Loosely based on the Booth Tarkington novel, the story is about how the King of Spain offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a noble in the King of France's court, and the French king accepts. Problem: a general in Spain hopes to sabotage this marriage and usurp the Spanish throne.Hope is a bumbling royal barber who pursues an uninterested royal scullery maid, and his bumbling eventually gets both into serious trouble. The French noble who is due to go to Spain and marry the princess, however, rescues the barber with the idea of counteracting the plot against him, and the barber bumbles his way through that.Hope makes his wisecracks and does physical comedy without being too silly. Costumes and settings are exquisite, though the sword fighting scenes are disappointing. Still very funny entertainment.

In this one, Bob Hope is Beaucaire, the French barber to the king. Beaucaire is in love with the maid Mimi, played by Joan Caulfield. Mimi has bigger ambitions, and gives him the brush off. Part of the joke here is that Hope disparages the king, the queen, and the royalty in general quite openly, when in real life, he would quickly be punished for it. Fun scene near the beginning where Beaucaire helps to hide Madam Pompadour, while pretending to give the Duke a shave. I was never a fan of period pieces, and if this weren't a Hope project, I probably would have turned it off. Mimi is sent off to Spain, and the real Duke, and Beaucaire dressed as the Duke end up there a well. Some fun recognizable faces in here... Cecil Kellaway, Reginald Owen, and Constance Collier for supporting cast. The musical numbers were completely un-necessary, and should have been eliminated. It's a grand adventure, with more meat on the bones that most of Hope's quick little comedies. The sword fight at the end goes on way too long. This one is okay. Not Hope's best. Directed by George Marshall. They had worked together on numerous films.

Foppish skewering of the Booth Tarkington novel, previously filmed with Rudolph Valentino in 1924, casts Bob Hope (in dryly engaging form) as a barber in the French Court of King Louis XV who inadvertently gets his chambermaid-sweetheart banished to Spain; he follows her there while impersonating the Duc de Chandre, a notorious ladies' man who is to be married in an act of patriotism to the Princess of Spain. Seems lengthy at 93 minutes, with a few peaks and valleys in the plotting, and yet it's relaxed and pleasant enough to be palatable to even non-Hope buffs. Still, ace screenwriters Melvin Frank and Norman Panama don't know when to quit, and even the funny tag at the end is ultimately spoiled by unnecessary silliness. A couple of nice songs by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, a good production, and a funny duel (with Hope's ski-slope nose getting caught in the harp strings) make for a fitfully amusing time. ** from ****

Bob Hope traipses up the palace gallery to be presented to the king—he is posing as a duke. Using a lorgnette, he can't see where he's going, and he gradually veers off to one side and stumbles into a lady kneeling on the floor and tumbles over her, knocking down about three other people….It's a ridiculously funny sequence.Hope is Beaucaire, a court barber in costume-era France. He gets mixed up in court politics and intrigue; poses as the Duc le Chandre, renowned lover and duelist; and chases after his girlfriend Mimi—who may or may not reciprocate his romantic feelings but certainly has adventures of her own. The entire cast is lively and beautiful in this very funny picture. Joan Caulfield as Mimi is bright, charming and silly; Marjorie Reynolds as a Spanish princess is lovely. Patric Knowles is dashing enough as the notorious duke—he is the perfect choice (King Louis thinks) to be shipped off to marry said Spanish princess, not only for political reasons but because all the "young bloods" in Paris will be happy to be rid of him. Cecil Kellaway is the harried count whose difficult duty it is to transport the reluctant duke to the arranged wedding site. Reginald Owen is hilariously un-regal as King Louis, and owns every scene he is in. Other highlights include a goofy palace swordfight between Hope and villain Joseph Schildkraut that involves a harp, a bass fiddle, and a harpsichord. Funny and fast-paced….A couple of decent songs and the usual assortment of Hope one-liners add up to a very enjoyable picture.