User reviews

THIRTY DAY PRINCESS (Paramount, 1934), directed by Marion Gering, is a lighthearted comedy starring Sylvia Sidney as Princess Catterina of Taronia coming to New York City to seal a loan for her homeland. Upon her arrival by ship, she acquires the mumps and is unable to create favorable public opinion for a proposed bond issue. Richard M. Gresham (Edward Arnold), a financial banker for her father, King Anotol (Henry Stephenson), whom he met earlier taking a mud bath, hires detectives to locate a substitute. They find one in Nancy Lane (Sylvia Sidney), a Idaho farm girl struggling to find work as a stage actress, who happens to be an exact double of the stricken princess. While impersonating the princess, Nancy meets Porter Madison II (Cary Grant), a newspaper publisher for the Star Express who, at first, is against Gresham's granting a large foreign loan, but has a change of heart when he becomes very much interested in the "princess," who turns out to be engaged to the bumbling Prince Basseria Nicholeus (Vince Barnett). Subsequent merry mix-ups add to the simple fun of the story.

What's rare about this seldom revived comedy is that it's Sylvia Sidney's only opportunity on screen in both comedy and assuming a dual role. Usually type-cast as a poor working girl struggling to fight the Depression, or a hard-luck girl in love with the wrong type of guy, THIRTY DAY PRINCESS is a welcome change of pace for Sidney, who handles this comedic assignment quite well. A pity she didn't do more comedies, even in the "screwball" genre of the mid thirties. THIRTY DAY PRINCESS marked Sidney's third and final opportunity appearing opposite Cary Grant, their best known collaboration being MADAME BUTTERFLY (Paramount, 1932), also directed by Marion Gering.

The supporting cast includes Lucien Littlefield (Parker); George Baxter (Donald Spottswood); Edgar Norton (The Baron); and Robert McWade (The Managing Editor). Preston Sturges, a future comedy director for Paramount in the 1940s, is credited for the screenplay.

THIRTY DAY PRINCESS has some bright comedic moments, many belonging to Sidney, including one where she does her own impersonation of Nancy as a sassy, gum-chewing secretary; and where impersonator Nancy Lane comes face to face with her look-alike princess, offering movie-goers two Sylvia Sidney's for the price of one.

Not quite on the hilarious side, but confidentially, a cute comedy that holds up quite satisfactory for 73 minutes. Even though it's not as well known as other comedies from this era, it's still worth viewing for the presence of Sidney and Grant, each succeeding in making THIRTY DAY PRINCESS to appear both original and entertaining fun. Never distributed to home video, availability has turned up in 2006 in the DVD format as a Cary Grant double feature package along with Paramount's other forgotten comedy, KISS AND MAKE-UP (1934), and broadcast on cable television's Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 7, 2020). (**1/2)

A thoroughly winning little depression-era romantic comedy, THIRTY DAY PRINCESS manages to turn it's fairly routine storyline into a fresh and engaging picture that entertains throughout it's entire runtime. The plot has the Princess of the imaginary country Taronia (Sylvia Sidney) touring the US as an ambassador for her financially struggling country, with the hope of securing a major loan from the US. Upon arrival, our unfortunate Princess is stricken with the mumps, and is replaced by a look-alike actress (also played by Sidney), who doubles the ill Princess until she filly recovers. Complicating matters, however, is an ambitious news executive (Cary Grant), who is skeptical of the US approving such a large loan and wants to get to know out titular princess first hand.

As evidenced by the summary above, the film's plot was flimsy and formulaic even by the standards of the mid-thirties, but the picture manages to surprise viewers by using such an overly-familiar plot device as a springboard for sharp dialogue and delightful, fully-realized performances. Any film of this nature is almost entirely dependent upon its lead performer, and Sylvia Sidney handles her dual role with utter conviction, truly convincing viewers that she is two completely different characters. There is also an irresistible chemistry between Sidney and the young Cary Grant, who offers flashes of the brilliant actor he would soon become. In the end, the film manages to escape its well-worn premise and emerge as a genuine delight as one of the more underrated comedies of the thirties.

