The Student of Prague
The Student of Prague
| 22 August 1913 (USA)
The Student of Prague Trailers

Prague, Bohemia, 1820. Balduin, a penniless student, falls in love with Countess Margit, a wealthy noblewoman whom he has saved from drowning.

Reviews
Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life
Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
silentmoviefan In watching this film last night, instantly comparisons came to mind with the 1927 version starring Conrad Veidt.Overall, I believe it compares pretty favorably. First of all, it's not such a downer. The Veidt version starts with a picture of his character's gravestone. It also ends with the gravestone.This one starts with a scene in the courtyard of the college. A lot of extras were used in this scene.Another thing this one has over the later version is it's better at explaining what's going on. In one scene, Paul Wegener's double goes to kill the girl's Wegener likes' fiancée and you have a nice title card explaining that. The later version does not.It's also interesting to see Wegener in his pre-Golem days. I wouldn't call him handsome, but he doesn't look anywhere near as fierce.Still another thing this version has over the latter one is the appearance of Scapanelli. Poor doomed John Gottowot looks much more like an evil presence than the one in the latter version.Wegener's death scene is nowhere near as spectacular as Veidt's in the latter version. In fact, in watching this, I thought he had stabbed himself, but I wasn't sure until Wegener fell to the ground.Gottowot is in the final scene and he pulls it off really, really well. I'll let you see what I'm talking about.Overall, I liked it quite a bit, better than the Veidt version.
FerdinandVonGalitzien The film "Der Student von Prag", directed by Herr Stellan Rye in the silent year of 1913, is certainly a suitable film for the Schloss theatre. That's due to the many daring elements that the oeuvre provided this German count.The film has poor commoners, more precisely, a student commoner. He dreams of richness and of hobnobbing with top people. On the other side, there are idle aristocrats who spend their time riding and a rich heiress who is engaged to her cousin. However, he's a man who obviously she doesn't love, preferring her to be wooed by the student. That student is now a rich man thanks to a strange pact with a strange old man.Ah, what glorious clichés!!.But there is even more! In the film are beautiful outdoor sceneries ( the filming locations were obviously in Prague ) and elegant indoor aristocratic sceneries. But the most important thing in the picture ( besides the ones mentioned by this Herr Von ) is that the picture deals with the myth of the Doppelgänger, or the vision of the evil side of oneself!.Ah, what a wonderful sinister folklore!!.The film is starred by Herr Paul Wegener who certainly suffered a terrible experience with his Doppelgänger in the city of Prague. Prague is a beautiful but obscure Central-European city where from time to time another strange being walked up and down the streets. That would be the Golem a screen creature that years later would also use Herr Wegener for his evil deeds. But this is another and completely different story.And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count is waiting for Herr Doppelgänger and Herr Golem to take tea.Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com
Michael_Elliott Student of Prague, The (1913) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A poor college student (Paul Wegener) falls in love with a rich woman so he makes a deal with a sorcerer. The sorcerer pays him 100,000 gold pieces for anything in the student's room. The sorcerer decides to steal the student's soul. This is a pretty good horror film that manages to have a few very creepy scenes including the first scene where the soul is taken. The rest of the film is pretty weak working itself up towards the very good ending. This is still a very important film for horror fans to seek out.You can check my review of the remake here as well.
Elliot-10 If "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is the father of all horror films (and of German expressionist cinema), this pre-WWI film is the grandfather. The titular student, starving in an empty garret, makes a deal with the Devil-- the Devil gives him a bottomless sack of gold, in exchange for "anything in this room." The Devil chooses the student's reflection in his mirror. He walks off with the student's doppelganger, who commits crimes for which the student is blamed.The film is marred by some limitations arising out of the technically primitive state of 1913 filmmaking; the plot cries out for chiaroschuro effects, but the film is, of necessity, virtually all shot in shadowless daylight. But the scene where the reflection walks out of the mirror still packs a wallop.More interesting for the trends it fortells than for its own sake, The Student of Prague is still worthwhile.