Mark Twain's classic story of twin boys, one a prince, the other a pauper in the time of King Henry VIII, is a rattling good yarn, and has been filmed several times before. Sumptuously staged, this version really does look magnificent. George MacDonald Fraser's screenplay, however, is somewhat less splendid, and the star cast meets its coy and often awkward phraseology with varying degrees of success. Oliver! star Mark Lester plays both the twins and Oliver Reed, in the part once played by Errol Flynn, fares quite well as Miles Hendon, the pauper's mentor, a nobleman usurped of his castle and his woman (Raquel Welch) by his treacherous brother. George C Scott gives an extraordinary account of the King of the Beggars in a scene in which one expects the assembled cast at any moment to burst into a chorus of Gotta Pick a Pocket or Two. The film's best performance is given by diminutive Lalla Ward (later to star in the series Doctor Who and marry the programme's lead actor Tom Baker). Here she's all fire and steel as Young Bess.

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