CONRAD VEIDT: NEGLECTED SILENT HORROR FILM STAR

Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with this look at the silent horror films which starred Conrad Veidt – Major Strasser from Casablanca.

THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928) – I have no idea why Conrad Veidt doesn’t get the silent horror film love that Lon Chaney and Paul Wegener receive. In this final silent horror movie for Veidt, he shines once again in another landmark film. This one is based on the neglected Victor Hugo story about a figure who, like Hugo’s Quasimodo, has a monstrous disfigurement that causes him to be shunned and feared.

The title character, Gwynplaine (Veidt), was tortured and mutilated by lunatics as a child and, in addition to other bodily scars, his face is distorted into a permanent, hideous smile. Mary Philbin portrayed Dea, the blind girl who cannot see Gwynplaine’s terrifying face and is therefore the only person who does not treat him like a monster.

Dea falls in love with Gwynplaine’s poetic nature in fact, but when the grotesque smiler is discovered to be of noble descent the pair are separated by villainous figures involved in aristocratic court intrigues. Olga Baclanova co-starred as Duchess Josiana, the lead heavy in this forgotten Gothic horror classic.

(Footnote: Batman co-creator Bob Kane admitted that Conrad Veidt’s appearance as Gwynplaine inspired his drawings of Batman’s archenemy the Joker.)

EERIE TALES (1919) – In this German horror anthology work, Veidt co-stars with Reinhold Schunzel and Anita Berber. The three portray various characters throughout the film.

In recurring bits, the trio play Death (Veidt), the Devil (Schunzel) and the Strumpet (Berber), figures who step out of the paintings in an antique book shop and provide the wraparound segment to the anthology of horror tales that follows.

Like Creepshow and other anthology horror films Eerie Tales sprinkles light fantasy and levity in with the scares.

The short horror stories that play in between the segments with Death and the Devil fighting over the Strumpet are The Manifestation, The Suicide Club, The Black Cat, The Hand, and The Spook. This flick made me want to see Veidt as Dapertutto and Dr. Miracle in Tales of Hoffmann.   

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) – Even if you’re not a fan of silent movies the chances are you’ve heard of this milestone motion picture which is synonymous with German Expressionism. The bizarre sets and eerie imagery of the film greatly influenced directors in its native Germany and also around the world.

Director Robert Wiene presented the macabre tale of the sinister Dr. Caligari, a carnival mesmerist, and his “cabinet”, which contains the zombie Cesare (Conrad Veidt) the doctor’s obedient thrall. Caligari dispatches Cesare by night to kill and carry out his other nefarious designs. The twist ending (which I won’t spoil) was often criticized for diluting the anti-war and anti-statist theme established in the rest of the film.

THE HANDS OF ORLAC (1924) – In my opinion this is the best silent adaptation of this often-reworked tale. Conrad Veidt starred as Paul Orlac in this German film directed by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’s Robert Wiene. This time Veidt portrays a concert pianist who loses his hands in a train accident.

When Orlac’s hands are replaced with the hands of a dead murderer he feels them taking on a life of their own as they long to return to their deadly work. The pianist seeks help and learns that the mad doctor who grafted the late murderer’s hands to his body has been using the rest of the killer’s body parts as replacements on other people who were oblivious to the donor’s nature.

All the recipients are turning homicidal. And what’s more … the murderer has risen from the grave and is “repossessing” his body parts a few at a time.  

THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE (1926) – Veidt stars as Balduin, a life-loving student at a university in Prague.

Balduin enjoys academics, fencing and horseback riding. What he wants most, however, is enough money to win the lady he has fallen in love with – Margit, the daughter of a count.

The Devil, in the form of Scapinelli the Monkey Seller (“It’s a living.”), provides Balduin with a fortune in exchange for his soul in the form of his reflection. At first Balduin is enjoying the transaction and his new lifestyle, but we all know how deals with the Devil go.

Balduin’s reflection goes around committing heinous acts which Veidt gets blamed for. With his life and reputation in ruins, Balduin confronts his living reflection in nice split-screen bits. He slays it in a swordfight, thus killing himself as well.

THE HEAD OF JANUS (1920) – In this uncredited adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Conrad Veidt portrayed both the benevolent physician Dr. Warren and the monstrous, vile Mr. O’Connor. THE Bela Lugosi played Warren’s manservant/ lab assistant.

Sadly, this is one of the many, many silent films that are lost forever. The picture of Veidt in his evil O’Connor persona makes this movie even more tantalizing.

SATANAS (1919) – This film presented three separate stories. The Dictator, the third, closing tale starred Conrad Veidt. Our man portrayed Satan himself.

The ruler of Hell took human form in order to tempt a young Russian revolutionary and guide him through his bloody rise to supreme dictator.

This alternate reality tableau sees the up-and-coming dictator and his inhuman policies lead to the deaths of his own parents among the millions of other innocents who die with them. When the woman he loves tries to assassinate him, the dictator realizes that Satan has led him into insanity and damnation.

The other two segments of this lost film are titled The Tyrant, and The Crown Prince.    

WAXWORKS (1924) – Decades before Night Gallery there was this German film set in a Wax Museum.  Horrific tales of some of the historical villains preserved in wax are presented, anthology film style.

Conrad Veidt played Ivan the Terrible poisoning victims and then gloating while timing their deaths with an hourglass.

Emil Jannings portrayed the mad, homicidal Sultan Haroun-al- Raschid, and Werner Krauss (Dr. Caligari himself) depicted Jack the Ripper in a segment that was often heavily edited by theaters because of its tone and content. 

I know Conrad Veidt didn’t appear in as many horror movies as the iconic Lon Chaney Sr. but he still deserves a shoutout during Halloween season.  

FOR MY REVIEWS OF TWENTY-THREE MORE GREAT SILENT HORROR FILMS CLICK HERE.