The Student Prince (1954)

In 1954, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer brought the delightful old play "The Student Prince" to the big screen. This lavish production was initially planned as a vehicle for their Italian singing sensation Mario Lanza, but this fun-loving tenor had put on a bit too much weight over the summer and ended up being axed as its star. Instead, the handsome English-import Edmund Purdum took on the lead role and lip-sung the songs that were pre-recorded by Mario Lanza. And it turned out quite well!

Sigmund Romberg musicalized the 1902 Wilhelm Meyer-Förster play "Old Heidelberg" in 1924 and turned it into one of the most popular operettas of the 20th century. The story centers around the young Prince Karl Franz of Karlsberg (Edmund Purdum), who is encouraged by his tutor, the kindly Doctor Engel (Edmund Gwenn), to attend the University of Heidelberg prior to capping the crown on his head. In this charming old German town, Prince Karl falls in love with Kathie (Ann Blyth), the barmaid at the local beerhall where all the students congregate after school. He wishes to marry Kathie but he is pledged to betroth Princess Johanna (Betta St. John), and so his heart is divided between his personal desire and duty for his country.

This simple but engaging plot was interwoven with over 15 glorious Romberg songs, including "Drink, Drink, Drink!", "Golden Days", the beautiful "Serenade", and "Deep in My Heart". Purdum did an excellent job of mimicking a tenor and Ann Blyth, of course, carried her own set of powerful lungs and sang better than she ever did on film. In between their romantic moments, Prinz Franz encountered some drama caused by a rival student (John Ericson), a little humor from the inn-keeper (S.Z. Sakall), and a good dose of paternal advice from his father King Ferdinand (Louis Calhern). Also in the cast was John Williams as the stiff valet Lutz, John Hoyt as the Prime Minister, and Richard Anderson as Franz's newfound friend at the university. 

The film looked beautiful in Cinemascope and the lovely Cedric Gibbons sets transported the audiences to old Germany and the grandeur of the German Empire before World War I began. 

"The Student Prince" was an immediate success upon its Broadway debut in 1924. It became the most popular musical of the 1920s, running even longer than "Show Boat". Hollywood brought it to the screen in 1927 as a silent film (!) starring Ramon Navarro and Norma Shearer and then it was shelved until this production in 1954. I always thought that it would have made an excellent Nelson Eddy-Jeannette MacDonald musical in the late 1930s but that never happened. 

This adaptation proved that a good story lasts for generations. MGM reaped more than double its return at the box-office and it launched Edmund Purdum's career in Hollywood. Shortly after The Student Prince was completed, Purdum went on to star in the epic The Egyptian over at 20th Century Fox. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

He may look like your typical antique dealer but look again... he deals in more than antiques! Don't let the obvious fool you, this scene may be trickier than you think. 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

Magic Shadows with Elwy Yost

Whilst browsing the ever-expanding library of classic films and television shows on Youtube, I came across a wonderful channel called Retrontario that focuses on forgotten programs that once aired on television networks throughout the Ontario area. One of the programs that Retrontario had clips from was Magic Shadows featuring the marvelous Elwy Yost. 

Yost was the Canadian edition of Roger Ebert or Robert Osbourne. He was a very personable man with a kindly face, a warm chuckle, and a wealth of knowledge on films and stars of the golden era of Hollywood. Between 1974 and 1987 he was the host of Magic Shadows, a half-hour program that ran weekday evenings at 7:30pm right after Doctor Who. Each Monday, Elwy would introduce a classic film that was serialized in 15-20 minute segments for the rest of the week. Between the commercial breaks and openings and closings, he would share information about the stars, director or making of the film... sometimes he brought in people to interview as well. It was a great idea for an evening series and - if you liked the film - it kept you coming back night after night. 

Since many films would not run an entire week's length, Thursday or Friday evenings would often feature segments from a classic serial such as The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Zorro Rides Again or Buck Rogers to fill in the gap. 

As wonderful as it was tuning into an engrossing film night after night, it was Elwy's down-home personality that made the show so relaxing and appealing to watch. The set of Magic Shadows was a comfy living room/study of a colonial-style house where Elwy could be found sitting in his favorite recliner smoking his pipe and waiting for you, his friend, to come and enjoy a movie with him. Next to him would be an old projector which he always turned on to run the current film. While the screen faded into darkness, "like magic" we would be transported to the land of Hollywood. 

"Ride upon a silver screen where pictures seem to flow....like Magic, Magic Shadows"

The opening theme by Harry Forbes and the psychedelic cartoons illustrating it were as memorable as Mr. Yost with squiggly drawings of the Marx Brothers and King Kong playing out slide by slide with strange octopus-headed men and a tiger in a striped suit. 

Yost's infectious enthusiasm for old movies made you wish you were a cinephile even if you never saw a movie in your life and his show fostered film appreciation to many a child who watched it with their parents. After the series ended, Yost continued hosting Saturday Night at the Movies on OntarioTV up until 1999. 

