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 Yellow Rolls-Royce ( 1964 )

Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine, and Ingrid Bergman head up the all-star cast of The Yellow Rolls-Royce, a colorful anthology film of three stories linked together by a sparkling 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II. 

The opening segment shows the first owner of the beautiful Rolls, the Marquess of Frinton ( Rex Harrison ) purchasing the car as an anniversary present for his wife ( Jeanne Moreau ) who, unbeknownst to Lord Frinton, is engaging in an affair with his attaché John Fane ( Edmund Purdom ). When he spies them together in the Rolls...back it goes to the dealer!

Years later, the Rolls turns up in a showroom in Italy where it catches the fancy of Mae Jenkins ( Shirley MacLaine ), the "fidanzata" of big-time mobster Paolo Maltese ( George C. Scott ). He is giving his lady-love the grand tour of Italy but, when he is called back to America to "settle a score with O'Leary", she ends up having a grand time herself with the amoral photographer Stefano ( Alain Delon ). 

Lastly, the Rolls becomes a transport bus for mercenary soldiers in Yugoslavia when the snooty but socially prominent Mrs. Millett ( Ingrid Bergman ) decides to aid a rebel ( Omar Shariff ) in his fight against the Nazis. 

The Yellow Rolls-Royce was one of only a few anthology films to be released in the 1960s. This was a style of storytelling more frequently seen in British and American films of the 1940s and 1950s ( e.g. Encore, Tales of Manhattan ). These kinds of films are entertaining when all three segments are equally engaging but when one segment is boring it tends to pull the entire film down. In The Yellow Rolls-Royce, the last segment featuring Mrs. Millet is the weakest, even though it is the only segment that hints that the Rolls could be of more use than just a cozy love nest. 

Terrance Rattigan's script tries to include a little adventure and romance in each segment but it ends up leaning heavily on the side of romantic drama. This is just as well as all the leading actors were well-equipped to handle romantic drama. Rex Harrison gives an especially good performance as the jilted husband in the first story. 

The film features beautiful costumes and cinematography by Jack Hildyard ( The Bridge on the River Kwai ) with location filming in England, Italy, and Austria...which was standing in for Yugoslavia. But the most entertaining aspect of watching The Yellow Rolls-Royce is spotting all of the supporting players which included Art Carney, Joyce Grenfell ( affecting a Southern accent ), Wally Cox, Roland Culver, Isa Miranda, Moira Lister, and Michael Hordern. 

Riz Ortolani's musical score is also delightful and includes the catchy "Forget Domani" theme which was performed onscreen by his wife actress Katyna Ranieri and later made popular by Frank Sinatra. Ortolani had a huge success with his song "More" from the pseudo-documentary Mondo Cane released two years earlier. 

The Yellow Rolls-Royce received mixed reviews from critics but was a great hit at the box-office, becoming one of the top ten films of the year. MGM later released a 10-minute promotional short titled "The Car that Became a Star" which gave audiences a glimpse of the grand vehicle on the set of the film. 

The film is currently available on DVD and by streaming through Amazon Prime.

The Egyptian ( 1954 )

"I feel the fever of Thebes in my blood, and I know that I was born to live in the sunset of the world and that nothing matters, nothing, but what I see in your eyes."

Sinuhe, a poor orphan in Egypt during the eighteenth-dynasty, rises to fame as a great physician and, along with his friend Horemheb (Victor Mature) is appointed to the service of the new Pharaoh (Michael Wilding). During the span of ten years, he learns dangerous secrets in the royal court, discovers enemies plotting against the pharaoh, learns who his true friends are, and has a life-changing encounter with the temptress, Nefer (Bella Darvi). Along the journey, Sinuhe seeks to find the answer to a question that has aroused his curiosity since his youth - Who Am I? and Who is My God? 

The Egyptian, a 20th Century Fox release, was beautifully filmed in Cinemascope and featured a magnificent score by Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann. It should rank among the top epics of the 1950s but unfortunately, it has not yet shaken its reputation of being the first box-office flop shot in Cinemascope. 

Why did it fail at the box-office? That's difficult to fathom because the film really is entertaining and the production quality is top-notch. Additionally, it was helmed by an old pro, director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) and based on a best-selling novel.

 

Mika Waltari's "The Egyptian" was first published in 1945 in Finnish and is still considered one of the greatest books in Finnish literary history. 

The unchanging nature of mankind is essentially the theme to the novel and this provides the basis of the film, too, but, it being a Hollywood production, Nefer's seduction of Sinuhe and how this leads to his downfall gets the spotlight attention. Bella Darvi entraps her man so cunningly that he is bewitched and does not know that he is sacrificing everything he worked so hard to earn. Or rather, he does know but is addicted to her love by that point. 

It is only Kaptah (Peter Ustinov) and Merit (Jean Simmons), his two dear friends from his days in poverty, that stay near him in his hour of peril. Merit has loved him since he was a boy but he is blind to it and instead, searches for a greater meaning to his life outside of his medical work. 

On the opposite scale is another romance, a much more animal relationship, between the Pharoah's sister (Gene Tierney) and Horemheb, who is seeking to use her to climb his way up to becoming the commander of the Egyptian army. 

The Egyptian has as much intrigue in its production history as it does in its plot. The film was originally planned as an epic vehicle for Marlon Brando. Kirk Douglas and Jean Peters were to be his co-stars but, just a week before filming was to begin, Brando backed out.The role was then given to MGM-star Edmund Purdum (after Cameron Mitchell, Farley Granger, and Dirk Bogarde were all first considered). 

Peters was later replaced by Simmons, and Kirk Douglas went on to make 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Walt Disney instead. Bella Darvi was a protege of producer Darryl Zanuck and his wife Virginia ("Darvi" is a combination of their first names) and, at the time of filming, Darryl was besotted with Bella, so the film really became a way for him to promote her career as well. 

The picture had an enormous budget of $3.5 million dollars. Many of the sets, costumes, and props were later loaned to Paramount for Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, which was released the same year. Peter Ustinov, when asked what it was like being involved in such an enormous production, said, "It was like being on a monstrously huge set of Aida and not being able to find the way out."

"I have spent my life in seeking knowledge. This is what I know. I have written this for you my son, wherever you are and for your children and your children's children. It is a poor legacy. But it is all I have."

The Egyptian has always been a personal favorite of mine because it mixes action and adventure with romance and the drama of Sinuhe's life, from his quick rise to becoming the Pharaoh's physician, to being a condemned criminal and an outcast in his homeland. The entire cast is excellent, especially Peter Ustinov, who provides some comic relief. Also in the cast is Henry Daniell, John Carradine, Judith Evelyn, Tommy Rettig, and Michael Ansara. 

This review is my contribution to the 90 Years of Jean Simmons Blogathon running today through January 31st. It is being hosted by The Wonderful World of Cinema and Phyllis Loves Classic Movies, so be sure to head over to either of these sites to read more Jean Simmons film reviews!