The play on which the light opera is based on which 'The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" is based was of course a typical product of imperial Germany: designed to convince the commoners that the political elites that ruled over them did not have so easy lives either. The crown prince of one of the smaller German states becomes a student in Heidelberg. He falls for the daughter of his landlord but is separated from his love when duty calls: he must return and ascend the throne, broken heart or no broken heart. Political slush, in short. Notwithstanding the dubious provenance of his source material, what Lubitsch gives us is a thoroughly enjoyable film. Ramon Novarro acts very well; he stops short of being unbearably naive and comes across as a sensitive and intelligent person - though this is in part also due to Lubitsch's decision to spend much time on the exposition, where Philippe De Lacy plays the young Karl Heinrich. Norma Shearer does very well as Kathi, but for my taste the highlight of the film is Jean Hersholt as Karl Heinrich's teacher Dr Jüttner. The setting is nicely done - it occasionally does look like a window that gives us a glimpse of student life in about 1900 (though the students spend amazingly little time studying and no time at all duelling). All in all a very nice film: it already shows the Lubitsch touch that became famous a decade later.
