The Student Prince (film)

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This article is about the musical film. For other uses, see Student Prince

The Student Prince

Directed by	Richard Thorpe
Produced by	Joe Pasternak
Written by	Sonya Levien William Ludwig Dorothy Donnelly (play) Wilhelm Meyer-Förster (novel and play)
Starring	Ann Blyth Edmund Purdom John Ericson Louis Calhern Edmund Gwenn S.Z. Sakall Betta St. John John Williams Evelyn Varden John Hoyt.
Music by	Sigmund Romberg
Cinematography	Paul Vogel
Editing by	Gene Ruggiero
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	15 June 1954
Running time	107 min
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Student Prince was a popular 1954 Cinemascope color film musical made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe (who replaced the original director, Curtis Bernhardt) and produced by Joe Pasternak. The screenplay was by Dorothy Donnelly, Sonya Levien and William Ludwig and was based on the operetta The Student Prince by Sigmund Romberg. Additional songs were especially written by Nicholas Brodszky and Paul Francis Webster.

It starred Ann Blyth as Kathie and Edmund Purdom as Prince Karl, with John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn, S.Z. Sakall, Betta St. John, John Williams, Evelyn Varden and John Hoyt. Mario Lanza, who was originally cast in the title role, provided the singing voice for the Prince.

(Warning... this is a minimal spoiler.)

[edit] The story

A young Prince from a small sub-kingdom of the German Empire, near the turn of the 20th century is sent off to get a university education in Heidleburg, Bavaria. His father was one of a hand full of petty kings within German and Austrian central Europe.Fictional Karlsburg, was small but very proud of their nationhood and traditions. The young Prince would hopefully mature into the king he was destined to be, if he would apply himself at the famous old University. He slips into the social mix, becomes accepted as a "good chap" by his student peers, and falls deeply in love with a pretty, popular, and musically inclined barmaid, who holds "court" in the local "beir garten". Love, not withstanding, when his old father passes on unexpectedly, the young Prince must turn his back on the girl, and take his place in the small Kingdom that he's been preordained to rule. Britter sweet, and true to the ethos of the times. Good music is combined with a thumbnail insight into the obligations of the royal class in those earlier times.