Thirty Day Princess (1934)

I think it is safe to assume that we have all had the dream of what it must be like to be royalty. Lots of money, the most gorgeous clothes we can imagine, whatever kind of car we wanted, beautiful houses or palaces or whatever kind of establishments royals live in these days, etc. Of course there is a downside to being royal but in our dreams life is extremely awesome and care free without the press. Honestly, without the press aspect of it all and some ridiculous amount of pressure and cruelty from everywhere, Wallis Simpson lived our dream with Edward VIII only he abdicated and was basically exiled. Put it this way if Wallis Simpson had had a better situation she would have been living our total dream of what it would be like to be royal or marry into royalty.

            Thirty Day Princess is not about being born royal or marrying into royalty so pardon my tangent there my brain runs away from constantly and my fingers like to do a lot of the following when I type these posts up. Thirty Day Princess may kind of be better than our dreams in some ways. Hear me out with this summary:

            King Anatole the XII is the ruler of a small European country called Tyronia. While at a spa he meets an American banker named Richard M. Gresham (Edward Arnold). Anatole explains that his country is not doing too well they need money to help the poor and get back on their feet economically. It will take fifty million dollars and Gresham is willing to put up that money. To make the loan worth it to the American people Gresham wants Anatole to come on a goodwill tour of America. Anatole cannot leave the country or his people will become upset since Tyronia is not doing well. Instead he suggests his young daughter Catterina (Sylvia Sidney) go in his place.

            As soon as Catterina steps off the ship she faints from being sick. Turns out she has the mumps and will be laid up in bed for thirty days. Catterina being sick is not good for Gresham. He comes up with the thought that there is two of everything in the world and that there must be someone in New York City that resembles the sick princess. He calls two of his men to go and find that one person. The two men happen to find the absolute perfect girl in Nancy Lane (also Sylvia Sidney) in automat. Nancy is a struggling actress. The only thing she has on her is her press clipping book with small write ups about her. At the automat Nancy had opened up one of the entrees by banging on the glass. When she sees the men staring at her she thinks she is in trouble for stealing the food so she runs out of the automat. The men finally catch up with her and basically kidnap Nancy.

            Nancy is brought to Gresham and he cannot believe the resemblance between her and the princess. He offers her ten thousand dollars to play the princess for thirty days. She gets trained on how to speak like Catterina and about being a princess and what she needs to say. Nancy passes a test when even the baron the princess is traveling with believes her to be the real one.

            An investigative reporter named Porter Madison III (Cary Grant) is not thrilled with the princess being in the country and why she is in the country. He is not too much of a fan of Gresham’s either. Porter is brought to a party where the princess is being introduced to reporters and society. Of course as soon as Porter sees Nancy he immediately falls in love with her and he falls hard. The following day he takes her all around the city to show the “princess” all the sites of New York City. This being a typical classic film they fall in ass over ankles in love.

            One of the reporters Porter works with somehow dredges up a story about Nancy and gets her landlord all worried. He is convinced that Nancy is not the real princess because the princess’s fiancé comes to town and is treated like a piece of trash. The guy is really weird, super awkward, and not worth even looking over. He tells the reporters that the princess they know is not the real princess. The reporters have a field day looking to get any clues they can and bust open a great story.

            Gresham is looking to make a fool out of Porter by having Nancy as the princess give Porter a fake medal. Nancy does not want to do that to Porter. Luckily the real princess wants to meet her. Nancy tells Catterina the situation and they come up with a plan together. At the ceremony where Gresham had hoped to make a fool of Porter the real princess is there to give the medals. She gives Gresham the fake one. Anatole had received a call from the reporters about the story they were working on and he winds up coming to America too. He is the one to prove that Catterina is the real princess. Nancy was keeping a low profile. She reveals herself to Porter and of course there is a little argument and some spite and all that between them. Then Nancy rips up her big check and then she and Porter live happily ever after.

            I liked Thirty Day Princess it was cute and entertaining. There were not a lot of scenes that dragged which I always like. Watching this I thought forget the dreams of being born or married into royalty I would rather just be a princess for thirty days and get paid a crap ton of money! Cary Grant and Sylvia Sidney were adorable together. Honestly, Cary Grant could have been paired with a broom and they would be an adorable on screen couple. Thirty Day Princess is worth watching especially if you are a Cary Grant fan. He was such a baby!