Princess Caraboo [Blu-ray]

Director: Michael Austin Michael Austin

Overview

Loosely based on an actual incident, this family-friendly British comedy is also a sly satire of class consciousness. Phoebe Cates stars as a woman who appears in the English countryside of 1817 wearing exotic garb and speaking gibberish. Delivered to a nearby manor, the mystery woman is sheltered by the Worralls (Wendy Hughes and Jim Broadbent), who are then persuaded by their suspicious Greek butler Frixos (Kevin Kline, Cates' real-life husband) to have the drifter tried for vagrancy and begging, capital crimes. At the hearing, however, the woman persuades the magistrate through pantomime that she is a princess of Javanese origin named Caraboo, escaped from pirate kidnappers. The Worralls welcome Caraboo back into their home, lavishing upon her the deference due a royal. A society sensation, Caraboo wins over a linguist (John Lithgow), the prince regent (John Session), and even Frixos. Only an Irish reporter, Gutch (Stephen Rea), remains skeptical about Caraboo's origins.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/09/2020
UPC:	0826663201857
Original Release:	1994
Rating:	PG
Source:	Shout Factory
Language:	English
Time:	1:37:00
Sales rank:	20,452

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Phoebe Cates	Princess Caraboo
Jim Broadbent	Mr. Worrall
Wendy Hughes	Mrs. Worrall
Kevin Kline	Frixos
John Lithgow	Wilkinson
Stephen Rea	Gutch
Peter Eyre	Apthorpe
Jacqueline Pearce	Lady Apthorpe
Roger Lloyd-Pack	Magistrate Haythorne
John Wells	Reverend Hunt
John Lynch	Amon McCarthy
John Sessions	Prince Regent
Arkie Whiteley	Betty
Kate Ashfield	Elle
Ewan Bailey	Ship's Captain
Annabel Brooks	Lady Neville
Anna Chancellor	Mrs. Peake
Rachel Fielding	Mrs. Benson
Anoushka Fooks	Charlotte
David Glover	Musician
Jerry Hall	Lady Motley
Jamie Harris	Tom
Peter Howell	Clerk of the Court
Barbara Keogh	Mrs. Wilberforce
Anthony Van Laast	2nd Dress Maker
Philip Lester	Print Worker
Steven Mackintosh	Harold
Tim McMullan	Light-Fingered Aristocrat
Murray Melvin	Lord Motley
Dougray Scott	Dragoon Captain
Andrew Seear	Mr. Peake
David Sibley	Harrison
Ed Stobart	Footman
Stromboli	Fire Eater
Pauline Thomson	First Dressmaker
Jacqueline Tong	Mrs. Hunt
Edward Tudor-Pole	Lord Neville

Technical Credits

John Wells

Michael Austin	Director
Marc Abraham	Executive Producer
Armyan Bernstein	Executive Producer
Simon Bosanquet	Producer
Lucy Boulting	Casting
Andrew Karsch	Producer
Tom Rosenberg	Executive Producer
Ian Wingrove	Special Effects
John Wells	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Given the surplus of strong actors from both sides of the pond, Princess Caraboo should have made more of an impression than it does. Brits Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea and Americans Kevin Kline and John Lithgow all loaned their considerable talents, but the result is not much more than a light farce in the vein of something like Mrs. Winterbourne. Instead of mistaken identity, Princess Caraboo deals in unknown identity -- which doesn't make it that much more interesting. Phoebe Cates is fine as the maiden fluent in a language unknown to even the most accomplished linguists, who shows no sign of comprehending the languages they do know. She's sweet but ultimately unknowable, which makes it hard to connect with her. Cates is of rather limited appeal to begin with, and she more or less retired from acting following this performance, leaving the breadwinning to her husband (Kline). Michael Austin's direction of the other performers minimizes their appeal as well. Kline gives one of his earliest unfunny performances that rely on funny accents, and Lithgow and Broadbent overdo their bulging eyeballs and angry snarls, respectively. Only Rea, in the role that comes closest to a hero, stays agreeably within himself. Princess Caraboo clearly wanted to be a thinking person's fairytale -- comical yet dignified, something that would remind viewers of The Princess Bride or a similar flight of fancy. But with a dearth of memorable scenes or characters, Austin's film is tepid and indistinct.

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