AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

MartinHafer "Penny Princess" is a pleasant little film--and a movie that might be more famous today had there not been a significantly better film with a similar plot that appeared on the scene just a few years later. Both "Penny Princess" and "The Mouse That Roared" have very, very similar plots--so similar that you can't help but compare them. Both are about the supposedly smallest country in Europe (both fictitious) and both are about schemes that are concocted to rescue the country's economic problems and both are comedies. My recommendation is that you see them both, though "Penny Princess" is definitely the lesser of the two films.The film begins by learning that the tiny country of Lampidorra is bankrupt. They have no exports and are heavily in debt to various creditors who are threatening to foreclose. However, an American promises to bail them out...if his family can become the rulers of the country. The Lampidorrans quickly agree but the man dies soon after...and a relative of his now has just become queen! However, sweet Yolande Donlan has no background in finance and she cannot locate the money her uncle promised to the Lampidorrans. So, once there in her new land, she feels a strong responsibility to help them out of their crisis. At the same time, a nice but previously ineffectual man (Dirk Bogarde) is sent to a cheese convention that is around Lampidorra. Together, these two work to save Lampidorra using a secret weapon in the war on financial ruin...'schneese'.While "The Mouse That Roared" is clearly a silly comedy, "Penny Princess" can best be described as cute...and Yolande Donlan made this even more so, as she played one of the most adorable female leads I have ever seen. You can't help but love her--and her sweet and kooky character did a lot to carry this film. As for the plot, it's quite good...though the resolution of the problem and her subsequent actions all seemed a bit rushed. Still, the film is fun and well worth a look.

ktorg This movie needs to be put on DVD. It was so funny and I loved it. Really, really cute and funny. Not realistic, but not suppose to be. The only thing I did not like about it was the girl relying on the guy too much. It represents the time period way of thinking though. I have been trying to get this movie for so long and it has been unavailable for US format only in the UK and will not play on US DVD players. It is sadly an over looked Classic film! Believe it or not, but this film could easily become a cult favorite, for all ages. Too bad, we do not legalize certain things that could really save small countries or our own. Lindy is unsinkable, a positive character that makes lemonade out of lemons. She is funny and charming. She stole the show!

blanche-2 Yolande Donlan is a "Penny Princess" in this 1952 British musical also starring Dirk Bogarde. It's a cute premise - an American shopgirl, Lindy Smith, ends up inheriting a tiny country, Lampidorra, which has kept itself going by smuggling. Facing bankruptcy, part of the country is purchased by the Lindy's distant relative, who dies before forking over any cash. Lindy is brought over and given the royal welcome. She forbids smuggling, and the country begins to import schneese, a special kind of cheese they have taken for granted.The movie is just okay, but quite good in the beginning, dragging a bit thereafter. "It's a Fine, Fine Night," one of the songs, apparently was released as a single, though the music throughout is just serviceable.The American Donlan is attractive and likable, a cross between Judy Holliday and Janet Leigh. In fact, she was a big hit on the British stage in Holliday's Broadway role of Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday." After that, she stayed on in England, and two years after this film, she married its writer/director, Val Guest, to whom she was married until his death in 2006. She's now 89 years old. She appears in Guest's 1963 film "80,000 Suspects" and is not recognizable in looks or acting as the same woman. She obviously had a lot of talent and a wide range.It's hard to imagine anyone less suited to comedy than Dirk Bogarde, even young Dirk Bogarde, unless it's Montgomery Clift, but this role went to Bogarde after both Clift and Cary Grant refused it! He plays a cheese vendor who becomes involved with both the princess and the product schneese. And he's very cute.The film was done on location in Spain. It's not very good, but Clift looks great in pajamas. And it's in color.

ksf-2 Cute idea... salesgirl Linda Smith (Yolande Donlan) inherits a teeny tiny little county of Lampidorra. That country, which wasn't even in North America, was made the 49th state... (of course, there were only 48 states at the time, since this was made in 1952...) Linda travels to the country she has inherited, and we follow her along as she tries to figure out what to do with this strange country and its even quirkier people. At one point, she sings a song that she claims is from her people the Navajo, and it gets ever-more sillier from there.... although Yolande Donlan's heavy lipstick and omni-present smile never get ruffled or shmeared. There are other songs scattered through-out as the citizens sing to welcome their new princess. Filmed in a glorious British version of technicolor, or some such equivalent, about the only big name here is Dirk Bogarde as British subject Tony Craig, cheese vendor. Bogarde made a big splash in the UK film industry after serving in the war, and was even knighted by QE II. Craig and "the new princess" keep bumping into each other, and their adventures become more intertwined as Lampidorra's financial problems worsen... Fun little farce....along the lines of Marx Brothers film. Also note that Donlan later married Val Guest, the writer and director of our little project, and stayed married for 50 years! Guest was better known for writing and directing his sci-fi flicks, in both the UK & the US.