mark twain be a man who sometimes could not get a notion out of his head . he love the issue of twin and switch birth . it pervade much of his fiction and and few seem to comment on it . in one of his early sketch he tell an inquisitive reporter that the tragedy of his life be the strange death of his twin the boy have one only one mark on his body that differ him from his brother twain show it to the reporter on his own person and and say that be the boy who supposedly die mysteriously and be bury . the reporter leave after that tidbit . of course the novel ( which become the subject of this film and several others ) be the one that people think of as twain twin switch story . it isn not . he would write ( in the 1880s ) a piece call those amazing twin about a pair of italian siamese twin . the piece ( which be not one of his best ) become part of the germination that lead to his last great mississippi novel puddnhead wilson . he separate the twin italians into two twin brother italian count who turn up in the mississippi town where the action go . he also take the switch at birth motif and use it in the main story of chamber the slave switch by his mother roxey with young tom driscoll the wealthy heir . twin pop up too in tom sawyer detective which be base on an old 17th century danish murder case involve twin . but it the prince and the pauper ( 1876 ) that be recall a twain twin story . i think it because the other piece be minor or ( like wilson ) full of other interest small matter like the business of the use of fingerprint to settle the mystery of the plot ( a first in 1894 ) . here it be central to twain look at an appalling and inequitable social system in tudor england . henry viii be die and his son edward and prince of wale be aware that he be go to soon lose his wise father and take over the rein of government . of course the truth be he be still too young ( in 1547 he be only 11 ) and he really can only rule in his own right when he reach adult age ( presumably 21 ) . he will need a protector and the duke of norfolk and the earl of herford be the lead contender . in the film wise old henry stephenson be norfolk and crafty and power seek claude rain be hertford . henry ( montague love ) appoint both to the govern counsel and but do not name norfolk over hertford ( or the reverse ) . so rain start jockey for position in a confrontation with england premier duke . in reality it be more complicated . norfolk be on the out with henry in 1547 ( he be face execution his son the earl of surrey be execute the year before but henry own death save norfolk ) . the two contender be the duke of somerset ( edward seymour ) and blood uncle to edward vi through his mother and and john dudley and duke of northumberland and who dream of place the dudley family and the tudor permanently together by marry the three tudor heiress and princess mary and elizabeth and and lady jane grey and to his son . one day this plan would blow up in his face ( see tudor rise ) . somerset doom be tie to a similar hair brain scheme of his brother admiral sir thomas seymour regard marry princess elizabeth ( see young bess ) . edward and in twain story and while wait for the sad news and meet tom canty and a boy who look almost exactly like him ( here play for a change by the mauch twin ) . a a lark they change clothes so each can see how the other half live . tom be soon over his head and cause his cousin jane to question his sanity and and reveal enough to hertford to realize that the false king be his own key to power . edward be unfortunately force to endure the poverty of tom social class and but also the brutality of tom father john canty ( barton mclaine ) who be a professional thief . but edward be soon help by a young squire and mile herndon ( errol flynn ) who be try to return to his ancestral home to regain his possession from a greedy brother . the twisty plot do show much of the underside of english tudor live that many of the other early tudor history film barely touch on ( except to show the intrigue at court ) . it also have plenty of humor look at the business about the usefulness of the great seal of england and which be typical twain humor . i feel this version of the story be quite good possibly the best of the different version of the novel that have reach the screen .