The Weimar era in Germany is known for silent Expressionist film, avant-garde works that stretched the boundaries of film making and questioned the conventions of the day. But the era also produced many comedy and popular films like the 1919 release The Oyster Princess intended to appeal to everyone.
A good comedy is layered: it pokes fun at the zeitgeist while also critiquing it. The Oyster Princess is an over-the-top satire about love and mistaken set against the backdrop of the social upheaval that followed WWI in Weimar Germany. Filled with verbal wit, slapstick humor, and non-stop action, The Oyster Princess is also an early example of what became known as the "Lubitsch Touch," the director's distinctive signature. The role of Ossi is played by the talented and entertaining actress Ossi Oswalda. Tackling the role with great energy, she's the driving force in the film's out-sized spectacle.
This early Lubitsch film is also an early example of the screwball comedy; look closely and you'll see the inspiration for his later films such as Ninotchka and The Shop Around the Corner, as well as other screwball classics like My Man Godfrey and Bringing Up Baby. Lubitsch was one of the many German Jewish émigrés who came to Hollywood and made a significant contribution to US film.
Mr. Quaker is an über-wealthy American businessman with a headstrong daughter, Ossi, who demands her father find a husband for her although he's not too impressed by her ranting and bursts of temper. Nonetheless, he hires a matchmaker who selects Nucki, an impoverished prince living in an apartment building who despite his genteel poverty has an approved family tree of blue bloods. Intrigued by the oyster heiress' wealth, Nucki sends Josef out to the Quaker mansion to take a look at her. Josef arrives at the house and gives Nucki's card, leading the staff and the Quakers to think he is Prince Nucki. Mistaken identity in place, the film's madcap humor takes off from there.
Beneath the role reversal between the prince and his servant, there's another layer: the role reversal between old money and new money, the Old World vs. the New World, the European aristocrats and the U.S. businessmen who came to replace them as the upper class, fueled by a stronger US economy and the collapse of the German economy after WWI. Through the ridiculous bustling of the servants and the Quaker father and daughter's extravagant lifestyle, Lubitsch satirizes the dominant economic role of the U.S in Weimar Republic Germany.
In addition to his talent for comedy, Lubitsch had the ability to maintain a middle ground between Kunst and Kitsch. The Oyster Princess revolves around the comedy themes of marriage and mistaken identity but is also tightly crafted and features many of his signature touches: the crisp pace, mise-en-scene to indicate character status and development, and well-choreographed scenes with dozens of extras moving like machines. Lubitsch's coordination of the extras is a witty comment on the increasing mechanization and commercialization of life, and the frantic pace that marked the Jazz Age.
A good comedy is layered: it pokes fun at the zeitgeist while also critiquing it. The Oyster Princess is an over-the-top satire about love and mistaken set against the backdrop of the social upheaval that followed WWI in Weimar Germany. Filled with verbal wit, slapstick humor, and non-stop action, The Oyster Princess is also an early example of what became known as the "Lubitsch Touch," the director's distinctive signature. The role of Ossi is played by the talented and entertaining actress Ossi Oswalda. Tackling the role with great energy, she's the driving force in the film's out-sized spectacle.
This early Lubitsch film is also an early example of the screwball comedy; look closely and you'll see the inspiration for his later films such as Ninotchka and The Shop Around the Corner, as well as other screwball classics like My Man Godfrey and Bringing Up Baby. Lubitsch was one of the many German Jewish émigrés who came to Hollywood and made a significant contribution to US film.
Mr. Quaker is an über-wealthy American businessman with a headstrong daughter, Ossi, who demands her father find a husband for her although he's not too impressed by her ranting and bursts of temper. Nonetheless, he hires a matchmaker who selects Nucki, an impoverished prince living in an apartment building who despite his genteel poverty has an approved family tree of blue bloods. Intrigued by the oyster heiress' wealth, Nucki sends Josef out to the Quaker mansion to take a look at her. Josef arrives at the house and gives Nucki's card, leading the staff and the Quakers to think he is Prince Nucki. Mistaken identity in place, the film's madcap humor takes off from there.
Beneath the role reversal between the prince and his servant, there's another layer: the role reversal between old money and new money, the Old World vs. the New World, the European aristocrats and the U.S. businessmen who came to replace them as the upper class, fueled by a stronger US economy and the collapse of the German economy after WWI. Through the ridiculous bustling of the servants and the Quaker father and daughter's extravagant lifestyle, Lubitsch satirizes the dominant economic role of the U.S in Weimar Republic Germany.
In addition to his talent for comedy, Lubitsch had the ability to maintain a middle ground between Kunst and Kitsch. The Oyster Princess revolves around the comedy themes of marriage and mistaken identity but is also tightly crafted and features many of his signature touches: the crisp pace, mise-en-scene to indicate character status and development, and well-choreographed scenes with dozens of extras moving like machines. Lubitsch's coordination of the extras is a witty comment on the increasing mechanization and commercialization of life, and the frantic pace that marked the Jazz Age.