Excellent adaptation of the book of the same title. Actually, the screen writer and the book author are the same person with different names. The story is set sometime in the late middle ages. Judging by the common use of the 3 cornered hat, I would judge it to be in the 17th or 18th century. It takes place in the tiny fictional kingdom of Bratenberg. The main characters are Jemmy(Truan Munro), also known as the whipping boy, and Prince Horace or Brat(Nic Knight).They are supposed to be around 12 years old, although the actors were a bit older. Fortunately, they look quite different otherwise, so that they are easily distinguished. Jemmy has a slightly younger sister: Annyrose(Karen Salt). They are street orphans. To survive, Jemmy catches sewer rats, puts them in a wicker cage, and sells them to Blind George(George Scott) or someone else.......Prince Horace is a chronically mischievous brat, bored with his confined life, with no children to play with, little attention by the king, and no interest in his studies. In fact, he is functionally illiterate: most embarrassing for a future king. This fact will become relevant when he and Jemmy, who have escaped from the castle, are kidnapped by two thieves(Kevin Conway, as Hold-Your-Nose Billy and Vincent Schiavelli as Cutwater.) Jemmy is Horace's whipping boy. That is , when Horace has been bad, Jemmy is whipped instead, since young princes are not supposed to be subject to corporal punishment. Now, a former street urchin wasn't expected to read and write. But, Jemmy was inquisitive and had picked up these skills while in the castle. So, when the thieves asked Horace, who claimed to be the prince, to write a ransom letter, he couldn't, whereas Jemmy did. Naturally, the thieves surmised that the boys had switched identities to confuse them. Sometime later, after the boys had escaped several times, the thieves held Horace upside down, and whipped him until the pet bear of Gypsy teen Betsy(Mathilda May) chased them away.......A potato transporter gave them a ride on his wagon to near to where they wanted to go. Forgetting about her bear, Betsy also came along, as she seemed to have a thing going with the potato man. They soon arrived at Waldbach prison, where they believed Annyrose was being held, for a trumped charge of theft. At the prison gate, Horace claims he is the crown prince, so should be let in. The receptionist scoffs at this claim, dubbing him Prince of the Ragamuffins. ......After another eventful chase by the thieves, they arrived back at the castle. The king was relieved that Horace hadn't been kidnapped by order of the ambassador to the neighboring nation ruled by King Phillip. The ambassador had left smarting from the several tricks played upon him by Horace.......The king noticed an improvement in Horace's behavior which he ascribed to his experience in the real world, and the friendship of Jemmy. Thus, the king declared Jemmy and Annyrose to be members of the royal household. He declared a pardon for Annyrose, who piped up that she didn't need a pardon, since she hadn't done anything wrong. The king understood. .....One thing I didn't understand: Why was the sewer tunnel the boys and thieves were running through apparently dry, when there was water running into it? .....Like the book, this film is especially appropriate for children and teens, but adults, such as me, will probably enjoy it too. The attention to detail in dress and surroundings is commendable......I didn't detail some of Horace's tricks. One of them will give you quite a jolt. See the film to find out what it is. It's currently available on YouTube

