The Student of Prague (1913)

This is definitely one one the best pre-WWI movies! Still, if you are looking for the typical German expressionism, you will not see a lot of this. The movie is great in its use of the Prague locations (remember- those were still the days of Austria-Hungary). You see some of the city sights and also the famous Jewish cemetery but not in a tourist fashion, it all serves the romantic atmosphere of the movie: romantic in the fashion of Hoffmann and the German doppelgänger idea. Paul Wegener is far away from a modern day movie star, but he was one of the top German theater actors of the days. He fully embraced the concept of movies and even directed some. The author Hanns Heinz Ewers produced some dangerous Nazi books later on, but this one is a major achievement.

A poor student (Paul Wegener) rescues a beautiful countess (Grete Berger) and soon becomes obsessed with her. A sorcerer (John Gottowt) makes a deal with the young man to give him fabulous wealth and anything he wants, if he will sign his name to a contract.The film is loosely based on "William Wilson", a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the poem "The December Night" by Alfred de Musset, and Faust. The Faust elements are obvious, the other two less so (though the Musset quotation might give it away). This is really a great early example of horror literature on screen.Cinematographer Guido Seeber utilized groundbreaking camera tricks to create the effect of the Doppelgänger (mirror double), producing a seamless double exposure. Hanns Heinz Ewers was a noted writer of horror and fantasy stories whose involvement with the screenplay lent a much needed air of respectability to the fledgling art form.

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

I watched Alpha's DVD of this, which was only about forty-one minutes long. I don't know if it was missing scenes, or run at a faster speed, or what, to account for the difference from the running time IMDb has. As with Alpha's DVD of the remake, I didn't particularly care for the musical score they'd added. I think it's possible they also missed some of the intertitles; one of the other users mentions something Balduin says after his reflection is taken that wasn't in the copy I viewed.A renowned fencer asks a man named Scapinelli to procure him a winning lottery ticket, or a woman with a large dowry. The opening credits indicate Scapinelli is a sorcerer; he isn't used much in this film, and we don't know really anything about him when we first meet him, or what relationship Balduin has with him. In the remake, Balduin doesn't ask for those things, just wishes for a rich woman (not expecting the wish to come true), and Scapinelli promises to deliver.A rich woman who is riding horses with her fiancé (also her first cousin) falls off her horse into a body of water, and Balduin saves her. In the remake, it's clear that Scapinelli guides her horse to Balduin and then causes the horse to act wildly, until Balduin scoops her off it. Here, it's unclear that Scapinelli had anything to do with it.There are many scenes here that are reproduced in the sequel. Possibly even some of the same camera shots are copied.The ending is not as powerful as the ending of the sequel. Still, this was interesting to watch and at the price of Alpha's DVDs, a bargain. Perhaps a better edition will come out sometime in the future.