Product Details

• Actors: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn
• Directors: Curtis Bernhardt, Richard Thorpe
• Writers: Dorothy Donnelly, Sonya Levien, Wilhelm Meyer-Förster, William Ludwig
• Producers: Joe Pasternak
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: December 11, 1992
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302593220
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,942 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Karl, the heir to the Karlburg Throne, is in love with a barmaid and the Royal Court is not happy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'd Love to be Serenaded by a Prince if I'd Just Lost My Job, October 1, 2001

By 

Deborah Earle (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Student Prince [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The title for this review is a reference to the scene in the movie in which Prince Karl's antics in a restaurant result in the dismissal of the heroine, Kathie Ruder, from her job as a waitress. After she turns in her uniform on that clear night, she subsequently has a hostile encounter with the Prince in the street, and shortly afterwards, he breaks into Romberg's immortal "Serenade", which no one to this day can sing quite like Mario Lanza.
While it is regrettable that Lanza lost the title role of this film in in a 1954 scandal that looks like absolutely nothing compared to the O.J. Case, his angelic vocalization is the main course of this colorful, delectable tale.
Edmond Purdom managed to do justice to the part of the prince who walks with kings but until he goes to the University of Heidelberg, has no idea how to keep the common touch. Betta St. John is his very regal fiance who, after being the guest of honor at a sumptuous ball, brings the Prince's lack of warmth and charm to the attention of the king and queen, setting the events of this story in motion. While this colorful film tanked at the box office, it is quite enjoyable to watch because many people can identify to having to drop out of school or a job because of a family crisis, as Prince Karl must during the course of this story. Ann Blyth has a lot of maturity as the love interest who helps a prince grow up, Edmund Gwenn as the jovial Professor Juttner and John Williams as the stuffy Lutz help give the prince a bit of balance as he saunders back and forth between the two worlds of royal tradition and University life. Interestingly, it was around this time that Britain's Prince Charles became the first Royal to be educated outside of Buckingham Palace--a major media event because it was hoped that he would become a better monarch if he was better acquainted with the people he would one day rule.
Louis Calhern is every inch the regal monarch, still maintaing a booming authority in his voice even when he is termianlly ill. Evelyn Varden is his shrewd Queen. In one of his last performances, S.Z. Sakall, the only cast member with a German accent, plays the inkeeper who watches as the prince learns to become a person, but tries to keep the relationship between the prince and his niece from becoming too serious.
In the end the paths of lovers may sever. But "The Student Prince" is a musical that will be remembered forever.Rather than being mournful, however, its motto is ever relevant:" Gaudeamus Igitur".--"Let us rejoice while we are young!"

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful music...Heartbreaking Story, July 31, 2003

By 

Peter Prainito (Lombard, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Student Prince [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I will not recap the story behind this beautiful musical....other reviewers have done this well. All I want to say is be prepared to be delighted by the music and destroyed by the ending of the story. No matter how many times I've seen The Student Prince I end up a whimpering mess at it's conclusion. Very bittersweet and all too real, impossible love situations destroy me. That look on Ann Blyth's face, as the Prince she loves but cannot have visits her one last time, haunts me well after the film concludes, at which time I'm crying like a baby. In fact, as I write these sentences I'm crying again!! Too bad that Mario Lanza was not given the acting role (for whatever reason). We do get to hear his glorious singing voice dubbed with actor Edmund Purdom doing a credible acting job. But it is the radiant Ann Blyth (with her own beautiful singing voice) that steals the show for me, and I'm a gay man!! I only hope the DVD will follow soon.
Recommended for all lovers of romance. Have the tissues ready for the ending.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a fairytale, October 10, 2005

By 

Mary K. Lenox "Kathleen Lenox" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Student Prince [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I'd had this video for years and can't tell you how many times I watched. It's like watching a beautiful fairytale. The setting, the costumes, the music are all beautiful. The entire cast superb. The only disappointing thing about this movie is that Mario Lanza did not get to perform the part of the prince even though he had recorded all the songs for the movie--it's his voice you hear--and the screenplay was written especially for him. But because he had a problem controlling his weight, the studio replaced him with Edmund Purdom, whom I think did a superb job overall--you can not tell he's not the one really singing. I love Ann Blyth as the leading lady--so lovely and so is her voice. All the songs are beautiful, and Mario's voice is out of this world. I gave my video to Anthony Kearns(one of the Irish Tenors) at one of his concerts and told him they should do a remake of this movie using him as the prince (of course they would have to deal with the Irish accent). As it turns out, Anthony now sings two of the songs from this movie. I recently got another video of this movie from Amazon.com and can once again watch it over and over.