Prince of Players

I'm a fan of Richard Burton. If you would like to see a classic Shakespearian performance, I definitely recommend this movie. I wanted my son, who was involved in his High school play at the time to learn the delivery style and presence from a master. I first viewed this movie 25 years ago when I was a teenager. I enjoyed it more the first time I watched this movie then I did just recently. With this recent viewing with my son I was able to point out some of the characteristics of great acting and presence.

The story of the brother of a high profile figure who shot President Lincoln was also compelling. Edwin Booth's great career on stage was overshadowed by his brother's political actions.

This was also a great performance by Raymond Massey as the Father of both John and Edwin. These were great stage actors giving great performances.

The movie gave me an appreciation of a performers life back in the days when actors where not making the big money and performed because they loved the art. I recommend it!!

Except for the 1937 John Ford movie, THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, this film is the most centered on the story of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. But that said, it misses the effectiveness of being definitive like Stone's interesting (if flawed) JFK. The film is based on Eleanor Ruggles biography (of the same name) of Edwin Booth's career. So the central figure is Edwin, probably the greatest American actor of the 19th Century. Richard Burton, as a growing Shakespearean actor, was perfect as the talented Edwin. His father, the talented but eccentric and alcoholic Junius Brutus Booth Sr, is played by Raymond Massey (ironically the same actor who played Lincoln in ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS, and John Brown in SANTA FE TRAIL and SEVEN ANGRY MEN). As the egotistical John Wilkes Booth we have the young, still promising John Derek.

The movie only goes from 1852 (when Junius Booth died) through 1866, when the American public showed Edwin Booth that it did not hold him or his family guilty for the stupid, vicious act of his brother. It does not carry the story down to Booth's death in 1893, with his success as the definitive Hamlet of his age, and his failure as a theatrical producer. Edwin Booth worked until about 1891, due to the debts he accumulated. But his last years were stable, with his second wife. He also found time to create the Player's Club (still located in his Gramercy Park brownstone). Only the tragedy of the President's death at his brother's hands left a really brutal mark on him.

Derek does the most with his role - showing the strong desire for "real fame" that took control over John Wilkes. As his character kills the character played by Massey in one film, he ironically also attends the hanging of John Brown - historically correct. But his intricate plot to first kidnap Lincoln and then kill him, and his relations with other conspirators is not really gone into. Still, the assassination, chase, capture, and death of the assassin are done fairly correctly. But to get the tone of the government's prosecution of the conspirators, see John Ford's film.

I first saw this when I was in high school and thinking of becoming an actor. Burton's performance and the film's highly romantic vision of Booth as the brooding "natural" Hamlet hooked me. Although it has the outlines of a typical biopic, The Prince of Players offers an extraordinary display of the kind of acting that, at its best, dominated the 19th century stage. Burton was one of the few 20th century artists who knew how to balance a ringing declamatory style with honest, full bodied emotions. It is so different from the typical modern understatement that some audience won't be able to adjust to it. But for those who relish language along with fire in the blood, this is as good as it gets on film. The portrait of the actor Edwin Booth, a man overburdened with the cares of the world, as impetuous, self-indulgent, and nearly batty, is a bit overheated. But it's a typical view of the artist in the mad tradition of Poe. Very 19th Century--and well worth knowing.

The story of the Booth family of actors with the heavy drinking and mad father, Junius Brutus, played by Raymond Massey who is accompanied on his tours out west to the mining camps by son Edwin, a child actor who morphs into Richard Burton), while John Wilkes (John Derek) hones his acting skills and soaks up secessionist fervor in the South. The various stages are set for the young actors, with John Wilkes choosing to act on a bigger stage, as he says to his brother in one scene. The movie focuses on Edwin played by Richard Burton who takes over the Shakespeare roles his father leaves behind when he (the father) cannot carry on any longer. The big dramatic question is if Edwin will follow in his father's footsteps. Who rescues him from the same fate of his father but the beautiful Juliet to his Romeo played by Maggie MacNamara. It may seem a little contrived, but actually the film captures the times really well, portraying the pivotal roles of the theater, the stage, and the actors.

I've been known to say Richard Burton is the only person who can speak Shakespeare with the ability to get me to understand what he's saying. In Prince of Players, I got a real treat as he showed Hollywood audiences for the first time his talent in the difficult Shakespearean language. Hamlet's soliloquy, the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and Richard III's winter monologue are all performed by Richard as his character tours the country acting in various shows.

He plays the brother of John Wilkes Booth (portrayed by John Derek) and the son of a famed Shakespearean actor who already built up a great reputation with his fans. Ever since he was a little boy, he idolized his father's (Raymond Massey) talent and passion for Shakespeare. Raymond often drank too much and had trouble with his performances, and young Richard would help him. Sometimes he recited the lines alongside his father from backstage, so it's no wonder he would grow up and follow in his footsteps, aided by his manager Charles Bickford.

You might think this movie would be about the presidential assassination and how the Booth family was affected, but that's a very short part of the movie. The vast majority follows Richard during his acting tours across the country and his romance with a fellow actress, Maggie Magnamara. They enjoy a whirlwind courtship, but that's the only cutesy part of the movie. This is a drama with family tension, tears, fears, and a heartbreaking score from Bernard Herrmann. If you don't reach for your Kleenex during the opening credits, you must not be a classic music lover. It tells you everything you need to know about the story, and it's beautiful. And with Richard Burton and John Derek to look at, there's no end to the beauty in this movie.