The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg

A silent film set in Germany. Karl Heinrich is the heir of a small state. He grew up in a palace; he never played with anyone, had no friends and passed his days between lessons and ceremony. He is sent to Heidelberg for his education. His tutor goes with him and the two take rooms at a lodging house. Everything is different there. The students drink together, sing, and for the first time the prince belongs to a group. He meets Kathi, who works at the house, and falls in love. For a while his life runs like that of an ordinary student. Then word comes from the palace: the king is ill and the prince must return. The matter at the centre is not a choice but the absence of any right to choose. The prince wants to stay and cannot; the narrative presents it not as a tragedy but as something inevitable. What is most remembered is the difference between the lightness of the Heidelberg sections and the weight of what follows. Ramon Novarro plays Karl Heinrich, Norma Shearer plays Kathi and Jean Hersholt the tutor. Ernst Lubitsch directed. It was made in the last years of the silent era; sound was about to spread and the film stands just before that change. A fine example for anyone who likes silent cinema and period romance. For a viewer expecting pace, it moves calmly and builds its feeling from detail.