Alte und Junge Kaiser is "blood-and-honor" Nazi propaganda travelling under the guise of historical pageantry. The great Emil Jannings chews the scenery as aging Prussian "warrior monarch" Friedrich Wilhelm I. Alas, the King is saddled with a pantywaist nephew, Crown Prince Frederic (Werner Hinz), who prefers reading books to marching off to battle. Subjected to all sorts of humiliations by the autocratic Wilhelm I, the Prince reaches the breaking point when his best friend is executed before his eyes. But instead of turning on the King and staging a coup, Prince Frederic finally realizes that he's been wrong all along, and toughens himself up to be Frederic the Great, a true leader of manly men. The moral: Nothing, but nothing, is as important as nationalistic pride and blind obedience. Sieg heil!
by Hal Erickson
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