JackFavell

I'm afraid this one didn't do much for me. It was fun seeing the actors, young Man of La Mancha Richard Kiley, James Edwards, and John McIntire who I didn't even recognize without his whiskers, I've seen him in so many westerns. McIntire was so great, he was the only one who really held my interest. Kiley was very good, extremely believable in a movie that could have been laughable. I wished James Edwards had a larger role, he was so committed to his part, I thought he would be more of a character. I really liked Biff McGuire, too. He looked so familiar, he has a modern face, like he could still be around on TV and I wouldn't realize it. The little girl was a huge shock, and I had already read about it here! To me, it felt like they killed her as a warning, because they didn't think anything of her puny life, and that was very upsetting to me. I too wish there had been a follow up... they took the time to set up James Edward's character, then dropped him flat afterwards. I found some of the violence kind of laughable, in that Untouchables way, but it's terrible for me to admit that. Maybe I am too jaded or something. I think that this kind of filmed warning is not really my cuppa tea. I thought the interviews at the beginning were a lot more interesting and scary than the picture, just by virtue of their reality --normal people talking calmly about having their lived threatened! The acting is what kept me with the picture.

Go ahead and keep chatting...I just had to drop in down here at the ranch and say that Andrew watched *Yellow Sky* this morning, all the way through! AND it was on AMC!!!! (I don't know how he got through it with those stinking commercials... ) I asked him what was it that held his attention and he said he didn't know. He thought that Anne Baxter and her Grandpa were actually going to pull a fast one on the gang about the gold, and I think this is why he stayed with it, but he liked it anyway, even though it was pretty straight up as a story. I realized somewhere during the search for water that it was a Wellman film, probably because they didn't find any. I was in and out, busy with other things too much to really follow the plot. Now I think I have to watch it through. I liked Anne here. She was really good with some of Wellman's grit and naturalness rubbed off on her. In fact, I thought she was extraordinarily beautiful with her freckles showing and clean faced, with her hair disheveled in the wind. Yet another Harry Morgan movie my hubby likes. And who should turn up but old man Clegg, and he was a pretty great character! Back to the regularly scheduled discussion, guys! I just got excited for a minute.

darn it! That was the one I wanted to see today, wouldbestar! I had it marked and everything then I completely missed it. I am so glad you were able to see it after all these years, I remember your post about it. Frank, what do you mean that the message boards are like Heidelberg? You like coming here? or you wish it was like it was at the beginning and you keep trying to get back to something that has long passed?

I don't know if this card is appropriate for Russian Christmas or New Year, but I liked it. They seem to have a lot of them with Santa and rockets. Have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Sansfin!

I read the recipe but it left me dead at the mention of herring, which I hate. I like the cheese straws recipe right below it. I LOVE chicken salad with grapes. Grapes are my favorite food. I have made a smoked turkey salad with grapes before, and it's awesome! Here's another Photoplay recipe:

I'll check out *Games* if you watch How to Steal a Million, but only because of Simone Signoret. She's a fantastic, very underrated actress.

*The Marriage Circle* is almost like the anti -*Student Prince*. It's premise is so cynical that they don't even seem like they could be directed by the same man, though the Lubitsch touch gives everything away. I do like it, but I would not watch *The Marriage Circle* right after *Old Heidelberg.*

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I have to say that Edward Andrews should have been named Sleaze. He's like a horrible Larry Tate gone awry. Oh, wait a minute..... Larry Tate went awry before he even WAS Larry Tate. I forgot. shudderrrrrrr *Blood Simple* shudderrrrrrrr Edited by: JackFavell on Jan 5, 2012 2:32 PM

I think you'll appreciate the directing, at the very least.

fantastic post, hadda! I am looking forward to all the juicy details.

*How to Steal a Million* is a great movie! You would love it Bronxie. I especially love Hugh Griffith as Audrey's father. Sansfin, you make me want to watch it immediately. I still have a bottle of champagne left over from New Year's..... I think they might go together well.

