Customer Reviews

The Student of Prague

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the 1913--i.e., first silent--version of the film The Student of Prague and for that reason alone, is of great interest. Starring famed German silent actor Paul Wegener in the title role, it is a very short (40 minutes) rendition of a classic German tale of the supernatural, based on a short story by Hans Heinz Ewers, who wrote the great vampire novel Alraune.

In making this available, one would think that Alpha Video has done a great service. However, there are numerous problems with this release. Firstly, as previously pointed out in another review here, the video quality is only fair, marred by many of the typical scratches and visual blips common to non-remastered films from this period. Secondly, the title cards are so sketchy that there can be sizeable snatches of dialogue--i.e., we can see the actors' mouths moving--and only one title card is presented for the entire sequence. And thirdly, perhaps most importantly--this was also pointed out previously--the soundtrack music, apparently newly composed for this release, is organ music that has only two themes for the entire length of the film. Hence, the same series of notes is repeated almost endlessly. This, more than anything else, ruins the feeling, character, flavor, essence itself of the film.

While Alpha has made some great films available at low cost, and this is one of them, there is a huge difference between silent films and sound films. They should be very careful not to get rock bottom composers for their silent films who create slapdash soundtracks that either bore viewers to tears or make them want to throw things at the monitor.

The Alpha Video stable of sound films is a much better bet. This one, frankly, stinks. The two stars are for the availability of the film itself; that's it.

The film itself, although not a masterpice, is a very interesting one and genuinely eerie. However, the DVD is so poor that I could hardly appreciate this at all. I understand that the film is over 90 years old, but it had clearly been copied from what looks like a very poor quality videocassette. Kino's releases of the Lumiere brothers' films are of FAR better quality, and they were made nearly 20 years before 'The Student of Prague'! Avoid it, unless you really desperately want to see the film, and even then I wouldn't recommend it.

A classic made in 1913 that should have the finest quality in terms of soundtracks and visuals. It looks like the WORST video tranfer ever and the repetitious music (a basic minor progression) is terrible. Think bad Philip Glass.

Alpha may have done some great things, but this GEM of early cinema has been sabotaged. Let's pray Criterion hears about this.

A crime!

The student of Prague was the pioneer film to assume the seminal seed of what it would be known as Expressionism German. The film incorporates myths of Faust and the shattered mirror image .

An impoverished student in Prague commits the fatal mistake to establish a tragic pact, (on May 13, 1920) with a devilish emissary; the prize is simple: one hundred thousand gold coins and just one condition to release his own mirror image.

As you realize Jean Cocteau will employ this smart device in Orpheus decades later; and that fevered ambition to be admired and beloved by his new financial status will lead him to the well expected tragedy.

A milestone film to watch!

THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE'is the first manifistation of german expressionist horror in cinema and is thus of more historical importance then artistic.Technically the film is typical of european movies of the pre world war one era before d.w griffith's editing patterns would introduce the montage principal to europe.ALPHA'S print seems to have been duped from an VHS copy and is murky and dark in places and is also missing the final shot of balduin's doppelganger sitting mournfully over his tomb;also the organ score is bloody monotonous;still at the price you cant reallly quibble.Lets hope that image or kino international release a decent copy in the future.

There seems to be some confusion here concerning the print quality of the ALPHA dvd release version of this 1913 German film. ALPHA is not a restoration firm, ALPHA releases public domain films on dvd for fan/collectors of the obscure and hard to find. And yes, the source for STUDENT OF PRAGUE may very well be an old vhs dupe, but I for one am thankful that I can now finally see this film (and for about 5 bucks) on the home dvd format. Lotte Eisner in her excellent book, THE HAUNTED SCREEN notes that the first 1913 version, "...has survived, and this film, coming six years before CALIGARI, already exhibits many of the properties which one finds in the so-called classical films of the twenties...Nowadays the photography of what is probably the only copy to have survived seems rather grey. One has to remember that the contemporary prints, toned in brown, green or (for night sceens) dark blue, were more subtle."
So, like how many great looking prints of this 1913 film are available for release on dvd today? Quite possibly, this is the only one, shabby as it is.
Sure, I would like to see CRITERION or KINO come up with a major color-tinted restoration, but who knows how long I'd have to wait for something that may or may not happen in my lifetime. In the meantime I'm really happy that for a very low cost I'm able to view this particular film in it's current state, which is very watchable. The 100yr. old scenes of the characters filmed on the pre-WW1 streets of Prague is alone worth the small asking price of this dvd.
Now, I like silent films and have many titles issued by CRITERION, KINO and IMAGE. They all do a wonderful job and are responsible for promoting silent films to today's viewers, making great viewing readily available.
ALPHA, however, is a different story. Not a restoration company, they slap an available public domain source onto a dvd for general viewing. Yet ALPHA needs to be commended, because they are indeed the front runner for this sort of thing, and they do bring us some of the most sought after lost classics out there...sticking with the silent/early sound era they've released onto dvd G.W. Pabst's THE MISTRESS OF ATLANTIS(1932), Lubitsch's THE EYES OF THE MUMMY(1922) and Henrik Galeen's 1926 version of THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE...And yes, you can quibble and fault the non-restoration qualities of these films, but until a major restoration firm releases these films I'm just happy to be able to see any of them in my lifetime...but then again, I used to screen silent films on an 8mmm projector on my basement wall accompanied by classical music played on a phonograph. So maybe that's why I'm more acceptable of this version of STUDENT OF PRAGUE, which brings us in a round about way to the actual movie itself, which is about a young man who makes a deal with a mysterious older stranger. In exchange for great wealth the older stranger can remove anything from the younger man's threadbare apartment. The younger man agrees and so the mysterious stranger removes the young man's image from the mirror, hence the story...
THIS IS A WATCHABLE FILM, not restored, but certainly watchable. The "new" soundtrack provided comes off like out-takes from a rejected Philip Glass score, and I chuckled when another reviewer noted the same.
If you have any interest in silent German Expressionist Film then this is certainly a must buy. Forget those who condemn it for not being restored. That's no reason for not spending a couple bucks to see something you may never get to see in any restored version. And you can always buy the NEWLY RESTORED version later, whenever it becomes available.
This is truly a piece of cinema history. Do not deny yourself the chance to witness it...Buy and enjoy.

I really have to tip my hat to Alpha Video for releasing this beauty of early German cenema. They used a pretty good print and their copy is good.
The "Student of Prague" is a tale of a student/fencing master who sells his soul to the Devil and later must pay the price. The story has been filmed several times but this is the first attempt to capture the story of film and it is a very early effort. On one hand it has the primitive look of movies before about 1920. On the other hand there are great exterior shots and interesting trick photography. In all, keeping in mind that it is a very early film, Paul Wegener did a great job of telling a visually interesting story. I just hope that Alpha video will press on and give us the Conrad Veidt version of "Student of Prague."