Der Student von Prag

Conrad Veidt was a great actor who we lost far too young, have loved them ever since being captivated by his Jaffar in one of my favourites 'The Thief of Baghdad'. There are many classic silent films, such as the best of FW Murnau, Fritz Lang, Abel Gance, DW Griffith and GW Pabst. The story, which reminded me a lot of Goethe's 'Faust', sounded really interesting and the expressionistic visual style has been done so well many times.

'The Student of Prague' deserves a lot more credit than it gets at the moment. It is not one of my favourites and is not quite perfect, but there are so many good, brilliant even, things that made 'The Student of Prague' a very memorable experience for me. Not quite among the best of my recent first time viewings, but one of the most interesting and most unique because of its visuals and atmosphere. Anybody who hasn't seen it yet and has an interest to, definitely do so.

Don't know where to start with the praise, but will start with the visuals. Visually and technically, 'The Student of Prague' is another silent film to be a triumph. The sets are elaborate and hauntingly expressionistic, the effects are generally remarkably accomplished (occasionally showing their age though) and the lighting has a real eeriness, but the standout is for me some of the best cinematography for any film of the late 20s. It is the complete opposite of static and is actually wildly imaginative. Making for some memorable images, like Scapanelli on the mountaintop, the snatching of the love letter with great use of shadow and the rescue scene. The music may not be one of the most inspired or memorable music scores in the world, but it at least is not discordant with what happens and has an unsettlement.

Although the story is imperfect in terms of pacing, it just captivates atmosphere-wise. There is a genuine creepiness and the confrontations leaves one glued to the edge of the seat. The dramatic highlight is the final confrontation, which is nothing short of hair-raising. Both Balduin and especially Scapinelli are fascinating characters and the chemistry between Balduin and the reflection is immediately intriguing and stays that way throughout. Veidt is very dashing and charismatic but also chilling when necessary. Werner Krauss is every bit as good and while he has fun as Scapinelli he also sends shivers down the spine. The film is superbly directed, especially in the final confrontation.

It's not perfect but actually doesn't have an awful lot wrong with it. It's flawed pace-wise, with some draggy scenes. Such as a party scene that is overlong and adds nothing.

Elizza La Porta is charming enough but her character isn't as meaty and she doesn't have the same amount of charisma that Veidt and Krauss do. As a few have said, the print is pretty shoddy but not enough to render 'The Student of Prague' unwatchable.

On the whole, very good and deserves more credit. 8/10

At the least, remakes should allow an opportunity to see the differences in film-making from different periods, and, hopefully, to see the advances made in the years bypast; at best, it displays something new and intelligent to a familiar story. The 1913 version of "The Student of Prague" was a film meant to bring respectability to cinema by adapting popular literature; however, the filmmakers lacked an understanding of their own medium and created a, for then, typically static motion picture. Henrik Galeen made this remake during the maturity of one of the greatest periods of national cinema in the history of the art form.

Obviously, close-ups and medium shots were common by 1926, where there were none in the aforementioned film of 1913. There's scene dissection, some inspired cinematography and editing and expressionistic sets by Hermann Warm, as well. We actually get to see the actors here, and Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss do exceptionally well. The gypsy storyline fits into this version easily.

Cinematographers Günther Krampf and Erich Nitzschmann produced a large shadow of the Devil, which interacts with mass, in one shot; superimpose a saw cutting at Balduin's head in a moment of internal narration; shake the camera for a drunk POV shot; use irises and move the camera during close-ups. The rescue from a horse scene and the haunting finale are the most impressive visually, for the chiaroscuro lighting, special effects and editing. Some shots even seem intentionally reminiscent of the 1913 version. Additionally, the filmmakers were able to punctuate the mirror motif within this film of the doppelgänger thanks to state-of-the-art effects.

I first read about the legendary German silent film THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE (1926) when I was 15 years old. Now almost 60 years later, I finally got to see it in a restored version from the Munich Film Museum and it has made quite an impression. Of all the legendary German silents, STUDENT is the last one to be released in an updated condition. This is due to the fact it was very difficult to assemble a complete print as the original negative no longer exists. As is often the case with silent movies and especially those from Germany, numerous public domain copies are available which range from poor to unwatchable. Most of the copies of STUDENT run under 90 minutes and some are only about an hour. The MFF version runs 133 minutes and is color tinted.

The plot is a combination of FAUST and Poe's WILLIAM WILSON. Conrad Veidt plays Baldwin, a poor student who falls in love with an upper class girl but doesn't have the money to woo her. He makes a deal with the Devil for wealth but at an unexpected cost. Satan takes Baldwin's mirror reflection as payment. The doppelganger does bad things that the student is blamed for. This leads to a final confrontation. The Devil is played by Veidt's CABINET OF DR CALIGARI co-star Werner Krauss. His appearances are brief, but unforgettable. Elizza La Porta portrays the flower girl whom Baldwin rejects. Director Henrik Galeen, who wrote two other German supernatural classics, NOSFERATU and THE GOLEM, shows that he was just as capable behind the camera.

Like most important films from the Weimar Era, STUDENT is divided into acts as if it were a stage play. There are 7 acts of which two, Acts 3 and 6, linger in the memory long after the movie ends. In Act 3 Baldwin makes his deal with the Devil. The endless stream of money coming from a small coin purse until it overflows the table followed by Baldwin's reflection walking out of the mirror as he stands motionless, is mesmerizing. Act 6 takes place in a tavern where Baldwin has gone after being abandoned by his his friends. He buys drinks for everyone, and they start dancing. Slowly at first, then things get wilder and more diabolical as Baldwin comes to realize that his life is no longer his own and he has no control over what will happen to him next. The tavern scene is my favorite in the movie.

