The Student Prince (film)

1954 film by Richard Thorpe

The film was directed by Richard Thorpe, who replaced original director Curtis Bernhardt, and was produced by Joe Pasternak. The screenplay was written by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig based on the operetta The Student Prince by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly, which was in turn based on the 1901 play Old Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer Förster. New scenes and rewritten dialogue not found in the stage production were also added, although the basic plot remained the same. Additional songs were specially written by Nicholas Brodszky and Paul Francis Webster. Many of Donnelly's original stage lyrics were completely changed for the film. The story has been adapted for the screen several times, including the American silent film Old Heidelberg (1915), the German silent film Old Heidelberg (1923), Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and Ernst Marischka's Old Heidelberg (1959).

The film was a financial success. According to MGM records, it earned $2,528,000 in the U. S. and Canada and $2,813,000 in other countries, resulting in a profit of $451,000.

RCA Victor issued two different soundtrack recordings, both featuring the voice of Lanza. The first, in 1954, was a genuine film soundtrack recording in monophonic sound. Rather than reissuing the original soundtrack in stereophonic sound (which would have been possible as the film's audio was in four track stereo, and stereo records were released starting in 1958), RCA Victor recorded and released an all new stereo album with Lanza in 1959. The original Dorothy Donnelly lyrics were restored to the album. Both albums included the three additional songs written specially for the film version ("Summertime in Heidelberg", "I'll Walk with God" and "Beloved"), and both albums omit Kathie's solo, "Come Boys."