The Whipping Boy

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.

Albert Fleischman wrote the book and the Screen play for this movie. He did an excellent job as little was changed in the film version. Indeed, one can read the book and realize the screen adaption is nearly identical. Moreover, the casting of Truan Munro and Nic Knight as Prince Horace was a stroke of luck. Moreover, with Kevin Conway and Vincent Schiavelli providing the comedic humor, it allowed the film to sail unhindered and provided an atmosphere of frivolity for the entire family. It is interesting, the easiest actor to point out, namely George C. Scott was relegated to a bit part. The story as told here concerns a young prince (Nic Knight) who's bored with being the heir apparent and is angry at his father's inattention. Believing he is not wanted and considered a nuisance for all of his pranks, decides to escape the palace. Running away, he takes the court 'Whipping Boy' (Truan Munro) as a companion. Both are soon kidnapped by a couple of inept would-be-thieves who soon learn of the huge reward offered for them, plan to win it. The film proves exceptional, fun family entertainment and worthy of the Disney brand. Easily recommended. ****

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!

Barbaric times humans lived in during feudalism. It is a good thing for children to learn about these times, but not when there is a Pollyanna style to telling stories of this time. So much hardship was experienced by the poor during while the royalty & other elites lived with unbelievable privilege. The film manages to show the pauper children as actually being far more functional than the royals, but the concluding aspect of the story has everything all happy & dandy by the King & prince incorporating the poor children, while of course the majority of the poor continue to live in poverty & squalor. The film needs to tell the truth, not sugar coat. Children are smarter than that.

"The Whipping Boy" is a movie made for the Disney Channel and is based on a popular children's book of the same title. I mostly saw it because I've been trying to watch as many of George C. Scott's films as I can find...though, as it turns out, he plays only a relatively minor character.

Based on the costumes, the story appears to be set in the fictional country of Bratenberg at about 1800 (give or take a week). The story begins with two very poor orphans scraping to get by. However, when the odious young Prince sees them, he decides to have the boy taken prisoner and made his new whipping boy. Now, I have no idea if a 'whipping boy' is a real thing or something made up by authors. Regardless, the whipping boy's job is to be beaten instead of the Prince every time the Prince is bad...and this horrid monster is VERY bad and the whipping boy pays the price.

After various shenanigans, the whipping boy decides to run away...and the Prince follows him because the King is so angry at the Prince he's planning on actually whipping the horrid Prince instead of his proxy. Soon the pair are kidnapped and are going to be held for ransom. Can they manage to escape? And, will the Prince remain a horrid monster for the rest of his wretched life? And what about the whipping boy's sister...what happened to her in all this?

This story clearly is focused on entertaining kids, though it is still enjoyable for adults...so if your kids sucker you into watching it with them, then it won't be so bad! The story is interesting and the acting generally good. Plus the location shooting is actually very nice and the film has a few decent object lessons for kids. However, I wouldn't show it to really young kids...a few scenes might be too intense for the 5 and under crowd.