This restoration was done in 1999 and, while not perfect, at least gives us the opportunity to view the complete film in a pretty good condition. The source material was derived from two prints, one from Uruguay, the other from Moscow film archives. The print has been tinted but is oversaturated in places (which can be corrected by decreasing the color on your TV) and comes with a newly composed score from Stephen Horne which was done in 2016. The scoring of the Act 6 party scene is one of the most effective I have ever heard. Although the DVD comes from Germany, it's an all-Region release which means it plays on Region One DVD players without any issues. Hopefully a fully restored Blu-ray edition, including Horne's music, will be ready for the film's 100th anniversary in 2026... For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

I loved the original 'Der Student von Prag', made in 1913, so obviously I could not resist this remake. The version I watched is the one restored on behalf of the Munich Film Archive. It is almost 2 hours 15 minutes long and has been re-tinted, and the music has been re-recorded if it is not altogether new. All in all the remake is not bad. It has some advantages over the original. Thus, the acting is better throughout, with Conrad Veidt as Balduin and Elizza La Porta as Lyduschka being outstanding. Veidt does much better than Paul Wegener in the 1913-version, and Lyduschka's role has been expanded to such an extent that La Porta had a real chance to show off her talent. The film was her breakthrough perfomance. The scene with the reflection Scapinelli (Werner Krauß) takes from the mirror in Balduin's room is just as as good as in the original, and so is the final scene. Werner Krauß' acting is very good, too. On the downside: The remake is long and the plot does occasionally drag. I also found Veidt looks far too mature to play a student (but that goes for Wegener in the original, too). The tinting. I realise the film was originally shown tinted, but what in other pictures is a beautiful amber here looks like a garish yellow. I disliked the pink used for all interior scenes, too. And finally, the storyline follows that of the original so closely that there are few surprises. All in all, the 1926-version is a competently made film but it is less innovative and exciting than the 1913 'Student'. I am therefore rating it a little lower.

You never know what you'll come up with when you go bottom-fishing in the budget bins at Tower Video. Last week, for 6 bucks, I scored a movie I'd been questing a long time. It's the silent German chiller, "The Student of Prague." So what if the print (from an outfit called Alpha Video) is scratchy, fuzzy, and discolored, and if the contrast is so poor at times that I wasn't sure which character I was watching. Hey -- life isn't always a Criterion disc. At least it didn't cost me $40, and at least I finally got to see this movie. It's a gem, and it should be much, much better known. It tells the Mephistophelean tale of a university student named Balduin (the great Conrad Veidt), a dashing fellow and the best fencer in Prague. Unfortunately, he's also penniless, which puts him out of the running for the hand of the beautiful countess with whom he has become smitten. This makes him an easy mark for the Devil, who arrives in Prague one day in the guise of a mysterious stranger named Scapinelli. Scapinelli offers Balduin the astounding sum of 600,000 gold pieces, with only one string attached: Scapinelli gets to take whatever item he wants from Balduin's room. Balduin, glancing around his spartan crib, recognizes that it's filled with nothing but worthless junk. In short, the deal seems to be a no-brainer, and Balduin hastens for the dotted line. No sooner does Scapinelli hand over the dough than he announces which item he wants: it's Balduin's reflection in the mirror. And, in an amazing scene, he calls it forth. The special effects are primitive, of course, yet smashing. The rest of the movie is basically a series of confrontations between Balduin and the unleashed reflection, which has transmuted into a malicious doppelgänger. I won't reveal the final confrontation, which is astounding, both dramatically and cinematic ally, but it's not a spoiler to reveal Balduin's epitaph (which is revealed at the fade-in before the story is told in flashback): "This monument is dedicated to Balduin, the best fencer in Prague. He gambled with Evil and lost….Adieu, Balduin."

The only things I know about director Henrik Galeen are that he directed "The Golem" and wrote "Nosferatu." But I am willing to maintain that he was a movie genius of the first order. His work is full of wonderful expressionistic flourishes, reminiscent of "Caligari," which is probably not surprising since the two movies share the same production designer, Hermann War (they also share Veidt of course). The movie's highlights are unforgettably effective, including the fantastic moment when Scapinelli's giant shadow snatches a love letter that Balduin has sent to the countess. In another scene, Galeen uses a shaky hand-held camera for a drunken POV shot. There's also a neat bit of foreshadowing in an early scene in which Balduin fences with himself in the mirror. I noticed some other shots that anticipated future movies:

o A long shot of Scapinelli, in silhouette, alone on a hilltop next to a solitary tree, vowing revenge ("Gone With the Wind") o A fox hunt captured through hand-held cameras and jerky editing ("Tom Jones") o A lovelorn girl sublimates her unrequited feelings for a guy by secretly cleaning his apartment ("Chungking Express") – and get a load of the way she fondles his saber! YOW!

Either these shots are coincidences, or "The Student of Prague" was far more influential than is generally known.

Well, now that I have finally bagged "The Student of Prague," I can turn my quest to two other objects: (1) a decent print of it (preferably in a theatrical screening); and (2) the original 1913 movie, of which this 1926 version is just a johnny-come-lately remake.