His Royal Highness

Given that the Australian film industry was in its toddler stage, I'd like to rate the film a bit higher. But as it is His Royal Highness is a good exposition to the comedy talents of George Wallace who apparently was to Australia as Maurice Chevalier to France and Sir Harry Lauder to Scotland. A kind of roving ambassador of entertainment for his country during his prime.

It's a simple film in structure and plot. Wallace plays a guy who nabs someone else's job as a stagehand at a theater and proceeds to muck it up. When the first guy comes back, he clunks Wallace on the head and Wallace dreams he's the lost king in some Ruritanian type country.

I saw bits of a few entertainers in Wallace's style. A little of Lou Costello, a little of Stanley Holloway, a little of Sir Harry Lauder. Mostly he was like an Aussie version of Eddie Cantor in his patter and in his singing and dancing. He was popular Down Under, but very few know him north of the equator.

His Royal Highness is a pleasing enough film and even though Americans might not get some of the Australian idiom you'll find a few laughs in it if not production values associated with Hollywood.

George Wallace was a comedy genius and this otherwise unexceptional movie shows him portraying the ordinary timeless Aussie bloke as only he could. Other comedians down the decades would attempt to copy George's style but none have put it over so naturally. He could sing, dance, write and direct and often did the lot on later movies. Only the British really understand our humour and this movie was hugely popular over there.

George Wallace gets a job as a stagehand, but the man he replaces coshes him. George dreams he is the long-lost King of Betonia, a musical-comedy kingdom where his lower-class Aussie malapropisms and insistence that the Prime Minister roller skate clash with intrigue and a plot to put a pretender on the throne.

This vehicle for Wallace shows off his talents well, with a nice song-and-dance routine early on. It's an Australian talkie, and clearly made for the Australian market. His shtick wears a bit thin after a while, although there is a good poker routine to liven up the end. Over all, the movie remains a historical marker, more an example of a style of film (operetta) and performer (music hall) that has largely disappeared, than of cinema.