I've always loved Sylvia Sidney. I started going to the movies the year her last leading lady performance (LOVE FROM A STRANGER) was made, but I didn't see it then and it was only in revivals in the 1950s and occasional showings of some of her 1930s films on TV that I discovered her. I was amazed at how good she was even when only 21 or 22 years of age, and I thought she was just about the prettiest actress in the world at the time. Problem is, time didn't treat that prettiness too well, and when you saw her after the age of, say, 45 or so, it was hard to see even a trace of that prettiness. No problem, though, for she was a great actress and, I think with proper allowances in casting, she might today be one of the true legends of Hollywood's 1930s era. Well, we'll just have to settle for talent. I'm writing this, though, to say that one is never too old to learn. Although Sidney could be hilariously tough and ballsy in her later years, I had not known she had ever made even one comedy in her starring Hollywood years. And now, after 70-plus years of rather intense movie watching, I have finally seen THIRTY DAY PRINCESS, with a performance by her that is all charm and fun and light and prettiness personified. I can't imagine anyone, not even Colbert or Lombard or Stanwyck, could have done it any better. Truly, I have had her so associated with tragedy and poverty and murder and all the other good things of Hollywood Melodramatic Life, that I kept expecting someone to stab her or toss her down a flight of stairs, but nobody ever did. So, I learned that Sylvia could do comedy at a time when just about nobody would let her, and I am a better-informed movie-lover for it today. As for the film itself, she and Cary Grant and Edward Arnold give it exactly what it needs, and it should be far better known today than it is. She was a wonderful actress and, lest I forget to say it one more time, so damned pretty - not beautiful, just so damned pretty.

Sylvia Sidney stars with Cary Grant in Thirty Day Princess, a 1934 film directed by Marion Gering with a script by Preston Sturges and others. The movie also features Edward Arnold and Henry Stephenson.

Arnold plays Richard Gresham, a banker who wants to float a $50 million loan to the small country of Taronia, but in order to have the public look favorably upon it, he wants the King's daughter, Princess Catterina (Sidney), to do a tour of the United States, talk about her country, and get the press to like her. Unfortunately, when Catterina arrives, she comes down with the mumps and will be out of commission for a month. Gresham launches a search for a lookalike and eventually hires a poverty-stricken actress, Nancy Lane (Sidney) for the role. At her first reception, Nancy meets Gresham's nemesis, newspaper publisher Porter Madison III, who is against the loan. Do I have to tell you what happens? Right, he and Nancy fall for one another.

Very cute, light comedy with this unusual romantic and dual role for Sidney, who for some reason played poor women a lot. My generation knew Sidney as an older and old woman, and Sidney was one who didn't seem to fool around with plastic surgery. Her distinctive smoker's voice and her wonderful acting lifted many a TV show. Here, in some scenes, she actually reminds me of Gene Tierney! She looks lovely and wears the princess' gowns beautifully.

Sidney plays well with the handsome (and also very young) Grant, who was her costar in Madam Butterfly. Grant's iconic persona was not yet developed; for a time, he had the usual leading man roles. He acquits himself beautifully. Entertainment Weekly named him the #7 greatest film star of all time. To me, he was, and always will be, #1. Few actors had the longevity of popularity and good taste in roles and films he chose to do, and no one had his style.

Very enjoyable film, and great to see these stars so young and fresh.

Thirty Day Princess (1934)

*** (out of 4)

A banker (Edward Arnold) talks Princess Catterina (Sylvia Sidney) into visiting America so that she can get a loan for the poor people of her country. Once there she falls ill so the banker comes up with a scheme to find a look-a-like to take her place. He finds actress Nancy Lane (Sidney) who is told of the job and one thing she must do is pull the job over on a newspaper owner (Cary Grant).

