Conrad Veidt
Actor · 1893 – 1943 · Berlin, Germany
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German silent film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of Ufa, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the Nazis came to power. They settled in Britain, where he participated in a number of films, including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United States around 1941, which lead to him having a supporting role in Casablanca (1942). From 1916 until his death, Veidt appeared in more than 100 films. One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), a classic of German Expressionist cinema, with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover. His starring role in The Man Who Laughs (1928), as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin, provided the (visual) inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker, created in 1940 by Bill Finger. Veidt also starred in other silent horror films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924), another film directed by Robert Wiene, The Student of Prague (1926) and Waxworks (1924) where he played Ivan the Terrible. Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfeld's film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919), one of the first films to sympathetically portray homosexuality, although the characters in it do not end up happily. He had a leading role in Germany's first talking picture, Das Land ohne Frauen (Land Without Women, 1929). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and made a few films, but the advent of talking pictures and his difficulty with speaking English led him to return to Germany. During this period he lent his expertise to tutoring aspiring performers, one of whom was the later American character actress Lisa Golm.
Movies24
Movie8.1DramaRomanceIn Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
Casablanca
1943 · 6.2K votes
Movie7.9DramaHorrorFrancis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.
Movie7.1AdventureFantasyWhen Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
The Thief of Bagdad
1940 · 308 votes
Movie7.3DramaRomanceWhen a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.
The Man Who Laughs
1928 · 230 votes
Movie7.8DramaHistoryA biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.
Movie6.8DramaThrillerA female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the possibility of looking like a normal woman.
A Woman's Face
1941 · 74 votes
- Movie9.0DramaCrime
Movie6.7ComedyActionBroadway gamblers stumble across a plan by Nazi saboteurs to blow up an American battleship.
All Through the Night
1942 · 75 votes
Movie6.5ThrillerWarBritish double agent Madeleine Goddard meets and falls in love with German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I.
Dark Journey
1937 · 34 votes
Movie6.2ThrillerTwo newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe.
Above Suspicion
1943 · 39 votes
Movie5.9ComedyMysteryRadio crime show host 'The Fox' along with his fiancée and ex-girlfriend are kidnapped by a larcenous cult who demand that he help them plan a perfect murder.
Whistling in the Dark
1941 · 15 votes
Movie6.9HorrorThrillerA world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he is horrified to learn they once belonged to a murderer.
Movie6.8DocumentaryThis short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
1940 · 8 votes
Movie7.1ThrillerWarDuring early World War II, a Danish sea captain, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.
Contraband
1940 · 22 votes
Movie5.9DramaHistoryThe married Lady Emma Hamilton has an ill fated romance with Admiral Horatio Nelson.
Lady Hamilton
1921 · 5 votes
- Movie7.7Documentary
In this made-for-TV production, Vincent Price and his hunchback sidekick (Billy Van) host a pun-filled salute to the horror film genre from its earliest beginnings all the way up to The Exorcist. Featuring clips from classic horror films and interviews with genre greats like Frank Gorshin, John Carradine, John Astin and SFX legend Bill Tuttle, among others.
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
1974 · 3 votes
Movie6.4WarThrillerA German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.
The Spy in Black
1939 · 66 votes
Movie7.1DocumentaryTV MovieA documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 1940s.
Universal Horror
1998 · 21 votes
Movie6.5HistoryDramaAt the height of Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre orchestrates the trial and execution of several of his fellow leading French revolutionaries including Georges Danton.
Danton
1921 · 4 votes
Movie6.6CrimeDramaHumble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he receives a surprise visit from his estranged twin brother and Nazi spy, Baron Hugo von Detner, his world is thrown into turmoil. Threatening Becker with deportation, Hugo forces him to use his shop as a front for espionage.
Nazi Agent
1942 · 13 votes
Movie7.5DramaThrillerAn American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration camp. With the help of an American-born widowed countess he seeks to engineer her escape.
Escape
1940 · 16 votes
Movie5.3HorrorDramaA millionaire steals an ancient idol causing some natives call upon him a terrible curse.
Movie3.5DocumentaryHorrorHosted by Christopher Lee, this documentary examines the different actors who have portrayed Dracula over the years.
The Many Faces of Dracula
2000 · 2 votes
Movie3.8DramaThat old theatrical war-horse Bella Donna (previously filmed in America by Alla Nazimova) was resurrected by Britain's Twickenham Studios in 1934. Conrad Veidt stars as sinister Egyptian Mahmoud Baroundi, who even before the film gets under way has left a long trail of ruined women behind him. His latest victim is American girl Mona Chepstow (Mary Ellis), whom Baroundi treats like dirt and makes her like it. The plot centers around a murder by poison, as evidenced by the film's deliberately exotic title. Critics in 1934 praised newcomer Mary Ellis for underplaying her role, but many film fans preferred Nazimova's arm-waving histrionics in the earlier version.
Bella Donna
1934 · 4 votes