king dies, followed by Jüttner. Later, von Haugk presses the new monarch about the marriage. The anguished Karl signs the document for the wedding. Then Kellermann shows up to take the job Karl had offered him. When Karl asks him about Kathi, he learns that she is still waiting for him. He goes to see her one last time. In the last scene, Karl is shown riding through the streets in a carriage with his bride. One onlooker remarks that it must be wonderful to be king, unaware of Karl's misery. Cast Ramón Novarro as Crown Prince Karl Heinrich Norma Shearer as Kathi Jean Hersholt as Dr. Friedrich Jüttner Gustav von Seyffertitz as King Karl VII Philippe De Lacy as Young Karl Edgar Norton as Lutz Bobby Mack as Johann Kellermann Edward Connelly as Prime Minister von Haugk Otis Harlan as Old Ruder André Mattoni as Count Asterberg (uncredited) Hans Joby as Student (credited as John S. Peters) George K. Arthur as Drunk Student (uncredited) Edythe Chapman as Young Karl's nanny (uncredited) Production Irving Thalberg initially planned to have Erich von Stroheim direct this film as a follow-up to the director's commercial success The Merry Widow. Stroheim declined, opting instead to leave MGM and begin work on The Wedding March (1928). Thalberg then tried to attach E.A. Dupont, and then John S. Robertson to the project, but both passed on it. He settled on thirty-four-year-old German émigré Ernst Lubitsch. Novarro was cast after John Gilbert was considered. Lubitsch felt that both Novarro and Shearer were miscast, but was unable to override the studio's casting decisions. Lubitsch's insistence on multiple takes and minimal rehearsal time were hard on both leads. Shearer even complained to Thalberg, her fiance, about Lubitsch's penchant for acting out scenes for the actors before they were shot. Thalberg told her that "everyone has a lot to learn from Lubitsch." The love scene in the beer garden, which is acclaimed as one of the best scenes in the film by modern critics, was allegedly a headache for the director, who had it reshot entirely, but was still unhappy with it. It was rumored that the love scene in the film was reshot by John M. Stahl, but Lubitsch's assistant on the film, Andrew Marton, denied this. According to director King Vidor, Lubitsch also made Novarro film "a buddy scene with an effeminate extra" in the hopes of "playing