- Actors: Paul Wegener, John Gottowt, Grete Berger, Lyda Salmonova, Lothar Körner
- Directors: Paul Wegener, Stellan Rye
- Writers: Alfred de Musset, Edgar Allan Poe, Hanns Heinz Ewers
- Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, Silent, NTSC
- Language English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Alpha Video
- DVD Release Date: 25 May 2004
- Run Time: 85 minutes
- ASIN: B0001ZMX5E
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 91,237 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Historically interesting film marred by production problems, 2 Dec 2004
By LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Student of Prague [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
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.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible DVD, 3 Aug 2004
By Mr Alexander Hunter - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Student of Prague [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
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:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very Interesting film but terrible transfer by Alpha, 30 Jun 2008
By B. Robinson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Student of Prague [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
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!
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