THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE (1913)
Article #410 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 4-29-2002
Posting date: 9-22-2002

A poor student sells his reflection to a strange man in order to have enough money to win the woman he loves. He then finds himself haunted by his own reflection.

Sometimes persistence pays off; the first time I watched this early German horror film, I was left scratching my head, as the title cards were all in German and my few years of high school language classes were of little help. However, on a second viewing, I was able to sort out the story much better. This is one of the very few horror movies made about a doppelganger, and it’s a fascinating little story; I wouldn’t mind a remake (there’s at least one out there), as it’s one of those concepts that is relatively unexplored in horror cinema, and I’m sure there are interesting things to do with the idea. Some great acting by Paul Wegener adds to the fun.