''The Oyster Princess'' (german: Die Austernprinzessin) is a 1919 German silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...

and starring

Victor Janson Victor Arthur Eduard Janson ( lv, Viktors Artūrs Eduards Jansons; 25 September 1884 – 29 June 1960) was a German stage and film actor and film director of Latvian ethnicity. Selected filmography Actor * ''Your Dearest Enemy'' (1916) * '' When ...

Ossi Oswalda Ossi may refer to: Organizations * Open Source Seed Initiative, dedicated to maintaining access to plant genetic resources * Open Source Software Institute, promoter of open-source software solutions in the US Federal, state and municipal gover ...

and Harry Liedtke. It is a grotesque comedy in four acts about an American millionaire's spoiled daughter's marriage that does not go as planned. It was shot at the

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial bac ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

Kurt Richter Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter (24 November 1900 – 29 December 1969) was a German chess International Master and chess writer. Chess achievements In 1922, Richter for the first time won the Berlin City Chess Championship. In 1928, he tie ...

, a frequent collaborator of Lubitsch.

Plot

The film opens in the mansion where Mr. Quaker, the American “Oyster King,” resides with his unmarried daughter, Ossi, accompanied by a large staff of butlers. After hearing about a rival debutante’s recent royal marriage, Ossi throws a tantrum. Also competitive, Mr. Quaker promises his daughter that he will find a suitable royal for her to marry. They engage a matchmaker, who locates Prince Nucki, an indebted down-on-his-luck royal, who hides his wealth from his poorer friends and his poverty from his wealthier associates. Hoping that the match could improve his financial situation, Prince Nucki agrees to send his friend Josef to meet Ossi oh his behalf. When Josef arrives at the Quakers’ residence, he accidentally provides Prince Nucki’s calling card as his own. Ossi isn’t impressed with the visitor, but, eager to be married and believing Josef to be the prince, she rushes them to a priest, where Ossi is immediately married to Josef, under Prince Nucki’s name. A rushed but well-attended wedding reception follows the quick marriage. Both Mr. Quaker and Ossi aren’t fond of her new husband, but Josef thoroughly enjoys the rousing party, which features a “Foxtrot epidemic” that causes the whole house, including staff, to break into dance. Meanwhile, after a night of carousing with friends, the real Prince Nucki stumbles into a carriage that takes him to a meeting of the Multi-Millionaires’ Daughters Association Against Dipsomania, of which Ossi is a member. There, the two meet and are immediately smitten. Not yet knowing each other’s identities, both are distraught, she believing herself to be recently married and he believing himself to be betrothed. Josef finds them together and, laughing, asks, “Do you know that you two are married to each other?“ The happy couple celebrate with a second, much smaller reception, and in the end, Ossi, Prince Nucki, and Mr. Quaker are all pleased with the match.

Cast

as Mister Quaker, the American Oyster King *

as Ossi, his daughter * Harry Liedtke as Prince Nucki *

Julius Falkenstein Julius Falkenstein (25 February 1879 – 9 December 1933) was a German stage and film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1914 and 1933. Falkenstein was Jewish, but secured a special permit to continue making ...

as Josef, Nucki's friend *

Max Kronert Max Kronert (born Max Josef Florian Trübsand; 1873 – 22 July 1925) was a German stage and film actor. Selected filmography * '' Carmen'' (1918) * '' The Monastery of Sendomir'' (1919) * '' The Toy of the Tsarina'' (1919) * ''The Oyster P ...

as Seligson, the Matchmaker *

Curt Bois Curt Bois (born Kurt Boas; April 5, 1901 – December 25, 1991) was a German actor with a career spanning over 80 years. He is best remembered for his performances as the pickpocket in ''Casablanca'' (1942) and the poet Homer in ''Wings of Desi ...

as The Bandmaster

Home media releases

In 2007, the film was released on DVD by

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...

as part of the box set "Lubitsch in Berlin" with English intertitles. This release includes a soundtrack composed by Aljoscha Zimmermann. In 2010, it was released on DVD by Eureka Entertainment in their

Masters of Cinema Masters of Cinema is a line of DVD and Blu-ray releases published through Eureka Entertainment. Because of the uniformly branded and spine-numbered packaging and the standard inclusion of booklets and analysis by recurring film historians, the ...

series, as part of the box set "Lubitsch in Berlin: Fairy-Tales, Melodramas, and Sex Comedies" with German intertitles and English subtitles. In 2017, Eureka re-released this box set on Blu-ray with the original German intertitles and English subtitles.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oyster Princess 1919 films 1919 comedy films German silent feature films German black-and-white films Films directed by Ernst Lubitsch Films of the Weimar Republic UFA GmbH films German comedy films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios Silent comedy films 1910s German films