THIRTY DAY PRINCESS isn't a masterpiece but it's certainly a very fun and very entertaining little gem that should probably be better known among film buffs than it actually is. You'd think with Sidney and Grant as well as the screenplay being co-written by Preston Sturges that it would be better remembered today but for some reason it has pretty much slipped away.

That's really too bad because there are some pretty good moments throughout the film including a wonderful performance by Sidney. She basically plays two different roles here and I thought she did a great job with both of them. I really loved the charm she brought to her characters and especially that innocence laugh she has as the Princess. I really thought she did a fabulous job at making the Grant character fall in love with her because the viewer too falls in love! The supporting cast is good too with Arnold playing a the bad guy with ease and Grant is also fun in a somewhat fast-talking role. Henry Stephenson doesn't appear in too much of the film but when he's on the screen he's great too.

There are some logical issues with the film but that there is to be expected in this type of spoof. Director Marion Gering does a nice job at keeping the film running at a nice pace and he manages to get some nice laughs throughout. With that said, there's no question that it's the cast and especially Sidney that make this film so memorable and fans of her will really want to check it out.

A witty romantic comedy about a newspaper man and a princess - no, not ROMAN HOLIDAY, something just as classy and if you're more a 30s movie fan than a 50s movie fan, like me you might find this better.

This is not one of those awful cute and sickly sugar coated Ruritanean comedies which were common in the thirties. Surprisingly it's a smart, cleverly written grown up fun film. I'm not saying it's a biting political or social satire - no, it's a silly, silly story but it's one of those really well made films which still work today.

Every time you find a film directed by Paramount's unsung genius Mr Marion Gering, you find a near perfect piece of entertainment. He wasn't quite top table maybe because he didn't have a particular discernible style but he never failed to make near masterpieces - like this.

In the hands a lesser director this could have been utter tripe. After all: 1. The story is absurd but Gering makes it utterly compelling. 2. Cary Grant's output at this time was hardly notable but he's as good as he ever was in this. 3. You initially think that Claudette Colbert should have been the princess rather than miserable Sylvia Sidney but Gering turns her into the perfect comedy actress.

You might think that this sounds very familiar and that you've seen this type of thing a dozen times before. But don't dismiss this, it's not just another 'also ran.' In terms of writing, acting and production and definitely in terms of humour, this is a cut above the rest. We're not quite at IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT levels but we're pretty close.......and more entertaining than ROMAN HOLIDAY.

Taronian princess Catterina (Sylvia Sidney) is sent to America to gain financing for her poor country. Upon arriving, the princess falls ill with the mumps. Desperate banker Richard Gresham comes up with an unusual solution. He tells numerous investigators that the princess had run away and refuses to answer to her own name. He hopes to find a doppelganger to replace the princess. He offers poor struggling actress Nancy Lane $10k to impersonate her. Rich newspaper publisher Porter Madison III (Cary Grant) opposes the deal.

I like the premise and I like the machine-gun dialogue which is obviously written by Preston Sturges. It has Cary Grant but he wasn't quite Cary Grant at the time. He's not given much to do. Porter falls for the princess too fast and too easy. They are lacking a meet cute. The chemistry is rushed. I'm not saying that it's impossible. These are two beautiful human beings. Love at first sight is meant for people like them but they don't have the time to build up. It's a rushed job.

This film has two things that the people of 1934 sorely needed: a feel good love story, and cary grant! With sylvia sidney (got above the title billing), eddie arnold and henry stephenson. When king anatol wants to improve the living conditions for his people, he works out a deal with gresham, the banker. But when the princess is too sick to travel, gresham finds a look-a-like to take her place. And of course, the actress falls for madison. Complications, misunderstsandings, as the old friends of the actress think they have figured things out. Can they keep the secret until the princess goes back to her own country? And can they ever explain things to madison? It's a fun adventure, as an ordinary girl gets to be princess for thirty days. Directed by marion gering. Sidney, grant, and gering had made "madam butterfly" together, just prior to this. It's always interesting to see a screenplay by preston sturges, story by clarence kelland. It's fun to watch, as plain jane gets to be princess for a short time.

