized by the guards, who drive him from the palace grounds. Yet before he went outside, Edward hid England’s Great Seal in a suit of armor. Eventually, while wandering through the streets of London, Prince Edward now in rags, is found by Canty’s father who brings him to his home, where he is subjected to brutality. Edward manages to escape and eventually meets Miles Hendon (Errol Flynn), a soldier and nobleman returning from war. Although Miles does not believe Edward’s claim to royalty, he humors him and becomes his protector. Meanwhile, news reaches them that King Henry VIII, Edward’s father, has died and that Prince Edward, who is now, in actuality, Tom Canty, and still believed to be the prince, is about to be coroneted King of England.
Will Prince Edward remain a pauper? Or will he eventually assume his rightful place on the throne?