OLD HEIDELSPOILED > I never thought of it that way! You could be right! Or maybe it is what Lubistch was going for, a momentary befuddlement of our senses...did it all really exist before? Or was I (Karl, the audience) only dreaming? Sometimes memories are like dreams. In fact, once an experience passes into memory, I guess it is the same as a dream, it is an idea that sparks emotion and longing. That's beautiful. I think that was what he was going for. I think we are meant to reflect on time passing but also on the nature of dreams and memory. > Bless old Kellerman! I was so happy when he turned up, just as you say, some good "angel" always turned up just when Karl H. needed them most. Oh I think I would have died if he hadn't turned up right at that time! > The way Lubitsch weaves the ironies...here is a boy grown into a man who never really got to be a boy ("Stay young, Karl Heinrich!" urged Dr. Juttner) and when he finally gets to experience some joy and freedom, he is right away snatched backward into the old, staid, dead world of tradition. Then he tries to go back but the past is dead. Irony of ironies that being trapped by a world that is living in the past he tries to escape by going back into the past. Now that is brilliant - brilliant of Lubitsch and brilliant of you to catch. The way you say it seems so simple, but I am dadgummed if I could have ever have been able to pull that from the movie except as a miasma in my brain.... I KNOW I couldn't say it so well. I might have had an inkling of it, but it would never have formed itself into words. I can go round and round something and never ever be able to get it down understandably. I am quite sure you have completely gotten what Lubitsch wanted his audiences to see. >That's right, they see his "function" not him. "A prince is a human being, after all." >When his train arrives in the beginning, I was expecting a young man...again, what a great intro. So was I! >Lubitsch shows all this pomp and circumstance and what steps out...a tiny, delicate looking little innocent child. What a contrast!! It's really monstrous to think this receptive little creature is to be molded into an automaton, a functionary of noblesse oblige. Oh he has this fantastic buildup to that scene - the entire opening of the movie! it would be funny if it weren't so sad. The Carl Davis score was perfect....perfect. He's always good, but in this case, I think he was great. To me, it was possibly the best score he's done, as far as following the emotional cues from the director. And that's saying a lot, since he's pretty much the best there is and my favorite composer of silent film scores. I totally missed that episode of the screen directors playhouse! I could kick myself. I totally see a Robert Vaughan - George Sanders connection. They could come from the same family. They have a look down your nose type of thing going on.

I'm so glad! I really hope you like it. I didn't think it was out on dvd....

STUDENT PRINCE SPOILERS >Wasn't it heartbreaking when the prince returned to Heidelberg, thinking he was going to be able to recapture for just one day all the old times, and even the Saxonians had changed toward him (now that he was King)? All the life was drained, literally, out of the inn and the memories. Only Kathi's love still survived. This to me was what was great about the film, though I wanted it not to be the case. You really can't go home again. At first, I was horrified that the town had changed, and that the Saxonians were different, the hill was different...and now he must be deferred to since he was king....I wanted him to have that time in a free environment so badly! But then my mind started to play tricks on me. I started to think that maybe the town was never the way he originally saw it, through that veil of newness, and bright joy at being in the world for the first time, and in love. Maybe the town was never as beautiful as it was to him during those first tentative steps into the real world. But I guess I still think that it all changed, that the taint of his power (which he never exerted or even wanted) finally over-rode the comaraderie of his friends. He would never again be comfortable with anyone, they would all be yes men. But I keep clinging to the thought that he still had old Kellerman back at the palace! >I also love that Lubitsch did NOT show us Karl's bride in the carriage. That was great...a lesser director would have. I think that was brilliant. A reaction shot from her might have destroyed the moment. It certainly wasn't needed. He closes in on Karl's face. It's all about the eyes, as Tag says. >It's hard to think of a moment that isn't heartbreaking. I'll say. >I loved Dr. Juttner, by the way. I was SO glad when he turned up after the nurse was sent away. That poor wee lad, that was my first time the floodgates burst. Me too. He was so kind and knew exactly what the boy needed. I love the way he stopped him from doing the little head bow and handshake. Those little head bows also continue with different meanings all the way through the movie. Then Juttner just envelops him in his big arms protectively and walks him over to get the ball and they just have fun. >Oh! And in that marvelous parade in the opening scenes that you described where all the hats are being waved...and you see the ONLY people who greet Karl Heinrich with any individuality and real joy that doesn't have to do with his status are the young children. And it's the first time Karl smiles and looks happy. Little does he know he won't be allowed to play with them. I LOVED that reaction, first the boys', and then Karl Heinrich's! He was so cute waving to them and excited! You'd think they would want him to inspire the boys, to connect with them, but the old men don't see that. They only see the rules. Edited by: JackFavell on Jan 4, 2012 3:01 PM

Oh my, you are so right! That was exquisitely put as well - to stay in the sunlight He shows the big picture, but just like Ford, he finds the small in it - the real human emotion, and how real people would react. I felt so for them. They were like flowers growing in the shadow of a large tree that would soon take up all the light and nourishment from them. And in the end, it's no wonder that those hide-bound traditions and old men were overthrown, they became like death, dusty, powdery, brittle, cold. One hopes that Karl Heinrich won't turn that direction, but.... Edited by: JackFavell on Jan 4, 2012 2:35 PM

