The Princess Academy is a 1987 independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 directed by Bruce A. Block

Bruce A. Block

Bruce A. Block is a film producer, author and visual consultant whose career spans 30+ years. In 2001, Block's book The Visual Story was published. In 2007 it went into a completely revised second edition....

 and written by Sandra Weintraub

Sandra Weintraub

Sandra Weintraub Roland is an American soap opera writer and producer. She is most notable for her writing on CBS's The Young and the Restless, which she has wrote in different positions since 1998.-Positions held:...

. It was filmed mostly in Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

.

Plot

Cindy Cathcart (Lar Park-Lincoln) is a student out of place at an exclusive Swiss finishing school, Von Pupsin Academy. A poor orphan, Cindy is attending on a scholarship, and is resented by her snobby peers as well as Fraulein Stinkenschmidt (Lu Leonard

Lu Leonard

Lu Leonard was an American actress. She made over 45 film and television appearances between 1956 and 1995...

). She soon finds allies: her British roommate, an outgoing Texan, Lulu Belle (Britt Helfer), an Italian Mafiosi's daughter, Isabella (Barbara Rousek), and most crucial, the school's headmistress, Countess Von Pupsin (Eva Gabor

Eva Gabor

Eva Gabor was a Hungarian-born socialite and actress. She was widely known for her role on Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character, Oliver Wendell Douglas, Duchess in the 1970 Disney film The Aristocats, and Miss Bianca in Disney's The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under...

).

Release

The film was given a theatrical release in April 1987. After its theatrical run, the film was released on videocassette by Lightning Video. To this very day, the film has never been released onto DVD and as of September 3, 2010, MGM has yet to announce any plans to release the film onto DVD.