Alt-Heidelberg (1923)

The film largely follows the literary source in its storyline. Hereditary Prince Karl Heinz of Sachsen-Karlsburg enjoys student life in picturesque Heidelberg. Dr. Jüttner is always at his side as a chaperone, charged with making sure that His Highness remains properly decorous, as befits his station, and focuses entirely on his studies. Karl Heinz joins the Saxonia student corps and meets Käthchen, the young niece of his landlord, with whom he is staying. They quickly fall in love. After just four months, matters of state bring his carefree life between lecture hall and wine tavern to an end when shocking news arrives from the principality: the hereditary prince’s father is seriously ill, and Karl Heinz must say goodbye—both to Käthi and to Heidelberg—in order to take up the duties of government at home. Dr. Jüttner stays behind and soon dies in Heidelberg. The prince has not forgotten the city on the Neckar, and although he has married a woman of suitable rank out of a sense of duty, he still longs for his Käthi. When he visits Heidelberg, he wants to see not only his fellow members of the corps, but above all the young woman he once loved.