In 19 January 1951, Hollywood Reporter announced that Vic Damone would star in the film, and in July 1951 reported that Robert Z. Leonard would direct, and Jane Powell and Ricardo Montalban would have the leading roles. News items in the trade publications reveal the following additional information about the film's production history: The Student Prince first went into production in August 1952, with Curtis Bernhardt as director and singer Mario Lanza in the role of "Prince Karl Franz." However, Lanza, who had already recorded the prince's songs for the film, failed to show up for the first day of production. M-G-M suspended Lanza on 20 Aug, threatening legal action and, under the provisions of Lanza's studio contract, preventing the singer from performing on his weekly radio program on NBC. The suspension was lifted when Lanza came in for wardrobe tests on 22 Aug, and he was permitted to appear on his radio show that evening. Production was rescheduled for 25 Aug, but Lanza again failed to report for work and was immediately placed back on suspension. News items in Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Daily News and Variety suggested variously that Lanza was boycotting work because of financial difficulties stemming from bad investments, personal problems or a contractual dispute with the studio, although the singer's agent company, MCA, told Variety that money was not at issue.
On September 2, 1952, M-G-M announced that it would abandon the film, adding that it had already incurred more than $700,000 in pre-production costs. After meeting with Lanza, however, the studio decided to give him one more opportunity to appear in the film. When Lanza failed to report for work for the third time, M-G-M cancelled the production and sued Lanza for more than five million dollars for breach of contract. The suit was settled in May 1953, when Lanza gave the studio the right to use his pre-recorded songs and M-G-M withdrew its claim for damages. Modern sources allege that Lanza refused to appear because he disagreed with Bernhardt over the interpretation of the role and had tried unsuccessfully to have the director fired.
Lanza's billing in the film's opening credits reads: "And The Singing Voice of Mario Lanza as The Student Prince." According to biographical sources, Lanza, who began his film career in the 1949 M-G-M film That Midnight Kiss (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1941-50), suffered from violent mood swings, depression and alcoholism. The Student Prince was the last film Lanza made under his M-G-M contract, although his independently produced 1958 film The Seven Hills of Rome (see entry above) was released by M-G-M. He died of a heart attack in 1959, at age 38.
According to July and August 1952 Hollywood Reporter news items, the aborted production of The Student Prince included the following cast members: Leo G. Carroll (as "Lutz"), Janice Rule, John Abbott, Florence Bates, Gig Young, Robert Burton and Steve Forrest. These actors were replaced when the film finally went into production more than a year later. A September 2, 1952 item in Hollywood Reporter's "Rambling Reporter" column claimed that M-G-M was considering replacing Lanza with Farley Granger and a dubbed voice, and a April 24, 1953 item in that column reported that singing actor Jack Washburn was testing for a role in the film. A April 10, 1953 Hollywood Reporter news item again mentions Vic Damone as a candidate for the title role, and a April 15, 1953 memo in the Joe Pasternak Collection at the USC Cinema Television Library refers to Damone's employment. In August 1953, Mervyn LeRoy was announced as the film's director, but he withdrew from the project in November when the production schedule was moved up to accommodate star Ann Blyth's pregnancy.
According to a July 12, 1954 article in Hollywood Citizen-News, Baron Otto von Strahl, who served as the film's technical advisor, was an authority on dueling etiquette and the veteran of eleven duels. In addition to overseeing the dueling sequence with Edmund Purdom and John Ericson, von Strahl consulted with the wardrobe and prop departments to ensure authenticity. The Student Prince marked the last screen appearance of Hungarian-born character actor S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, who died in February 1955. The story of the student prince was made by M-G-M as a silent film titled The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg in 1927, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30).
Released in United States Spring May 1954
CinemaScope
Released in United States Spring May 1954
