With you-know-who.

It occurred to me I haven't written my thoughts about my Veidtwatch here.

Lady Hamilton

I have not a lot to say, other than it's a typical Richard Oswald historical, so it's decent. Veidt is the weirdest choice for Lord Nelson, certainly. He's also primo ham.

Lucrezia Borgia

Loved this one a lot. It seems they had a higher budget, there's huge war scenes and they look great. Not historically accurate at all, but the intrigue was fascinating. Veidt is Cesare Not-That-One-The-Borgia, and is still primo ham. My favourite bit is when Lucrezia confronts Cesare over the death of Juan. Really wish they released the HD restoration.

The Thief of Bagdad

I survived Conrad Veidt's eyes in colour. I deserve an award for not melting in front of my family (watched it in Christmas Eve).

To be fair, I didn't love it as much as others do, but I don't hate as much as others do. It's got problems, but it's got whimsy too. Found myself putting it on while doing uni work because a) Jaffar is great and b) some kind soul uploaded a broadcast from RTP, so we have official Portuguese subs, and they translated "masquerade" as "clowning" and I'm cackling. Good enough.

The Wandering Jew

Story time!

When I went to watch The Wandering Jew for the first time, I started with the longer BFI version (there are two versions available).

Turns out you should NOT watch that version first! I was warned about it, but forgot, because of course I did *facepalm*. Basically, the BFI did a shoddy restoration job, and they cut and skip scenes weirdly. (This version does have scenes that were censored out, because Yetaxa forbid you talk about the corruption of the Catholic Church; this is why it’s longer, and those are *good*; but again, weird cuts and skips)

So, I ended up watching half of a de-butchered-then-butchered-again film while eating a burrito at a place frequented by stuck-up uni students who look at me funny.

Went back to the censored US version in full. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. And then went back again to the BFI one.

I want to smash the two together and make three so hard you have no idea.

Our main character Matathias doesn't like Jesus because he told him to let go of his mistress, who's still married. Jesus curses him to walk the Earth. Matathias learns how to be decent (never stops being a Jew too, that's nice), but has to live through centuries of Catholic corruption, greed and the persecution of his people. Quite epic and powerful stuff.

Veidt really carried the film with him, and gives a powerful performance. I'm genuinely impressed, since this isn't my type of film. Matathias' speech at the end is so perfect and true I just...

I needed to lie down.

Contraband

Are you telling me Connie Veidt is a *gasp* good guy? And he doesn't die? And he gets the girl? And he's funny? What is this?? The world is truly ending!

I kid, but this film is so much fun. I'm glad the cast and crew loved working together, and tailored this film for the leads (Veidt and Valerie Hobson, who have smouldering chemistry), with all the things they enjoyed. Which includes bondage. Contrabondage, they call it.

Danish Captain Andersen gets involved in a spy thriller by accident, all thanks to Mrs. Sorensen. Not that he minds, he seems to be having a great time. So is Sorensen.

There is one uncomfortable scene, but other than that, it's perfect.

A Woman's Face

I get it, fellow Veidt girlies. I get it.

There's no way I can do it justice in a short little text. No way. I can say the characters are incredible (especially Anna and Torsten), the acting is incredible as well, and the attic scene may be one of the most cleverly shot scenes of 1940s Hollywood.

Speaking of 1940s Hollywood, nice job dancing around the Hays Code.

Der Reigen

God was Conrad Veidt obnoxiously extra. Parenthesis mouth man.



This is the tamest expression he makes. To be honest, Karvan is an arsehole, so it fits.

Asta Nielsen very good, as always. I think she helped produce this? Watch this for her.

Dark Journey

How can a plot be thin and complicated at the same time?

And why do I like this?

To be fair, I was "meh" when I first watched it, but I've put it on while doing uni work, and because I have read a plot synopsis that explained the whole thing, I found it more enjoyable.

Baron Karl von Marwitz? More like Prinzessin Karl von Marwitz! There was a post on Tumblr that went "I love character who are womanizers but also raging homosexuals" and it's this guy. I'm sorry for thirsting but omg. Why is he so pretty? And he buys all of Madeleine's (that's Vivian Leigh, who's also very pretty here) dresses. Whatcha gonna do, chappie? Wear them? (He is. I bet he is.) He's also kind of a puppy.

But still.

And why am I writing fic??

I Was a Spy

A biography, but not that great? It's just a "and then this scene happens" type of deal. Madeleine Carroll is fine enough.

Oberaertz showed up in my dreams that night. Scary.

Bella Donna

Dull, would be improved if it had more of whatever was happening between Mona and Baroudi. It was very... it was hot, okay? And it probably did have more, but the only print in existence seems incomplete, and has dreadful image and sound quality. Better than nothing.

Still dull.

All Through the Night

What a time! It's so stupid, you just have to roll with it.

"I just took a ride on your tunnel of love." Gloves, don't say that to Ebbing, you'll just enable him.

There's also a dog. He's cute. He's Ebbing's dog though...

The Spy in Black

Captain Hardt,
He stole my “hardt”,
He also made me— ah-ha!

I loved this. It's beautifully shot, and I love the characters, and it broke my heart.

Also my new OTP is Hardt/Bütter.

The Men in Her Life

Many months ago, while sleep-deprived, I watched this, but fell asleep halfway through. Had a notebook with me. When I woke up, it said "Not even 6 minutes in, and he's naked and wet! We love to see it!". And truly, we do love to see it.

It was meh. The all-too-familiar story of underdog becoming the queen of ballet, then she falls. Not from grace, just, life happens. Goes too fast, slows down, then goes too fast again.

Hope Ms. Young is better when given better material. I want to chuck David in a rubbish bin. Rosing is husband material, and I'm sad we never got to know what happened to him.

Nazi Agent

Surpassed my expectations. I thought it was going to be a boring slog, but nope!

Twin brothers, one a loveable stamp collector who owns a bookshop (Otto, played by Veidt), the other a Nazi (Hugo, played by Veidt; they work very well together). Hugo threatens Otto with deportarion if he doesn't help him in his schemes. When Otto refuses, Hugo tries to kill him, but ends up being killed in the struggle. Otto then takes Hugo's place and tries to dismantle the Nazi organisation from within.

Otto is so sweet, I love him. Shame Connie didn't get to play many characters like this. The ending broke me. I'm still mourning.