The Student Prince was a popular 1954 Cinemascope color film musical strangely starring, as the credits read, "the singing voice of Mario Lanza". Lanza had become embroiled in a bitter dispute with MGM during production and the studio dismissed him. Under the terms of the settlement with Lanza, MGM retained the film rights to the soundtrack that Lanza had already recorded. Edmund Purdom appeared as Prince Karl, mouthing the songs that Lanza had recorded. Ann Blyth starred as Kathie. Blyth had played opposite Lanza in the 1951 blockbuster The Great Caruso.

The film also featured John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn, S.Z. Sakall, Betta St. John, John Williams, Evelyn Varden and John Hoyt.

Ironically, the songs from this film, (including "Beloved" - written especially for the movie - and the well-remembered "Serenade", from the original show), would become some of those most identified with Lanza.

The film was directed by Richard Thorpe (who replaced the original director, Curtis Bernhardt) and produced by Joe Pasternak. The screenplay was by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig and was based on the operetta The Student Prince by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly. New scenes and rewritten dialogue not found in the stage production were also added, although the basic plot remained the same. Additional songs were especially written by Nicholas Brodszky and Paul Francis Webster. Many of Ms. Donnelly's original stage lyrics were completely changed for the film.

The Queen's youngest son is off to university, mainly because "I'm hopeless at anything else". Barry (Robson Green), his new bodyguard, has no time for the royal family and left school at fifteen. He certainly didn't volunteer for this job, and is damned if he's going to enjoy it. Yet he can't help liking the hopelessly unworldly young prince, at least, until they both set their eyes on the new American student (Tara Fitzgerald)! Written by Anonymous

In August 1952 Mario Lanza recorded the soundtrack. The whole recording was done in single takes. Every phrase in it was Lanza magic at its best. However, on the film set things were not to go well at all. The first scene to be shot was the song "Beloved" on the terrace. Director Curtis Bernhardt did not like the way the song was sung and corrected Lanza, telling him that he was putting too much emotion in his singing instead of sounding more stuffy and rigid like a Prussian prince. Lanza informed Bernhardt that he was to direct only his acting, and that Lanza's singing was strictly Lanza's department. Bernhardt would not accept this, and Lanza would not be told how to sing by a movie director. The end result was that Lanza walked off the set and vowed not to return as long as Bernhardt was the director. The studio took an injunction against Lanza for damages and losses. He could not perform in public, on radio, or in the recording studio for the remaining time of his contract with MGM (which was then 15 months). A solution was reached in May 1953: the studio would remove the embargo on Lanza if he would allow his voice to be used while another actor played the part of the prince. This was agreed to and the filming got under way with Edmund Purdom lip-synching Lanza, which he did marvellously. The irony is that when the film was finally made, the director was no longer Bernhardt, but Richard Thorpe (I), who had worked harmoniously with Lanza on Great Caruso, The (1951).

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 16 seconds .

Deanna Durbin would not come out of retirement to play the role of Kathie the barmaid.