The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg

Freed from the strictures of the Karlsburg royal palace to attend University, THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG experiences true love for the first time.

This wonderful, exuberant, heartbreaking film - one of the last major movies of the Silent Era - is a scintillating example of the artistry of director Ernst Lubitsch. Filled with wry humor & aching pathos, Lubitsch tells a tale which is a persuasive paean to the power of the talkless film.

MGM had great faith in this movie & gave it excellent production values, with crowds of extras and picture-perfect sets & costumes. Based in part on the Wilhelm Meyer-Förster novel & the operetta by Sigmund Romberg, the film revels in romanticism.

Ramon Novarro, always eager to please his audience, brings great charm to the title role. Although about 10 years too old to be playing a typical university freshman, he nonetheless brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role. It was this essential boyishness which encouraged MGM to continue giving him roles which were too young for him (in 1932's HUDDLE he would play a Yale freshman). The Studio also insisted on giving their Mexican star a wide range of ethnic parts, everything from Chinese to Arab. He played them all well, but none better than here in STUDENT PRINCE. It is a shame that Hollywood would not reciprocate by giving him topnotch assignments.

Norma Shearer is radiant as Kathi, the vivacious & lovely barmaid who is beloved by the Prince. She gives a wonderful performance in what was considered a breakthrough role for her. She married MGM executive Irving Thalberg the same year STUDENT PRINCE was released and her stardom at the Studio was firmly established. She earned her celebrity through hard work and honest talent, however, not by noodling with the boss.

Jean Hersholt, as the Prince's gentle tutor, puts his own stamp on the kind of sympathetic role with which he would become associated. Miles removed from his villainous portrayals in TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY (1922) or GREED (1925), Hersholt here is the very embodiment of benevolence.

Gustav von Seyffertitz as the cold King, Edmund Connelly as the stern Prime Minister & Bobby Mack as an old rustic retainer all add very fine support. Movie mavens will recognize Lionel Belmore as a boisterous student & Charles K. Arthur as a drowsy inebriate, both unbilled.

Carl Davis supplied one of his typically bravura scores for the home video reissue of the film. He conducts the English Chamber Orchestra.

While Karlsburg is a fictitious Teutonic kingdom, Heidelberg is a very real city located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. As ancient capital of the Rhenish Palatinate, its electoral counts - always a branch of the Wittelsbach royal family of Bavaria - played a significant role in the history of both the Holy Roman Empire and Central Europe. Although originally Roman Catholic, political vicissitudes brought about a change to Protestantism centuries ago. Heidelberg University was founded in 1386 by Count Rupert I & chartered the same year by Pope Urban VI. After a period of dissolution, it was revitalized in the 19th Century as a center of the sciences, law & philosophy. Town & gown are both overlooked by Heidelberg Castle, one of Europe's mightiest fortresses, where it sits on its hill 330 feet above the Neckar River. Its cellars contains the fabled Heidelberg Tun, a prodigious 18th Century wine cask capable of holding 49,000 gallons - surely a source of wonder to the Student Prince & his classmates...

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.

I found this film an absolute delight. All of the leads put in outstanding preformances. The romance between Prince Karl(Ramon Novarro) and Kathi(Norma Shearer) is wonderfully presented, and it is truly poignant. I did feel, however, that the film loses momentum, to an extent, twoards the end. The music score on the home video edition is, like most by Carl Davis, a big plus. Well worth seeing.

Ramon Novarro (as Karl Heinrich) is the Crown Prince of Karlsburg. He is envied by his subjects, but lonely and isolated behind castle walls. Quite Princely in appearance, and capable of performing royal duties, he is, nonetheless, not enamored with dutiful royalties. With help from tutor Jean Hersholt (as Dr. Juttner), he becomes an honor student, and is goes to university at Old Heidelberg. There, he meets and falls in love with commoner Norma Shearer (as Kathi).

"The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" is a first rate silent film production, expertly directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Mr. Novarro is appropriately exuberant as the young Prince - his performance is excellent throughout, but really starts to dazzle in the scenes beginning with his witnessing of Ms. Shearer's downing a German beer. Mr. Hersholt is great as Novarro's tutor; both men are superior with the necessary "silent screen" acting, and the more forward "underplaying". Ms. Shearer is just a step behind her co-stars in artful acting; but, it's a a gap she will very quickly fill. Shearer is terrific in the scene when she learns Novarro is leaving, and helps him pack. Philipe de Lacy is notable, playing the Prince as a boy; his characterization matches the older Novarro - director Lubitsch directs these early sequences effectively, creating the image of a young prince in his castle prison.

When a couple of important people in the Prince's life die, the story becomes necessarily more somber in tone. Of course, Novarro must eventually become King - these scenes are beautifully symbolic, and extraordinarily well photographed. The visit by an old friend prompts Novarro's return to Old Heidelberg, with unexpected results. Don't miss a later scene, when Novarro returns to his Old Heidelberg bedroom - especially, watch how Novarro briefly strokes his bed, obviously thinking of Shearer; it's a superb little bit of sexual suggestion. It would be nice to know whether the gesture originated with Novarro or Lubitsch - but, it's probably not possible to determine. "Is it Good to be King?" You'll know when you see Novarro's beautifully acted final scene, in his royal carriage - certainly, it's one of the most memorable performances in silent cinema.

********** The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (9/21/27) Ernst Lubitsch ~ Ramon Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt, Philippe de Lacy

The titles call this film "Old Heidelberg." Perhaps the longer title was added later to cash in on the popularity of Romberg's operetta, "The Student Prince," or to differenciate this 1927 silent film from an earlier version. Although director Ernst Lubitsch is a bit ham-handed about hammering home the fact that the obligations of royalty can lead to unhappiness (characters musing about how wonderful it must be to be a prince/king...the irony is too heavy-handed, which isn't like him), the point, at least, does get made. The movie abounds in gorgeous, evocative images that enhance the dramatic situations. There are many very telling moments that reveal the Master's touch...the prince steps out of the train, his momentary jealousy when he sees Kathi's popularity with the students, his stiff reunion with his former friends, who can no longer be his friends, and his realization of it. Ramon Novarro is an eager puppy-dog of a prince, charmingly, almost unbelievably, naive and enthusiastic, which makes his dilemma all the more touching as he begins to realize that there are some things a king can't have; if Norma Shearer, by comparison, seems more calculating and "actressy," she's still quite effective (when she and Karl Friedrich embrace before he heads back home because of his uncle's illness, her eyes tell you that she suspects she may never see him again), and the lesser roles are cast to near-perfection. After performing as a successful screen villain, Jean Hersholt was so good as the Prince's loyal tutor and companion that he established a nearly-unshakable image of weary kindliness. Production values are high--Lubitsch spent a lot of money but, in this case, it wasn't wasted. As one who generally finds silent films hammily-acted and dated in sensibility, I was pleasantly surprised to find this movie so absorbing. The Carl Davis score with which it is now shown, was added much later and does its own part to enhance the movie. Highly recommended.