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Back to Conrad Veidt Mainpage
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Conrad Veidt: Artistry and Humanitarianism
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...Continued
Although silent film had reached the zenith of artistic expression, sound altered everything so that the style and iconography of the silents were now passé. During his time in Hollywood, Veidt’s appearance had changed; he no longer had the supernatural features of the haunted and doomed protagonist, he had filled out his lean frame and his handsome features were enhanced. He now epitomised the role of the noble and duty-bound soldier, whether tragically heroic as in Die Letzte Kompagnie (The Last Company)(Kurt Bernhardt, 1929) where patriotism and duty are worth dying for, or human and flawed as in Die Andere Seite (The Other Side)(Heinz Paul, 1931), where the strain of command and the horrors of war take their toll. The highlight of his German sound films was Rasputin (Adolf Trotz, 1932). His characterisation brought out the complexities of the Russian peasant elevated to Royal adviser, despite his drunken debauchery. The death scene remains powerful and haunting as his face reveals the confusion and pain of betrayal, but it is the sound of his pleading that sends a chill into the soul, like a hunted, wounded animal he screams out hopelessly.
During the early Thirties, the political situation in Germany was becoming intolerable and the rise of Hitler lead to many Germans leaving the country. Veidt had made a concerted effort to improve his English and decided to settle in England. His first British film, Rome Express (Walter Forde, 1932) had been a great success and Veidt was much in demand. He signed with Gaumount-British under Michael Balcon and managed to exercise his talent in a variety of roles. In Victor Saville’s I Was a Spy he continued as the duty-bound soldier and his stern face, together with monocle and uniform was the image he was most associated with. However, his sterling work in The Wandering Jew (Maurice Elvey, 1933), Jew Suss, and Passing of the Third Floor Back expressed his personal world view and proved most challenging for the actor. His acceptance of the role in Jew Suss lead to his enforced stay in Germany, where Nazi officials held him incommunicado for some weeks, until the British studio and the Foreign Office secured his release. Turbulent events in Europe were leading to war, whilst mass unemployment and poverty were of great concern in Britain, therefore Veidt’s humanitarian message of tolerance and kindness was something he naturally felt very strongly.
As Gaumont-British and Michael Balcon parted, Veidt signed with Alexander Korda, where he played mostly handsome and heroic types in films of high quality, such as Dark Journey (Victor Saville, 1937) and The Spy in Black (Michael Powell, 1939). In 1938 he became a British subject and made two French films - Tempete sur l'Asie (Storm Over Asia) which reunited him with Richard Oswald and Jean Dreville’s Le Jourer d'Echecs (The Chess Player), which won the prize for best picture at the Venice Film Festival. 1939 saw Britain declare war on Germany and Veidt gave up his personal fortune to the British Government and worked to raise funds for British War Relief.
Veidt personally took a print of Contraband (Michael Powell, 1940) over to America for promotion and was offered the role of Kurt von Kolb in Escape (Mervyn LeRoy, 1940), a complex character whose integrity had been eroded until his cruel streak won him over to the Nazi regime. He signed with M.G.M. where he was typed as aristocratic and villainous – most successfully in A Woman’s Face (George Cukor, 1941) and Casablanca – where the paper thin characterisations required Veidt’s personality rather than talent to flesh them out. A large percentage of Veidt’s considerable salaries went to British War Relief and he did lots of radio work and publicity interviews to denounce Nazi intolerance and raise funds for other war relief charities. As this was a time of war, pure entertainment and escapism were required and his Hollywood films proved popular and diverting.
The availability of Conrad Veidt films is very limited, over half of his (acknowledged) 112 films are lost and very few are available as official releases. It is thanks to various film restoration units and video companies like Kino and Eureka that superb prints of films like Anders als die Andern and Das Cabinet of Dr Caligari are available. Most films are available only as collectors’ copies which vary wildly in quality and completeness, but are gratefully viewed and enjoyed. It is hoped that they too will be restored and released officially in due course.
Conrad Veidt was an actor of amazing intensity, depth and control and an important figure in film history. From an exponent of the ‘aufklarungsfilme’ and icon of German expressionism in the silent era, to the archetypal duty-bound officer and smooth Hollywood villain in the Golden Age of Cinema, Conny excelled and entertained. We are fortunate to be able to watch his film performances.
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Rasputin, 1932
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Jew Suss, 1934
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Baron Karl von Marwitz in Dark Journey, 1937
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With Claude Rains in Casablanca, 1942
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Conrad Veidt,
portrait mid-1920s
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