I hope they run it again soon, too! I have a copy, but I can't play it on the computer or take any screencaps from it. I didn't see any of *Belle Starr* but the end, which was quite good, but it didn't have Gene in it. The color was glorious. There was some kind of switch up going on that both Dana and Randolph were in on, even though they were adversaries, but I don't know what it meant. I think I read that Gene always felt she didn't know what she was doing in this picture - she took one look at herself and went out to find out how to act. I may be mixing it up with another of her movies though. I did record it, so I guess I'll find out if I like it or not. Dana was gorgeous and compelling in the end scene. Randolph Scott (cue chorus) was as heartfelt as I've ever seen him. I hope they were both as good through the rest of the picture. Edited by: JackFavell on Jan 4, 2012 2:04 PM

Oh, I was just going to apologize for posting about it, because I just now read that Frank is going to watch it this week. I hope I didn't spoil it. I thought Ramon Novarro was just great. He's sensitive and boyish, and can really give you the feeling that he is seeing things for the very first time, all innocence. Jean Hersholt is in it as well, and he's marvelous, just perfection as Dr. Juttner, the prince's only friend and his tutor.

Oh, I thought this was one of Lubitsch's finest films! I was completely dissolved into tears by it. You are so right about how it has such tenderness. I don't think this kind of rhythm and beauty ever again would be achieved after sound, except maybe in GWTW. So the movie is ephemeral in more ways than one. It's a tragic story unfolded as if it were light comedy. Is there such a thing as light tragedy? It feels like Lubitsch caught youth, and passion, but such innocence, too. And so sad! I cried right from the first scene when poor little Karl Heinrich was brought to the palace. This wonderful young boy never had a chance. The wheels of those carriages, taking him to freedom, to his loved ones and then away were like the wheel of fate, of life. Remember the fluidity and richness of Hans Schwartz' *Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna?* Though that movie was much different, I felt the same shock at the rich settings and milieu of *The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg*, which felt like no set at all. It felt like you were dropped into the middle of the real 1902 Karlsburg - which doesn't exist, of course. It seems as if Lubitsch had the entire universe at his fingertips.... and could move people, trains, anything, in the lightest manner and still evoke emotion! it is a lush fantasy, but it felt completely real. The way crowds moved in tandem or passed by the main characters created an authentically full and mellow world as a backdrop. How he did that I'll never ever know. I don't want to know. I want to keep my illusion! How rigid life was for the young fellow - I could have cried for happiness when fate sent him Dr. Juttner. Actually, I did. When something bad happened to Karl Heinrich, fate intervened and sent him something good, but there was always the looming presence of that same fate turned against him, when those longed for joys were happening. Juttner always knew and tried to keep him safe and childlike, happy to let him be normal for a day. But back to Lubitsch's settings. Even the chairs in the palace were straight backed and set at exactly the same angle as every other, in cavernous rooms with thick, ornately carved doorways, as opposed to the close comfort and harmony of the inn at Heidelberg. Karl doesn't even fit in the chairs at the castle, he's always at an angle in them. In Heidelberg, there is velvet and lace, and old world charm, and warmth. You can sit in the chairs! And there is cake! There is a texture to Lubitsch's silents, but it isn't the texture of a Ford film - it's rich and antiqued, yes, but flavored with the most intoxicating, satisfying ingredients, yet still warm and childlike.....somehow, his movies make me feel like I do right after Christmas dinner. Lubitsch feeds you. Cake! At the beginning, I enjoyed how he took us from the big world of the moving trains and carriages and crowds and movement in the city to the small, still, empty world of Karl Heinrich. He takes us there by carriage wheel and by hat. The palace, looming beautifully on the outside, is sumptuous but austerely gigantic on the inside, and it made Karl Heinrich's tight imprisonment seem even more harsh somehow. Alone, but in a huge space, like a Keaton hero, but with more fear. I liked how when he got to Heidelberg, he turned to Juttner for help in telling him whether the rooms were OK. I laughed at how every person in the town of Karlsburg had a portrait or bust of the king, so his presence loomed over them even when the king was not there - as if he were spying on them. Later the thought of that scene caught in my throat. And of course, every time the Prince tried to have even the smallest joy that anyone might have, a cigarette, perhaps, such a small thing, there was that awful pretentious courtier from the king, his watchdog, showing up suddenly, always as a harbinger of bad news. He was forever just behind the door, whether it was the dark carved door of Karlsburg Castle, or the simple but pretty light wood door of the rooms in Heidelberg. Lubitsch's attention to the minutest detail, the doors, the hats, the portraits, the wheels, the carriages, the couches, the furniture, the clothing, the outsides of buildings, the movements of the actors - each moment and prop was mirrored later in the film. I could do an entire dissertation on the meaning of just the hats! How they show Karl Heinrich's change from boy to student, to lover, to man, to ruler. How his own sweet personality was usurped and over-ridden by the stifling environment the king and his duty created for him. For instance, at the very beginning, there is a shot of the king's portrait - he is shown without a hat, but the shot then fades to him riding in his carriage in a parade, on the way to meet Karl Heinrich for the first time. The king in real life is wearing a monstrous violent looking Germanic helmet which for a split second seems to appear on the portrait's head before fading fully to his face on the carriage ride! And everyone along the route of the carriage is cheering him... and raising their hats at the same exact time, as if they were one person. And all their hats are exactly alike. In fact, the ride is a long one, and each section of the public has their own type of hat, all rising and falling at the same time as the king passes by. Enter Karl Friedrich into this world of conformity and isolation, where one man is set apart, in a world in which he cannot fit but also cannot escape. Later, he will gladly become a brother of the Saxonians, where he is acknowledged as a good fellow and a normal student by being given a cap, the same cap they all wear - he is finally accepted somewhere as one of the gang. A symbol of a friendship, and even more, of a normal life. Every small element was elaborated here by Lubitsch, but swiftly, in the lightest, most charming and unobtrusive way. The sway and rhythm of the film, the expert creating of a space in which Lubitsch's characters live, all done with that Lubitsch touch. I think I understand it somewhat now. Those exquisite moments of tenderness and sorrow and joy were weighted just a little more - but with the merest of feathers for a counterbalance. I'm thinking of the touch of one character's hand on another's heart. It's such a tender thing. First, Karl Heinrich does it to Dr. Juttner after Juttner tells him the king will fire him because his job is over, giving him the boot. KH lets his hand rest on Juttner's lapel for a moment, his only friend, then brushes off the cigar ashes that have fallen there - and Juttner takes his hand and holds it briefly before he goes. Then later, in that beautiful field of flowers, at the instant they truly fall in love, Kathi touches Karl Heinrich once again, on the breast, over the heart with her hand lingering. It's as if she smote him to the core with love. It makes me want to cry again. Edited by: JackFavell on Jan 4, 2012 2:26 PM

