Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

khsooners 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.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Der Student von Prag" or "The Student of Prague" is a German black-and-white silent film from 1913, so this one is already clearly over a 100 years old. Do not be fooled by soundtracks that were added later on, this is not a sound movie. The writer and director here is Hanns Heinz Ewers and this is probably his most known work. He is not even close to being as famous as the likes of Murnau or even Lang, but it looks like he was there before them already. Unfortunately, I cannot praise his work here. It is based on a work by Edgar Allen Poe and, like so many other films, includes many references on Goethe's "Faust", when a young man makes a deal with somebody he should have stayed far far away. And, of course, the deal is about a woman.The movie runs for slightly over 80 minutes, at least in the version I saw, but I see that there are several way shorter versions out there too. Your choice which one to watch. I personally would recommend one of the shorter as I felt this film did not only drag on several occasions despite under 90 minutes runtime, but it also clearly lacked intertitles and would have needed many many more of these to be a rewarding watch, but also to actually let the audience understand what is going on. I had a question mark above my head for a large part of the film and this may be a reason why I lost interest quickly and give this one a thumbs down. Not recommended.

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

Rich Drezen (Drezzilla) I bought this yesterday on DVD and watched it immediately upon getting home. I liked the concept of the picture, but I got lost a few times in between certain title cards. It's a movie that you would have to see more than once to understand because if you don't pay close attention to it throughout the whole picture, you'll be completely lost. This is true about many German expressionist films, and as primitive as this is in expressionist cinema, it counts. The print on the DVD from Alpha video a little dark, but decent. This is a 1913 motion picture we're talking' here! And a feature film at that. If you like an organ music setting for silent films, then you will be pleased with how this film was assembled for DVD. As far as the story goes, it's got an interesting concept; you have a normal guy at a prep school, some magician comes along and puts a spell on him, and then all of a sudden the guy's being chased by his own reflection! I don't know whether or not it was done with a split screen format or not because, again, this film was made in an age where very little is known about such early feature films. But it's only 41 minutes long, and if I can sit through it, anyone can.