Film Albums: Theme from King of Kings and Other Film Spectaculars

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and what better way to get into the Easter spirit then to listen to some soul-stirring religious music. This album - Theme from King of Kings and Other Film Spectaculars - could not be classified as religious music strictly speaking, but it features lovely songs from some of the best religious films ever made...including Ben-Hur and The Robe. 

My sister and I picked up this album at a second-hand store when we were teenagers and loved it instantly. It's been played countless times in our house and it was this album that introduced us to films such as The High and the Mighty, The Sundowners and Francis of Assisi. 

The music is arranged and performed by Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra and he does a "spectacular" job as usual. Chacksfield was the Mantovani of Great Britain and released a large number of albums throughout the 1950s-1970s. His film theme albums are the best and the sound on these London Records LPs are marvelous. This one is "LL3275" and it was issued in several variations in 1962 and 1963. 

Chacksfield and his orchestra implemented instruments that brought the ancient eras alive in this album, such as timpanis, tambourines, piccolos, and French horns. Not to miss themes include the scrumptious Song of Delilah from Cecil B. DeMille's epic "Samson and Delilah" (1949), the melancholy love song to "The Robe", the lovely "Francis of Assisi" theme played with piano and strings, and of course, the love theme to "Ben-Hur". 

Click here to listen to the full album on Youtube. 

Track Listing:

Side One

Theme from "King of Kings"

The Song of Delilah from "Samson and Delilah"

Love Theme from "The Robe"

Love Theme from "Quo Vadis"

The Green Leaves of Summer ("The Alamo")

Theme from "Exodus"

Side Two

Parade of the Charioteers ("Ben-Hur")

Theme from "Francis of Assisi"

Love Theme from "Ben-Hur"

The High and the Mighty

Love Theme from "The Prodigal"

Theme from "The Sundowners"

Top Picks: King of Kings, The Song of Delilah, Love Theme from The Robe, Theme from Francis of Assisi, Love Theme from Ben-Hur

From the Archives: The Happy Road (1957)

 

These two wide-eyed youngsters are runaways from a Swiss boarding school, both of whom are trying to get to Paris to reunite with their father and mother in the delightful comedy "The Happy Road". Bobby Clark, the little brown-haired boy, plays the son of Gene Kelly while Brigitte Fossey plays the daughter of Barbara Laage. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Mardi Gras (1958)

Mardi Gras occurred a few weeks ago and if you are like most people, you probably didn't realize that there were a handful of classic films set during the Mardi Gras in New Orleans (as well as a bucketload of television episodes). 

Mardi Gras, released in 1958, is a Cinderella story aimed at a teenage audience. It is a little-seen color romance-musical starring Pat Boone and, honestly, it is not half-bad. It doesn't quite rank up there with April Love, but it has its moments. Pat stars as a Virginia Military Institute cadet who gets roped into participating in a raffle to win a date with a movie star - Michelle Marton (played by French import Christine Carere). Being the clean-cut country boy that he is, he never even heard of her before the raffle but ends up winning. After a few failed attempts to see her at her hotel, he gives up and instead asks a pretty young woman in the lobby for a date. Surprise! This happens to be Michelle herself.... she decided to don a Mardi Gras mask and enjoy a few hours vacation from the press. Naturally, they fall in love but then her publicity agent (Fred Clark) gets in the way and sees their romance as "great publicity" which causes a number of complications for both of them. 

Mardi Gras was a surprising hit upon its release and stayed at the top of the box-office charts for a number of weeks where it easily recouped its initial investment. Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter and Tony Randall were initially set to star as the three cadets from VMI with Mitzi Gaynor playing the Hollywood actress. Later, Boone was cast with Shirley Jones as his co-star but then Shirley had to drop out due to being pregnant with her first son, Shaun Cassidy. Christine Carere had recently made a splash with her first American picture - A Certain Smile - so she was then cast and did a good job. She is like a French edition of Sonja Henie and is quite charming. 

Jerry Wald produced the film, which was directed by Edmund Goulding (Dark Victory, The Razor's Edge). The bare stone walls of the Virginia Military Institute didn't make the most colorful setting so the New Orleans shots had to make up for it...and those didn't seem all too good either. Nevertheless, Pat Boone's handsome looks and charisma and Carere's cuteness made up for the lack of scenery. The musical numbers throughout the film are quite good but, unfortunately, there were one or two too many and they stretch the picture to nearly two hours. The best of the songs was "I'll Remember Tonight" which became a hit for Pat Boone in 1958. 

Costarring with Boone as the cadets are Tommy Sands, Dick Sargeant, and Gary Crosby who was the spitting image of his papa, Der Bingel. Also in the cast is the beautiful Sheree North (sporting brunette hair) in a secondary role that wastes her talent and the dancer Barrie Chase. 

Mardi Gras is currently available on DVD as well as through Youtube. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

"Get your tickets! Get your tickets!"....Tickets for what? That's what you have to try to remember before you have an inkling of what film this screenshot is from. ;-)

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!