The Student of Prague (1926) 9/9

[hjb48]

Faust meets William Wilson .Remarkable that the main character is jewish apparently,and still a member of a burschenschaft.

[PumpkinIceCream]

oh wow he shot himself ):

[doomfeather]

a little bit of the "Cesare Walk" there at 0:21, eh Connie? :-)

[injamaven]

why Brahms' Third? Should be unknown music.

[doomfeather]

@injamaven

"Racket? That's Brahms! Brahms' Third Racket!"

- Basil Fawlty

[Shekhina01]

Anyone know what music this is?

[s4mth16ngstr24nge]

good Story. good fatalistic denouement. but there should've been better treatment of balduin's relationships with the women. also his doppelganger should've done more horrific things when living outside of the looking glass.

[jamesaugusta]

I almost thought there was a happy ending coming up, when he was reunited with his shadow, but of course: You don't kill your demon and live to tell the tale.

(In case anyone wonders: Ask them how you can help them and try and befriend him. The son in "L'Upupa" does so with good success.)

[gzombie38]

double Conrad Veidt?! it doesn't get any better than that!

[Hiacyntify]

Thank So Much! I love You :)

[PhotonDrive]

I don't think this was made at one time! Certainly the tavern Dance scene & Expressionist shooting techniques could not POSSIBLY have been made in 1913! Even the film stock changes? My theory is that his reflection is a pre-war German "everyman", while the "spooked" older version is the post-war "initiated" mature (but regretful) man? Same with females, the innocent flower girl changes & "throws herself away", by letter subtrafuge. What do you think?

[Vinnypoo]

well for the 1913 thing, it WAS made originally at the time, the movie was one of the precursors to german expressionism, along with das Golem another early 1910s film that didnt survive... but both film were re-made with the german expressionist style that we know of today.

the germans were obsessed with the duality of man. and this film was the first to represent this ( 1913 version) but they had stories dealing with that right from the middle ages...

hope that helps you analysis :)

[PhotonDrive]

Signs of (needed) class disintegration you mean by "duality of man"? Ruling class based on force & landownership, giving way to money - portrays itself as "the happy kingdom". Evil supposedly resides in the darkness of denied education, the "Night" of the thralls - redeemed only by the day, especially Sunday "Jesus day". Pauperized avant-guard Intelligencia as "Expressionist" caught up in this - the students rag to riches & back again as shown. Answer? REAL socialism!

[Vinnypoo]

...I'm just giving you some historical background here. take it or leave it

[PhotonDrive]

Thanks Vinny! I had no idea both these were originally made in 1913 before the war! Didn't mean to get picky about your expressions (no pun intended). Just that whole Faust thing interests me & you raised the subject. Never thought of dynamic social analysis before - something like this is happening in U.S. today: "Bad guys", "Terrorists", insisting on reality of "Good" & "Evil" as social defense of non-productive positions etc.

[Vinnypoo]

@PhotonDrive yeah, i was looking through my old comments on the youtube account, and I noticed that you replied to my comment. thanks for not being a dick to me :) haha i noticed on youtube people like to insult each other. but yeah im a film student and at the time I had watched a lot of german expressionist films at once lol Now I'm going through the french new wave phase

[Pavl0Escovar]

Il sagit dun vieux thème entouré dun halo de

significations, mais ne sagissait-il pas aussi dune transcription dans une sorte

de rêve de ce que ressentait alors la classe moyenne allemande à propos de

la caste féodale qui présidait aux destinées du pays ?

[ysbaddaden2003]

I understand this movie was based in part on Edgar Allen Poe's William Wilson, which was based on a generic European folk belief about the doppleganger.

[mrsjameshook]

Bbrrrr. Genuinely creepy. I really enjoyed this - thanks for posting!