The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1928)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The acting in this movie is really good.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

I watched this delightful film on TCM last night. What a revelation! Although the print quality has clearly suffered over the years, the high quality of the original production values shines through. The famous Lubitcsh Touch is all over this sweet, moving film.The acting is also superb! Navarro and Shearer give believable performances as a star-crossed couple in turn-of-the-century Germany. Navarro, in particular, gives a pitch-perfect portrayal of a reluctant prince who longs only for a simple life surrounded by school-friends and his first love.Also giving a beautiful performance as the prince's tutor and mentor was Jean Hersholt.I have never particularly enjoyed silent films - many seem to me to be overly melodramatic. But this film changed my opinion. The actors and director were able to communicate so much with very few dialog cards. It made me realize what was lost when talking pictures took over and everything became more literal.Even if you don't think you like silent films, give this one a try.

Their finest year …Nineteen Twenty-Seven was the year of miracles. Motion Pictures reached a parity of technology and creative expression, resulting in the greatest collective output of this or any other year, unsurpassed in both quantity and astonishing quality. It was the year of F. W. Murnau's masterpiece Sunrise and Frank Borzage's 7th Heaven, both starring Janet Gaynor, both produced by Fox and both showered with generous and well deserved awards. While Chaplin was missing from 1927, two of film's comic legends produced what many consider their finest work. Buster Keaton's Civil War tale The General and Harold Lloyd's rural gem The Kid Brother appeared. A banner year for Weimar Cinema, UFA produced G. W. Pabst's beautiful but nearly forgotten The Love of Jean Ney and Fritz Lang's futuristic nightmare, Metropolis, while French master Able Gance released his monumental epic, Napoléon. In the year Kevin Brownlow described as "Annus Mirabilis," Hollywood leader MGM contributed Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in Love, an adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and a breathtaking Ernst Lubitsch production, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927)Friday, July 13, 7:00 p. m., The Castro, San FranciscoBased on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster's story of doomed romance between a young prince and an innkeeper's daughter, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) was released by MGM following Sigmund Romberg's Broadway Operetta in 1924. Director Ernst Lubitsch offered a flattering combination of humorous chiding, casual effervescence and tragic duty-before-love resignation, in this lyrical adaptation, his eighth American film.The wealth of craftsmanship and technology available within Hollywood's greatest studio is visible in the lighting, editing and photography of each and every frame. Starring in one of her finest roles as Kathi, Norma Shearer rivaled any actress on the lot. She was cast in the best productions, under the aegis of her future husband, executive producer and boy genius Irving Thalberg. As Prince Karl Heinrich, Ramon Novarro's expression of naive exuberance contrasted perfectly to the militaristic reality of his royal obligation. The cast was rounded out by a group of consummate supporting characters including, Jean Hersholt, Gustav von Seyffertitz and everyone's younger self, Philippe de Lacy.A master of light comedy, Lubitsch fails to demonstrate the depth of despair and tragedy seen in the films of Borzage, Seastrom and others, but the exhilarating high entertainment of The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg is only matched by the exceptional beauty of the principle actors. Lubitsch conveys their shared desire by superimposing their eager faces, plunging the camera into close-ups and revealing the Prince's desperate fantasies of what can never be. With the timidity of a sheltered child, Karl Heinrich enters the beer garden below his rooms, seeking the acceptance of his classmates and Kathi's love. Lubitsch choreographed the swarming mass of uniformed and attentive young men with such fluid mastery, they seem to extend and punctuate every movement and gesture Karl Heinrich and Kathi make. At the moment their love is realized, they withdraw from reality, reclining in a fantasy of luminous flowers, beautiful, unreal and impossible.

I have seen both sound and silent versions of this movie and I actually prefer the silent one--even though it was based on a musical! Maybe part of this is because I am not the biggest fan of musicals, but I think more of this has to do with how beautifully made this film is. The film was directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch--a man renowned for his deft artistic touch and romanticism in films. All this is so apparent in this film, as it is just a work of art--gorgeous and romantic through and through. The sets, camera-work and acting are all exquisite and help to make this a very memorable film. If you want to see a sound version, help yourself. But for me, this is THE definitive version of the film.

The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg is such a wonderful classic silent film, that it is amazing to me that the movie doesn't get more recognition from Hollywood film organizations. The film made Norma Shearer an absolute star at MGM, and confirmed her talents on the silver screen. The direction by Ernst Lubitsch is first-rate, as he captures a royal love story, along with the beauty and essence of Imperial Germany in the 19th Century. The look of this silent diamond-of-a-film is unforgettable, and the music score that one now hears on videos of the film only adds to the elegance of this silent art masterpiece. Ramon Novarro did his best work in this film, and the character of Dr. Juttner (played by the wonderful Jean Hersholt) is one that is so likable, that audiences root hard for the characters of Prince Karl and Kathi, whom Dr. Juttner supports. Although I have agreed with most of AFI's 25 Greatest Female Stars List, I wish that Norma Shearer was on it. She married the greatest film producer that Hollywood will ever know (Irving Thalberg), but even without having married 'The Boy Genius'(as Thalberg was then called), Norma Shearer would have have shined on her own - which she proved with this film before she married Thalberg. The reviews for this film in 1927 and 1928 were overwhelmingly positive - including the November, 1927 Photoplay review, which raved about the film. Maybe Hollywood film organizations and historians should take a second look. I loved it, and not just because I have German roots in my family.