The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)

Actors: Terence Rattigan (writer), Laurence Olivier (producer), Terence Rattigan (writer), Andreas Malandrinos (actor), Marilyn Monroe (producer), Marilyn Monroe (actress), Jean Kent (actress), Laurence Olivier (actor), Cyril Chamberlain (actor), Charles Victor (actor), Richard Wattis (actor), David Horne (actor), Esmond Knight (actor), Harold Goodwin (actor), Terence Rattigan (writer),

Plot: When Grandduke Charles, the prince-regent of Carpathia, a fictitious Balkan country which could start a European war by switching alliances, visits London for the coronation of the new British King in 1911, and spends his one evening off at the Coconut Girl Club, the reputed stickler for protocol is so charmed by a clumsy American understudy that he orders his British attaché to invite her to the embassy for a private supper. Being overlooked and understanding German, she learns of the repressive attitude of the regent and the plans of his reformist, pro-German minor son, King Nicholas, to take over power by surprise, but doesn't dodge and tries to reconcile father and son. The queen-dowager decides to make her lady-in-waiting for the coronation day, so she stays in the picture to everyone else's surprise.

Keywords: 1910s, actress, american-in-the-uk, aristocrat, balls, based-on-play, british-foreign-office, chivalry, class-differences, conspiracy
Genres: Comedy, Romance,
Taglines: Some countries have a medal for Everything.

Quotes:

Charles, the Prince Regent: [of the theatre] So many doors. Like an audience with the Japanese emperor!

Elsie Marina: Better luck next time, only not with me, of course.

The Foreign Office: Do you mean to say, Northbrook, that you know nothing about Carpathia whatever?::Northbrook: Don't even know where the beastly place is for a start.::The Foreign Office: How long have you been in the foreign office?::Northbrook: Fifteen years, sir, but I'm in the Far Eastern Department.::The Foreign Office: Now that's no excuse. What would you think if I knew nothing of Siam?::Northbrook: Don't think I'd mind much.::The Foreign Office: That sort of remark will get you nowhere, Northbrook.::Northbrook: Not even out of this job?::The Foreign Office: Certainly not! Your predecessor has had a riding accident and you are now in his saddle.

Elsie Marina: [about dress] Say, is it all right over the you-know-what?::Fanny: Wonderful over the you-know-what.::Fanny: [Northbrook comes out from behind screen] What do you think?::Northbrook: Very nice.::Fanny: Is that all you can say?::Northbrook: Very nice indeed.

Elsie Marina: [having learned the details of the Regent's "party"] You know, there's a word for what you are and it's not Deputy Head of the Far Eastern Department.

Northbrook: Aren't you confusing this embassy with a private room at Romano's?::Elsie Marina: Why not? Except up there it's a longer run from the sofa to the door.

The Queen Dowager: Sweetly pretty. She should use more mascara. When one is young, one should use a lot of mascara. When one is older, one should use much more.

Northbrook: I'm sure, sir, her sense of comme il faut will -::Charles, the Prince Regent: She has as much sense of comme il faut as a rhinocerous.::Northbrook: [beat] Do I gather, sir, that the evening was not an entirely happy one?::Charles, the Prince Regent: Northbrook, this British understatement of yours I begin to find irritating.

Elsie Marina: Yes, I speak German. I was born in Milwaukee.

Elsie Marina: Oh, don't give me that. I'm an American citizen, no one can do anything to me. Besides, who cares about your old Balkan revolutions, anyway? You have them all the time.