A new DVD of The Thief of Bagdad is being released soon - the 1940 version starring Conrad Veidt, which is a must see. To some he is the villain in the movie, to me he is the tragic hero!
to see a tribute to Veidt at YouTube.
Who was Conrad Veidt? Born in Germany in 1893, he served during WWI, then got into acting. A staunch opponent of anti-Semitism, although he himself was not Jewish, he left Germany at the height of his fame in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and moved to England with his Jewish wife, whom he married just a few days before he left.
Within a year or so of arriving in England, he appeared in two pro-Jewish movies - The Wandering jewew and Jew Suss, which so infuriated Goebbels that all of his movies were banned in Germany.
When WWII broke out he and other German emigres headed for the States (there name was on a List and it wasn't safe to remain in England) where he was typecast in roles as Nazis...although his Nazi Agent has him playimh twins, one a Good German and the other a Nazi, and in Above Suspicion he is a sympathetic Austrian.
See a website for him at Conrad Veidt Society.
No comments:
Post a Comment