Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

adamshl The original title on the actual movie was "Old Heidelberg," not exactly the kind of title that brings audiences rushing to see. The revised title "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" seems too long and weighty, and apparently neither titles did much for the financial success of the film during its initial showings.However, with time, critics and audiences have revised their opinions, and rightly so. It is one of Ernst Lubitsch's best works. It's also one of Norma Shearer's and Ramon Navarro's strongest.Apparently these actors didn't take the director's penchant for acting out scenes beforehand for them to copy. (The same procedure was said about Charles Chaplin.) In both cases the stars rebelled, till Exucitve Producer Irving Thalburg put an end to such tirades, opting instead for Lubitsch's skill.The restored version has one of the best composed (and conducted) scores for a silent film, by Carl Davis, and played with sensitivity by The English Chamber Orchestra. Likewise Marian Ainslee and Ruth Cummings created excellent titles, that don't obtrude and are kept to a minimum. The sets and photography are also quite fine.A note of interest: this 1927 film was released only a few weeks before the "The Jazz Singer," the latter ushering in a new talkie era.

wes-connors 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

rdjeffers 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.

Kalaman Ernst Lubitsch's silent films are as graceful and enchanting as his sound pictures, but the director's silents are unfairly left in the corner and don't always get the distinction they truly deserve. Along with "Lady Windermere's Fan" and "The Marriage Circle", this heartbreaking silent classic is one of Lubitsch's most perfect and poignant American silent films. "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg"(surviving copies only say " Old Heidelberg") is a very moving and heartbreaking love story and pretty much in the best Lubitsch tradition of subtle, graceful, witty romantic comedy, tinged with an air of sadness and poignancy, much like what you see in the later Lubitsch sound masterworks like "The Shop Around the Corner", "Heaven Can Wait", and "Cluny Brown". Norma Shearer gives what could be her greatest and most satisfying silent performance as Kathi, a popular barmaid with fraternal students and townsfolk in the quasi-mythical university town of Heidelberg. Ramon Novaro is superb as her prince charming, the student prince who falls in love with her. If you liked this one, I recommend Lubitsch's other great silent love story from this period, the rarely seen and appreciated "Eternal Love."