Ramon Novarro, by the way, would likely have laughed in the faces of the p.c. Should Novarro have played only Mexicans or Central Americans on screen? Ramon Novarro: Mexican actor played all sorts of nationalities long before the p.c. Mescall), clearly set on the Culver City lot.
#The smiling lieutenant 1931 imdb movie
Personally, I find it silly to carp about such a small detail in a movie in which the characters talk through intertitles and where Heidelberg is, however beautifully shot (by cinematographer John J. The same could be said of Ramon Novarro, at his charming est as the young prince who unexpectedly discovers freedom and romance only to be coerced into renouncing them so as to conform to tradition and the impositions of The Establishment.Īt the time, New York Times film critic Mordaunt Hall, for one, found Novarro – covered in white make-up – inadequate as Karl Heinrich at least in part because of his “a little too Latin” looks. Seldom during the talkie era would Shearer come across as vibrantly spontaneous. Thalberg, and shortly before she became known as the Queen of MGM, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg showcases the actress at her most unaffected.
Released the year Norma Shearer became the wife of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s second-in-command Irving G. Fate intervenes when the young prince’s duty to the throne gets in the way of the young couple’s – quite literally – blooming romance.
While continuing his studies in the picturesque German town of Heidelberg, the prince falls in love with a local barmaid (Norma Shearer). ‘The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg’: Ramon Novarro quite moving in ‘whiteface’īased on Sigmund Romberg’s operetta, the 1927 silent The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg stars Mexican actor Ramon Novarro as the Germanic prince Karl Heinrich, heir to the kingdom of Karlsburg. ‘The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg’: Ernst Lubitsch directed Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer in one of the greatest – and most touching – silent movies. My top three are the following: The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, The Merry Widow, and Ninotchka. (Lubitsch died at age 55 in 1947.)Īll seven films are highly recommended whenever TCM airs them again even though The Lubitsch Touch isn’t equally magical in every single effort. That’s why TCM’s mini-Ernst Lubitsch homage – one day before what would have been the filmmaker’s 124th birthday – was so welcome, as it allowed early 21st century audiences (at least in the U.S.) to get an idea of what has been lost in the last seven decades. The Lubitsch Touch, on the other hand, has, unfortunately, gone the way of the Neanderthals. In fact, most of today’s filmmakers – whether in Hollywood or elsewhere – are their direct descendants. Minus the multimillion-dollar budgets, the explicit violence and gore, and the overbearing smugness passing for hipness, many of the shorts cranked out at the dawn of the 20th century exhibited the narrative prototypes of what was to become the norm in the ensuing decades. Well, probably because The Lubitsch Touch is considered passé at a time when the sledgehammer approach to filmmaking is deemed “fresh,” “innovative,” “cool,” and “daring” – as if a crass lack of subtlety in storytelling were anything new. (This is a fully revised and expanded version of a post published that day.) Lubitsch had the morning/afternoon, with seven films Menzies had the evening/night, also with seven features.Īs a sign of the times, Ernst Lubitsch is hardly ever mentioned whenever “connoisseurs” (between quotes) discuss Hollywood movies of the studio era. Ernst Lubitsch and William Cameron Menzies were Turner Classic Movies’ “stars” on Jan.