This is a very lovely film to look at--with lots of opulent dresses, a lovely palace locale and pretty people such as Louis Jordan and Grace Kelly. However, once you peel away all the loveliness, the film itself isn't all that special despite a few decent performances here and there. That's because of two serious faults--very stilted and controlled performances as well as occasionally awful dialog. If you take out these factors, the basic fairy tale story is pretty good and I liked the way the movie ended.
Now as far as the stilted acting goes, some of this was definitely required for the film. The royal family was supposed to be stiff and proper but after a while, this just seemed too much--particularly with Grace Kelly. As a result, this good actress just was a pretty person in pretty clothes and that's about all! This was made worse by the less than sparkling dialog between her and Jordan. When they started talking about love and she "let loose", it just sounded syrupy and silly--lacking all realism and sounding like it came straight out of a really bad romance novel. Frankly, I found these scenes, at times, a bit embarrassing--they were that silly.
Fortunately, apart from these problems, the film is still rather enjoyable--particularly Alec Guinness' performance--though I must admit his character was a tad inconsistent. I also wondered if the writers' intent was to make him seem like he might be a latent homosexual--showing no interest in any women--even the lovely Grace Kelly (he must have been gay or insane). This sort of thing never would have been alluded to in the 1950s, but this would have made the film a lot more interesting had they pursued this! Also, the supporting roles were well done and the film did provide a nice, though not especially deep, diversion.
Several other reviews have alluded to this being Grace Kelly's "swan song" to Hollywood. Ironically, in this film she plays a member of the royalty that contemplates giving it all up to become a commoner, whereas in real life it was the opposite--with Kelly marrying the Prince of Monaco.
Now as far as the stilted acting goes, some of this was definitely required for the film. The royal family was supposed to be stiff and proper but after a while, this just seemed too much--particularly with Grace Kelly. As a result, this good actress just was a pretty person in pretty clothes and that's about all! This was made worse by the less than sparkling dialog between her and Jordan. When they started talking about love and she "let loose", it just sounded syrupy and silly--lacking all realism and sounding like it came straight out of a really bad romance novel. Frankly, I found these scenes, at times, a bit embarrassing--they were that silly.
Fortunately, apart from these problems, the film is still rather enjoyable--particularly Alec Guinness' performance--though I must admit his character was a tad inconsistent. I also wondered if the writers' intent was to make him seem like he might be a latent homosexual--showing no interest in any women--even the lovely Grace Kelly (he must have been gay or insane). This sort of thing never would have been alluded to in the 1950s, but this would have made the film a lot more interesting had they pursued this! Also, the supporting roles were well done and the film did provide a nice, though not especially deep, diversion.
Several other reviews have alluded to this being Grace Kelly's "swan song" to Hollywood. Ironically, in this film she plays a member of the royalty that contemplates giving it all up to become a commoner, whereas in real life it was the opposite--with Kelly marrying the Prince of Monaco.