There are flashes of brilliance from both Ernst Lubitsch and Norma Shearer in this romantic tale, though it does drag on for a plot that is pretty thin. I like the way in which Lubitsch touches on things like disappointment and human connection - for the prince (Ramon Novarro) and his people, vs. stiff formality or ruling through fear and distance, as well as between the prince and the barmaid he meets in Heidelberg (Shearer). There are also several lovely moments: Shearer's smile after she tells him that a prince, after all, is only a human being, where she reflects genuine delight. The subtly leading way she shows him the couch in his room ("You can sit on it! You can lie down on it! You can't expect any more from a couch!") and then goes over and shows him how good the bed is by sitting and bouncing up and down on its mattress (gosh, what you can you do there, Norma?). How she carries fistfuls of steins out to the throng in the biergarten, and then chugs one down herself. And lastly, the romantic scenes where she playfully fights off his advances as Lubitsch uses a tracking shot occasionally blocked by pillars, and then on a hill with the flowers and grass blowing in the wind under the stars, where it's she who lays a big kiss on him. Unfortunately the film is lacking tension in the first hour, and then when it comes in the form of another woman being arranged for the prince and him having to return to his ailing father's side, it makes the mistake of trying to eke every last bit of emotion out of the farewell scene. When we finally get to the ending it's a good one, defying clichés, but it takes too long to get there. The film would have been better shorter, or with supporting characters or subplots to keep it moving. Still, there are enough moments here to make it worth checking out, particularly if you're a Lubitsch or Shearer fan.
