Old Heidelberg (1915)(DVD-R) + The Student Prince (Remastered Edition) (1954) on DVD

Get the original film, Old Heidelberg (1915) And The Student Prince (Remastered Edition) (1954) for 20% off their individual prices!

Old Heidelberg (1915)

 

Starring Wallace Reid, Dorothy Gish, Dorothy Gish, Erich von StroheimRaymond Wells
Directed by John Emerson

Print: black/white
Runtime: USA: 50 min.
Genre: Drama

Erich Von Stroheim played one of his first important roles in the D.W. Griffith-produced romantic drama Old Heidelberg, and he took full advantage of the opportunity, ruthlessly upstaging everyone in sight. For the most part, however, this first film adaptation of Wilhelm Meyer-Forster's novel (better known via its operetta version, The Student Prince) was a vehicle for Wallace Reid and Dorothy Gish, cast respectively as the prince of a mythical foreign country and the barmaid who loves him. Though at first willing to give up his throne for the love of the beautiful Kathi (Gish), Prince Karl (Reid) is ultimately persuaded to return from college to his native country to forestall a revolution. Sumptuously produced, Old Heidelberg was technically directed by John Emerson, though many familiar Griffith touche -- flashbacks, ghostly visions, cross-cutting -- are well in evidence. An expertly abridged 12-minute version of the film was included in the old TV anthology series Movie Museum.

The Student Prince (Remastered Edition) (1954)

Starring Edmund Purdom, John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall     
Directed by Richard Thorpe

Print: Black/white
Runtime: 107 min.
Genre: Musicals

Prince Karl is in love - with a barmaid! The ways of the heart clash with the mandates of state-arranged marriage in this regal Hollywood adaptation of the operetta by Sigmund Romberg, the composer whose life was the subject of the biopic Deep in My Heart. Edmund Purdom, lip-synching the rich singing of tenor Mario Lanza, portrays the on-screen Karl and Ann Blyth, who starred opposite Lanza in The Great Caruso, is the Heidelberg sweetheart the prince meets during what is supposed to be a final revelry before his royal wedding. Hermes Pan, choreographer of many Astaire-Rogers classics, brings Oktoberfest joy to the staging of several numbers. And let's drink, drink, drink to a supporting cast that's particularly regal: Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn, John Williams, S.Z. Sakall and Betta St. John. Cheers!