"Thirty Day Princess" can easily fit into the oeuvre of master comedy writer Preston Sturges although this film predates his 1940 directorial debut by six years. The basic comic premise of one woman impersonating two very different people on opposite ends of the social scale (while convincing the man she's romantically involved with that they are different people) is difficult material to bring off. Within that context Sturges inserts his unique satiric sensibilities on sex and social mores.

Sylvia Sydney, like Barbara Stanwyck seven years later in Sturges' wildly successful "The Lady Eve," succeeds admirably in using accent and mannerisms to distinguish the two characters. Additionall, both talented actresses have the chameleon-like ability to actually look different in both roles without resorting to any major make-up changes. Unfortunately, Cary Grant, at this stage of his career, had not as yet developed his screen persona to a degree that he could capture as much of the Sturges zaniness that Henry Fonda did in the 1941 film.

While Sidney is portraying two completely different people in "Thirty Day Princes," the audience in "The Lady Eve" knows that Barbara Stanwyck's character is essentially playing two different facets of her own personality. so the similarities in her two roles are dramatically plausible. Although it is highly improbable that Sidney's characters, Nancy Lane and Princess Catterina, could look so much alike under ordinary circumstances, Sturges inserts a sly bit of covert sexual innuendo at the film's climax with a subtle dialogue exchange between Nancy and King Anatole suggesting that she possibly is the King's illegitimate daughter, illegitimately sired during a previous trip to America. Sturges was a master at getting questionable material like this discreetly past the censors of his day.

Stealing the show, however, is character actor Vince Barnett, usually assigned to play low level gangsters and bumbling waiters, as Catterina's obnoxiously infantile fiancé, Prince Nicholeus. He delivers a hilarious performance, alternating accents from Mittel-English Ruritanian to Brooklynese. Considering Sturgis' loyalty to eccentric character actors during his heyday at Paramount, it seems unusual that he would not have written additional roles for Barnett in his series of screwball comedies in the early 40's as Barnett did occasionally turn up in Paramount films like Bob Hope's 1942 MY FAVORITE BLONDE.

King Henry Stephenson would like some American loans to improve conditions in his country, so financier Edward Arnold offers to do so. To sell the bonds, he requires Princess Sylvia Sidney to go on a tour, but she comes down with mumps, so actress Sylvia Sidney takes her place. Newspaper publisher Cary Grant is skeptical.

Here's another attempt to star Miss Sidney in a comedy, but given Marion Gering's direction, even a script co-written by Preston Sturges can't chase the blues away; Miss Sidney remains depressed throughout as she falls for Grant's pretty unlikable character. Stephenson carries the acting honors, but the competition isn't too stiff here.

I liked this movie far more than expected - it's a quite funny mistaken identity kind of film - with the requisite newspapermen, wealthy men, princesses, romance that any Depression era comedy relish. I had some concern about the always serious Sylvia Sidney in a comedy - but her intelligence is just wonderful in the line readings - she's quite an actress.

Cary Grant is very young - and not quite as deft and light as in later years - but fine, not clunky at all.

Edward Arnold is thoroughly enjoyable in the kind of role he was born to play - the plutocrat. I particularly enjoyed the amusing discussion (hard to imagine in a film now) with the king of the necessary size for the bond issue for Taronia's electrification.

There is further interest in the comedy's deadly serious background of extreme poverty/destitution/fear of hunger that haunts the film - it's very much there in the asides, in the protagonist's motivation.

I hadn't realized that Sylvia Sidney (known as a real symbol of the Great Depression) and Cary Grant had worked together twice before. They work very well - and she's far prettier than I remembered.

You'll enjoy this one - the writing (by Sturges and others) is truly sparkling, the comedy is fast, intelligent and the show charming.

