#1 in my ranking of Ernst Lubitsch’s filmography.
This is the film that Ernst Lubitsch had been building up towards his entire career. His efforts to find and execute his voice had been growing increasingly successful over the previous few years, especially since he made it to Hollywood, and in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, based on a German play by Wilhelm Meyer-Forster, Lubitsch had found the most perfect balance of Old World charm and aesthetics, light, comic sensibilities, and emotional pathos. This is a triumph of film, of the silent era, and of Lubitsch’s career.
The major structural and narrative thing that has consistently bothered me through the earlier films Lubitsch had made, it was the short nature of beginnings and endings. From the opening of the film where we get introduced to our main character as a child (Phillipe De Lacy), it’s obvious that this is going to take it’s time to establish character and setting. The Crown Prince of Karlsburg, Karl, arrives to be raised by his uncle, the King of Karlsburg, Karl VII (Gustav von Seyffertitz). Isolated from the other children of his age, his only friend is his tutor Dr. Friederich Juttner (Jean Hersholt), a man who embraces the little amount of play that they can in their hermetically sealed environment.
The years pass, the commoners of the realm envy Karl’s station, and he grows into a young adult (Ramon Novarro). He graduates from his early studies in an amusing scene where he fails to recall the reign of an older king, offering several guesses before Dr. Juttner draws his attention to the king’s portrait that contains the information, and he’s given the chance to go to Heidelberg where he will continue his studies with Dr. Juttner in tow. His first taste of freedom in years, Karl is thrilled at the prospect and attacks the opportunity with gusto.
They stay at an inn, and this is where the film starts to become something special, completely embracing the Lubitsch Touch. The inn is a raucous party with a military squadron housed there, having a large celebration complete with copious drinking that Karl involves himself in, learning how to drink like a common soldier for the first time. The more important introduction, though, is to Kathi (Norma Shearer, producer Irving Thalberg’s fiancée), the barmaid. Pretty, energetic, and playful, she’s introduced in a series of technically adept shots, including a dolly track that has her passing over the long bench of soldiers to deliver her two fist fulls of beer to the end of the table. She captures Karl’s imagination. He admires her from afar until, after the long night of drinking is done, they have a delightful moment where, on two sides of a wall, they throw a coaster back and forth, hitting each other on the head without realizing it. The romance has begun, and it’s a storybook thing not to last.
Amidst their whirlwind romance, news comes of two events. The first is of the king’s decision that Karl should marry a particular princess, and the second, a bit later, is that the king is sick and Karl must return to the capitol to execute the offices of state of his uncle. What’s important in my mind about these moments is that neither are very sanguine about being able to continue the romance. Both Karl and Kathi understand that this was it. That once Karl goes to Karlsburg, he’ll never come back, and neither of them even know about the betrothal to the princess yet.
The king dies, and the movie gains a nostalgic character mixed with a deep sadness. Karl’s one moment of true happiness is over, and he knows it’ll never come back. It is the visit from one of the older men he knew in Heidelberg, along with news that Kathi still waits for him, that convinces Karl to make one more visit, and the intertitles couch it interestingly. It’s not about moving to Heidelberg or marrying Kathi, it’s about claiming one more day of life.
The visit back is a barren exploration of the ruins of dreams. The soldiers treat him as a king, not as a friend. Their visit is formal with bows and precisely sung songs instead of lustily and bawdily sung shanties. Kathi is the same, though, and she embraces Karl with the same romantic fervor as before, however, it’s not the same. The flowery field in which they had professed their love for each other has been made barren by time, and they must say goodbye. She doesn’t talk about never being happy again, even going so far as to say that they’ll both end up some kind of happy, but it won’t be with each other.
It’s a surprisingly mature take on passion and romance, told in a beautifully romantic setting of the fake Central European kingdom of Karlsburg. The early aspects are all joyfully delightful, and that’s marvelously counterbalanced by the look of empty fields and bygone memories combined with the sense of duty and adulthood of the latter half.
Performances are wonderful all around, anchored nicely by the fresh-faced Novarro, matched with the energetic and innocent looking Shearer. The most amusing performance is by Hersholt as Juttner, needing to balance the image of duty with his love of the freer side of things, especially when he gets an official visit deep into their trip to Heidelberg.
This is the first Lubitsch film that I’ve completely and totally loved. I wouldn’t change a single frame in the whole thing. Lubitsch only had two more silent films in him before the sound era took over (the lost The Patriot being one of them), and it was at the end of the silent era where he showed that he had complete control over the elements of the medium like the best of his peers. This is a great film and one of my favorites from the era.
Rating: 4/4
David Vining, Author 
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