April 4, 1990

The Prince And The Pauper (1990) ****

It's a 24-minutes short subject adapted from Mark Twain's famous story about a pauper changing places with his royal look-alike (Mickey Mouse plays both roles). Wandering among his subjects, the prince discovers the injustices commited in his name, while the pauper in the palace is blackmailed by a ruthless guard captain (as usual, PegLeg Pete plays a heavy). Instead of comedy, the film focuses on action and suspense. The villains are truly evil as they try to crown the wrong prince and imprison the rightful heir to the throne. The only comic bits come from pauper's frantic efforts to avoid being crowned during the climactic ceremony, but justice ultimately prevails and the evil guard captain is defeated by the prince (with some help from ice-cream vendor Goofy, servant Donald and dog Pluto).