> I finally saw Lubitsch's *The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg*. I was so moved by it! I wasn't sure if I was going to like the movie, despite my love for Lubitsch, but it's the most emotional film by him I've seen. I was crying buckets. It was great, just great.

Ha! I guess I am glad I fell asleep after Sandra Dee put on her apron.... You are so right - the best part of *Lover Come Back* was for me, the leads, which is highly unusual for me, and the way everything just fell into place - the script really was very smart. But I am so glad I saw the character actors - Jack Kruschen (I just love him) Tony Randall (ditto) , Joe Flynn, and then spotting Ellie Mae Clampett! She was so pretty, I always wanted to look like her. These guys really add something great to the mix. I think I have to find Jack Kruschen's entire oeuvre. You are making me crack up when you repeat all of Tony's lines - trying to find anyone to take the fall for his mistake! You really bring back all those hilarious moments so well.

>I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Jackie. Lover Come Back is my favorite, actually, though it's a toss up sometimes. I really love Tony Randall, his character breaks me up. And Doris' wardrobe, of course. You have to see Pillow Talk for Thelma Ritter if nothing else. And Doris' apartment. > >I finally saw Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. I was so moved by it! I wasn't sure if I was going to like the movie, despite my love for Lubitsch, but it's the most emotional film by him I've seen. I was crying buckets. It was great, just great. I plan on watching the others now, since someone was kind enough to send them all to me..... I was going to try to watch *The Student Prince* today before I replied, but I got reading on the boards this morning and spent too much time here! I'll try to watch this one as soon as I can - it's been sitting at the top of my stack of movies to watch for a year.

Mimi - I am looking forward to the other Day/Hudson movies now, I'm glad to hear that there are other good ones....that I didn't end up watching the best one first.... Sansfin - I want to at least see the drawing of that lilac floored kitchen! I guess great minds think alike, because I was thinking it would be cool to have a lilac floor in the kitchen, despite what Doris said. I literally want to wallow in these films! they are relaxing and cheery, without the least pretention. I was surprised at how forward the movie was, since nowadays it's de rigeur to look down at Doris' movies as "wholesome". It was much much better than I expected.

You went on a diet??? You definitely needn't. I was surprised at how sexy she was in this one. It's something I've never ever seen from her.

I did like her, too, and felt she was well cast, but I would have loved to see just a speck more depth toward the end. What Viv could have done! Valerie is always starchy, but it works well here. I love the blackout sequence, and the beginning noirish feeling of that scene in the car (hurrah hurrah hurrah) , how Veidt wakes in a full closeup that's so expressionistic it could have come from the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari! But mostly, I just like the fun sexiness of the story.

I knew it! I only wish they had had Vivien to play the role, instead of Valerie Hobson.