Cary Grant was discouraged with the roles he was assigned by Paramount Pictures. A case in point was May 1934's "Thirty Day Princess." He set out early in his film career to be the epitome of masculine glamour. But his parts after 15 movies were becoming repetitive. In this film, actress Sylvia Sidney plays a duo role of a princess of a small European country who's in the United States to drum up interest for a sizable loan for her kingdom. She also plays an unemployed actress, Nancy Lane, who looks just like the princess. The Royal highness becomes sick early on in her travels and Nancy is hired to secretly take her place. Grant plays a newspaper publisher who becomes smitten with whom he thinks is a princess. The two begin a love affair, but Nancy fails to tell him the truth. This is the only time Sylvia ever played in a comedic role.

"Thirty Day Princess," in spite of being a unique light-hearted rom-com, received reviews that were lukewarm. Grant was stung by some of the criticisms, where he felt his parts were requiring him to do little more than spend most of his time in formal white ties and tails. So upset at the roles he was assigned, he demanded from Paramount the ability to select his own parts. The studio basically ignored his requests. But things would turn for the better in the next year for Grant when Paramount loaned out the disgruntled actor to other studios. It was there that Grant began receiving more substantial roles.

The film opens with banker Richard Gresham (Edward Arnold) meeting King Anatol XII (Henry Stephenson) in a mud bath in the king's European country of Taronia. The king mentions that he'd love to be able to give his people some modern conveniences that Americans take for granted, but that the country is too poor. The banker says he could float fifty million dollars in bonds, but that it would require a good will tour by the royalty of Taronia. The king mentions that when kings leave their country they are often not allowed to return, and suggests that his daughter Catterina (Sylvia Sidney) do the good will tour in his place.

When the princess reaches America she comes down with the mumps and must be quarantined for a month. So Gresham scours New York City for a look alike for the princess and finds her in impoverished struggling actress Nancy Lane (also Sylvia Sidney of course), who will be paid ten thousand dollars for pulling off the impersonation. Complications ensue, not the least of which is that high minded newspaper publisher Porter Madison III (Cary Grant) has a running beef with Gresham and thinks that this bond business must be shady dealings AND Gresham thus instructs stand in Nancy Lane to "vamp" him.

Cary Grant is finding his lane in comedy at this point, and it is refreshing to see Sylvia Sidney do comedy after watching her play the tragic figure in so many films. There's lots here that is pure Great Depression or at least pure pre WWII Europe- Gresham as unscrupulous capitalist, an automat turkey dinner turning ordinary people into thieves because they are starving, fast talking reporters willing to believe and do anything to get a leg up on a story, and tiny European countries that nobody has ever heard of that sound like they exist in a snow globe. And then there is Vince Barnett who steals the show as a Taronian count who is a completely unappealing man in just about every way possible.

And then there is Grant's character Porter Madison III. Madison may sound high minded, but in the end he changes his mind about the bond issue because he falls for the big sad eyes of "the princess", not because he is convinced that the investment is fundamentally sound. So Gresham does have his number in that regard.

This one doesn't have any individual great one liners like a Lubitsch, but the situations are charming, and it is an enjoyable watch with no real villains, or at least effective ones, in sight.

One of the few Cary Grant movies to fully disappoint me - especially surprising since its 1934 but the direction failed him.

Preston Sturges is one of the writers, but didn't get to directing yet (this is six years before The Great McGinty and The Lady Eve). But you can see the handprints of Sturges on this Paramount picture.

The problem is there are four writers and they don't seem to be on the same page with each other or the director.

Sylvia Sydney is very good in a comedic role but the material is dated.

Vince Barnett's comic relief is just beyond annoying and almost drops this to a 3-4 rating.

There are two parts of this movie which are noteworthy besides the actors:

1. The use of split screen: this was rarely used by this time and is always fascinating before the digital age.

2. If you pay close attention you will see parallels to Chaplin's The Great Dictator (six years later) in the use of mood, sets and costumes. I am convinced Chaplin saw this and was influenced by parts of it.

Overall, just does not hold up well.