Product Details

• Actors: Grete Berger, John Gottowt, Lothar Körner, Alexander Moissi, Lyda Salmonova
• Directors: Paul Wegener
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Silent, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: May 25, 2004
• Run Time: 41 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001ZMX5E
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,627 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Student of Prague" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Studio: Gotham (dba Alpha) Release Date: 05/25/2004

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Historically interesting film marred by production problems, December 2, 2004

By	LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible DVD, August 3, 2004

By	Mr Alexander Hunter (Surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first expressionist film of the German cinema!, May 7, 2008

By	Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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!