The Lost Prince [2003]

click to enlarge

Average Customer Rating:
view more

Customer Rating:
Summary: Sad but funny.
Comment: This was one of the best ever BBC dramas.
It made me smile but at the end it will make you cry!
It showed some of history that you would never know about unless you were
a true historian.
Everybody played their part well.
Worth watching again and again.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A short but happy life
Comment: Nobody who watches 'The Lost Prince' will fail to be moved by the story of Prince John. However a strong theme that the story conveys is that Prince John's life was brief yet happy. Living in his own environment he was lovingly cared for by Charlotte Bill (Lalla) and the rest of his household. His home and particularly his garden brought him much pleasure. By being seperated from the rest of the Royal Family he was in effect spared the formality and rigidness that characterised the Royal Family's life during the reign of George V. The experiences of his older brother Prince George justify this. The intelligent and artistic George is forced by the King to attend Naval College regardless of his natural abilities and is in effect sentenced to a life of misery. Prince John in his isolation escaped such a fate and was allowed to become his own person.
Looking back on the life of Prince John it is easy and understandable why one should feel sorrow. Yet as 'The Lost Prince' suggests John himself by and large was happy and content by his circumstances and we should not look on him as a tragic episode in British Royal history.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Sad story about Prince John... George V youngest Son and Child.......Wonderfully made Production!!
Comment: I have yet to buy this DVD however,I caught this two part production this past February on the ABC Channel in Australia. This is a true story about Prince John, King George V son (the current Queen's Uncle) who had Epilepsy and at the time they believed Prince John had Asperger syndrome which is a condition on the autistic spectrum.
The movie tells about his condition and his faithful nanny Charlotte Bill, known in the family as "Lalla." The production has other historical facts in the movie. Tells why and how the royal family changed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor during WWI. Also captures how WWI began and the execution of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family in 1918.
This is a moving and heart touching production that will bring a tear to your eye.
If you are at all interested in the royals and/or just like historical production you will enjoy this movie. It is also a family friendly production. Enjoyed by all ages alike.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A moving, quality drama!
Comment: Anyone having visited Sandringham Church in Norfolk, and seeing the grave of Prince John have wondered about his short life. This drama stunningly recreates the time he grew up in and the ordeals and illness he had to deal with; the possible epilepsy and learning diffculties.

The drama is top quality! The scripts, costumes, settings and casting were all brilliant. The commentary on this DVD is a fascinating feature; with the director taking the viewer through the two parts, not just with on-screen information, but also huge amounts of historical information that he researched and why he changed certain things and adapted pieces of history in the way he chose.

The acting is of the highest order; in particular, Miranda Richardson is fantastic as Queen Mary, and Gina McKee is brilliant as Prince John's nanny Lalla. There are excellent performances by Tom Hollander as George V and Michael Gambon as Edward VII also.
This two part drama will fascinate you and move you to tears, as the young John battles on with his life, mostly unaware of his disabilities. Stunning piece!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: The Lost Prince
Comment: Oustanding!.....an excellent insight into a turbulent world through the eyes of a young prince (son of George V and Queen Mary). What makes it more intriguing is the fact that this poor prince (Johnnie) is kept hidden from away the public and aristorcracy alike due to his severe fits of epilepsy. This was, at the time, not deemed fitting for a member of the Royal Family. Excellent perfomances from two of Britains greatest acting talents with Miranda Richardson as Queen Mary and Gina Mckee as Johnnie's devoted nurse Lalla. Another superb production from Stephen Poliakoff and the BBC......and, might I add, a bit of a tear-jerker (well it moved me to tears).

---

A marvellous reinvention of the costume epic, The Lost Prince is Stephen Poliakoff's absorbing study of the turbulent years leading up to and during the First World War, seen through the percipient eyes of a scarcely remembered royal child. Extensively researched, impeccably cast, beautifully filmed, written and directed by Poliakoff himself with masterly economy and restraint, this is a timely reminder that original, intelligent drama can work as prime time entertainment while appealing on multiple levels; and there isn't an escaped soap star in sight.

Johnnie, the prince kept hidden away by his parents Queen Mary and George V for fear that his epileptic fits and idiosyncratic ways might draw unwelcome attention, is not presented as a tragic figure. His view of the great events which shatter his family and change the world forever is direct and uncluttered. Poliakoff celebrates his apartness--and that of all children who are different--as a force for good, without judging the standards, protocols and contemporary medical theories which kept him on the periphery of society. The series makes the most of its well-chosen locations, and from Johnnie's garden at Sandringham to the assassination of the Russian imperial family, it maintains a hypnotic and elegiac quality The acting is first-rate, too. Gina McKee is profoundly moving as Johnnie's devoted nurse Lalla; and Miranda Richardson's Mary is an extraordinary performance, the controlled façade of single-minded focus occasionally fracturing to reveal a flash of humanity. This production is exquisite in every respect.

On the DVD: The Lost Prince is presented in its original transmission format of 16:9. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, enhanced by Adrian Johnston's haunting score is crystal clear. Extras include Poliakoff's revealing commentary, with occasional input from Johnston and designer John-Paul Kelly, and a couple of documentary fragments which show the production in progress and place it in context with the rest of Poliakoff's work. --Piers Ford