I caught a bit of this made-for-TV adaptation of "The Whipping Boy", the children's novel by Sid Fleischman, perhaps when it first aired. Later, while I was still in elementary school, and studying the Middle Ages for a while, I was assigned to read and study the book. Eventually, a day came when we all had to come to school dressed as medieval figures (I dressed as a king), and that day, we were shown this made-for-TV movie, so that was when I got to see the entire thing. Over eleven years later, I've finally seen it again, which I certainly don't regret.Prince Horace is a spoiled, mischievous young prince who loves to cause trouble and pull pranks, and is very unpunctual. Jemmy and Annyrose are two poor, orphaned siblings who catch rats. Not long after a confrontation between the prince and the two siblings, Jemmy is captured one day while his sister is not in sight, and taken to the castle! Being heir to the throne, the prince cannot be spanked, and has a "whipping boy" to take beatings whenever the prince misbehaves! Jemmy has been chosen as Prince Horace's new whipping boy, so, now captive in the castle, he is the one who is punished for the spoiled prince's wrongdoings. Meanwhile, Annyrose has been wrongfully accused of theft, and has been sentenced to prison! One night, Jemmy and Prince Horace, who are both unhappy for different reasons, run away together, and are soon captured by two criminals known as Hold-Your-Nose Billy and Cutwater! This adaptation of the book obviously isn't exactly the same, but from what I remember about the popular children's novel, this 1995 made-for-TV movie follows it quite well, with the mischievous Prince Horace and his "whipping boy", Jemmy, on an adventure where the prince has some valuable lessons to learn. I'm not sure how much I liked this TV version of "The Whipping Boy" the first time, but watching it again after all these years was an intriguing experience for the most part. It's a family adventure film with some rather moving, serious parts, as well as some humour. The story also has a good moral about child neglect, which Prince Horace is a victim of, and as for the "whipping boy" aspect, that was one of the things I learned about while studying the Middle Ages in elementary school all those years ago. Yes, the story is fictional, but misbehaving young princes really did have "whipping boys" to take their punishments for them centuries ago, as absurd as it may sound, which I remember was pointed out in a note on the last page of Fleischman's book! Back when I first saw this movie, I didn't know it was a TV movie, not a theatrical one. I didn't know that until years later, when I looked the film up on IMDb, and that was also when I discovered that it apparently wasn't too widely recognized. After finally seeing it again, I would say it deserves more recognition, and would have worked on the silver screen. Unfortunately, this adaptation of Sid Fleischman's children's novel seems to be pretty rare now, but if you like family-friendly films that take place centuries ago, ones that both seriousness and humour, as well as morals, it could be worth searching for. It may not be the greatest film of its kind, but if you ask me, it certainly isn't strictly for kids, and could probably reach quite a wide audience if only more people heard of it.

In Europe at a time when men of the aristocracy wear powdered wigs and Leonardo da Vinci has figured out man can fly, Jemmy lives on the street with his sister Molly. He makes a living by catching rats and selling them to Blind George, who can see out of one eye. Horace is a prince and heir to the throne, and he apparently does not have to live by any rules. Because he is bored and he believes his parents ignore him, he goes through the town creating havoc and never gets punished.Well, that's not entirely true. If his parents believe Horace needs to be punished, a 'Whipping Boy' will take the spankings. Jemmy is chosen for that duty. Meanwhile, his sister is put in a sort of prison and Jemmy wants to get her out.Despite the fact that he is to take over the throne someday, Horace refuses to learn anything from his tutor, who discovers that Jemmy is more educated than the prince and also eager to learn more. When Jemmy's mother was still alive, she valued education.Because they are both unhappy, Jemmy and Horace eventually run away and have a series of adventures. Meanwhile, there is a dispute between the kingdom where Horace lives and a neighboring country, and the boys' disappearance doesn't help matters.Cutwater and Hold-Your-Nose-Billy are among the funnier villains in this movie. There is also a dancing bear named Petunia, who is cared for by a gypsy girl named Betsy who becomes the boys' friend.This is a funny family movie with good performances by many of the leading actors, especially the adults. There is little here to concern parents. Cutwater and Billy are a little scary but not really anything to be worried about. If you don't like 'Fear Factor', you may be bothered by some scenes with rats.Overall, this was a fun adventure.

One of my daughter's enjoys Sid Fleischman's books and when I picked up this video at my public library and saw that he wrote it, I checked it out and brought it home. It is very well made and both my children (ages 5 and 9) LOVED it. The performances of the children are solid and strong. The veteran character actors who show up (George C. Scott, Kevin Conway and Vincent Schiavelli) really give nice performances instead of just phoning it in, like, oh, I'm in some kiddie flick, who cares? They give it their all as does everyone else - the costumes, the hair, the direction, all top quality and the movie is a delight.If you have kids and have a chance to track this down, do it. If your kids like adventure films, like Treasure Island or Prince and The Pauper, they should love this one!