About

So much more than a character actor or silver screen villain, Conrad Veidt was wildly prolific, versatile, and years ahead of his time. Theatre-trained in Berlin in the early 20th century, Veidt was among the few actors who went on to successfully bridge the gap between silent and sound films. He was an advocate for social reform, a philanthropist, and an outspoken antifascist when so many of his legendary German contemporaries simply were not. He worked with several outstanding filmmakers during his nearly 30 year career, people like F. W. Murnau, George Cukor, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. But that's only the beginning.

To this day, Conrad Veidt is still a relatively misunderstood figure in early 20th century cinema. A certain image of Veidt has surpassed the content and quality of his film work as well as his life story -- an image of the haunting, penetrating stare of somnambulist Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari; the painful, exaggerated smile on the face of Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs; the icy cruelty of Major Strasser in Casablanca. But the fact is, these are mere fractions of a fascinating character's rich body of work. 

Many 21st century fans of Conrad Veidt's work find it frustrating that he isn't more well-known or celebrated. He was consistently popular over the course of his career and received just as much if not more fan mail as his Hollywood A-List contemporaries. In Germany, Veidt is largely just a footnote to the storied careers of people like Marlene Dietrich and Lillian Harvey when, frankly, he deserves better.

Perhaps predictably, I was initially gripped by his presence in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and The Man Who Laughs (1928), both undeniable triumphs of silent filmmaking. These two performances are very much of their time while they also radiate out from the screen, across the years, since they first ensnared audiences 100 years ago. But it wasn't until I watched Veidt's performance opposite Joan Crawford in 1941's A Woman's Face that I realized there was so much more to this icon of film history. I took it upon myself to watch all of his 50+ existing and publicly available films, some dating back as early as 1917. I discovered a wealth of articles and interviews written during Veidt's lifetime, lovingly scanned and transcribed over the years by a handful of amazing folks online. And as time went on, I found that I had more and more to say about Veidt, about his films, his performances, and his character. I wrote a lot of it down, and those writings gradually got longer to the point where I started to think maybe I should do something with all of it. Which brings us to this blog.

What you can expect to find here:

+ Deep dives into different aspects of Conrad Veidt's career, e.g. his films from the early 1940s, his use of voice in sound films, his legacy in post-WWII Germany, the role of queerness in his public image and film work in the 1920s and beyond, etc.;

+ Longer reactions to his individual films;

+ Spotlight posts about related topics and people, ex: Max Reinhardt and the Deutsches Theater, Magnus Hirschfeld, Powell & Pressburger, Joan Crawford, etc.;

+ Other stuff? I'm not sure, I feel like this page is going to evolve over time. 

I wanted a place where I could accessibly share these longer writings without character limits and the pressure to feed an algorithm. I don't have any concrete goals with what I've tentatively been calling The Conrad Veidt Project in my notes app. For now, I'm just writing. 

With that in mind, the trajectory of this blog will likely be non-chronological. I do want to attempt a short biography of Veidt's life as one of the first posts, but otherwise I want to focus on some of my lingering questions, and the historical and cultural context and themes that keep popping up in my research. I also have a backlog of written reactions to a number of Veidt's films that I imagine will take up a lot of space here too. 

I'm stating now that the author's voice will be present more often than not. I'll be adding my two cents here and there, I am still just a fan after all. But I'm not a film historian or critic, nor do I have a background in writing or academia. I'm doing a fair amount of research for this, but I'll probably still get stuff wrong, especially since Veidt's life was not as well documented as some other actors of that era. However, I will try to fact check and list my sources as much as possible, and collect all relevant and helpful resources on their own page. 

About the writer:

I'm a nonbinary millennial living in the US. My background is in both the visual and performing arts, and you can find my artwork here. Like a lot of people I love movies. I always have. My favorites run the gamut from the formative 90s and early 00s movies of my childhood and adolescence, to the so called Golden Age of Hollywood, to art house and silent cinema. Although, I think I absolutely prefer older films. After all, I am still being surprised by movies made over 100 years ago. 

Uncredited images posted here are either my own screencaps and graphics or cannot be adequately sourced. All other images will be credited as well as is possible.

***This blog is written and researched without the aid of A.I.***

[Blog header features a promotional photo of Conrad Veidt for Gaumont British, circa mid-1930s]