It seems bizarre that operas and operettas were brought to the screen in the silent era, a period in which such properties would inherently be devoid of their most basic element. Of course, moviemakers weren’t aware of just how soon talkies would revolutionize the industry, so why not go ahead and bring these surefire, popular plots to the screen? In 1925, MGM had two major successes in this area, Erich von Stroheim’s expectedly lavish reworking of Franz Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow, starring John Gilbert and Mae Murray, and King Vidor’s adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème, also starring Gilbert, this time with Lillian Gish. In the hands of the esteemed German-born Ernst Lubitsch, who had been a Hollywood director since 1923, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, based on Sigmund Romberg’s 1924 operetta The Student Prince (whose source material was Wilhelm Meyer-Förster’s novel Karl Heinrich and the subsequent play version), was another hit for MGM and the best of their silent opera/operettas. It’s a glorious piece of work that manages to bring substantial emotion and visual radiance to what is, admittedly, a slight story. In fact, it’s hard to imagine any live performance of the operetta carrying the heartfelt simplicity and rhapsodic sweep of Lubitsch’s production. In not trying to inflate the film with any “importance,” Lubitsch made a movie whose rather considerable importance is conveyed through its vibrant spontaneity and its carefully constructed investment in its main character, played by Ramon Novarro at the peak of his stardom, soon after his phenomenal success in another title role, Ben-Hur (1926). Playing opposite him is Norma Shearer, an up-and-comer of the silent era who was about to reach her zenith with early talkies, just as Novarro was sliding into obscurity. Speaking of obscurity, MGM also made a silent version of the operetta Rose Marie (1928), which starred an unthinkably young Joan Crawford.

excerpted from John DiLeo’s
Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery
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