The Student of Prague

O estudante de Praga estreava há 110 anos na Alemanha. Fiz tudo ao contrário, primeiro vi o com o Walbrook, depois o com o Veid e só agora vi o original com o Wegener. Digamos que ele é bom por inaugurar um gênero, foi tão impressionante na época que o Otto Rank escreveu um excelente texto psicanalítico sobre o doppelganger que é base até hoje para pesquisas sobre o duplo, nele Rank disseca, como vemos no filme, o duplo ser a via da repressão sexual. Box OP Expressionismo Alemão Volume 3.

Early Wegener shows signs of his emerging talent, and there is a certain fascination in watching directors from this era try to figure out and work their way through the medium, but the pacing is off and the telling of this faustian pact is often rickety, despite impressive in-camera effects. Wegener's stone faced expression also doesn't endear us to his character or create significant emotional involvement. It is worth viewing mostly for historical reasons and for fans of early German cinema.

There's a lot to like here including the direction and camera work but the pacing is bad and unfortunately I found it to be a bit dull and hard to get into.

Avoid the Alpha Video version like the plague, the 83 minute version is something else entirely. Still, I can't say I found this more than passable and it pales compared to other 1913 releases.

A great premise, interesting story, nice camera tricks, all around a solid production. But, even with the four act structure to hang on to, the pacing is just awkward, especially in the second half. When an ending is as telegraphed as this the execution has to be a bit more fleshed out, but I found it lacking.