scifirenegade: Herr Veidt lying down on a sofa. No idea what he's thinking. (chillin' | connie)

Die Brüder Schellenberg


Poor quality copy, once again. Come on, Bundesarchiv, put this one in better quality on your website, like Nju and Kreuzzug des Weibes. At least there'ss weird synth music.
I love it when Conrad Veidt gets to act alongside Conrad Veidt. Michael is like a Mother Theresa, Wenzel is an arse and gets blue balls. Pretty funny that (sexual harrassment not withstanding).
Yeah, I vibed with this one, but Nazi Agent is still the best twins film.

Die Letzte Kompagnie


Boring "Deutschland über alles" film. Connie's good, there's a fire burning in him. Shame half of the film is shrouded in darkness and the other half is the lights of heaven. Even if I didn't like it, I think we a) deserve to see this in much better quality and b) deserve to see the English version. The clip we can watch in Ein Magier der Leinwand is so bizarre. Conniecs giving is all. His very British dub actor is very matter-of-fact.
Can the soldiers stop singing for five minutes?!

Wilhelm Tell (the silent one)


Meh. Very meh. Nothing more to say.

Carlos und Elisabeth


I loved this just as much as Lucrezia Borgia (which was a lot). I think it's because, similarly to it, is mostly about characters. Carlos is the most Romantic man to ever be Romantic before Romanticism was even a thing. There was a nearly expressionist set. Never expected that from an Oswald historical.
Nice collarbones



Dog.

Rome Express


Alright. Mr. Bishop is so goshdarn annoying, I wanted Zurta to kill him lol. Speaking of Zurta, what a crazy bitch. Gotta love someone who is having the time of his life (even if he's just stabbed a man).
There's a fun game to be played here: guess if the scene was filmed before or after Zurta's jump from the train by looking at Connie's pinkie.
I didn't need to get teabagged by him though 😳 And the banana, oh the banana...

The Beloved Rogue


This was fun, a good time! You're talking with the swashbuckler loving guy, after all. Francis Villon/Louis XI OTP.
scifirenegade: (nope | marquis)
Wilhelm Tell. The 30s one. The bad one.
Painfully boring. Wouldn't bother with it unless you like hips. You van tell Veidt didn't want to be there.

Opium.
Some beautiful shots and interesting imagery (nymphs and satyrs aplenty). However, it's soap-opera-ey and features racist depictions of non-western cultures :/

Opium Caligari pops out of nowhere. Homoerotic. Veidt starts veidting, and is Romantic (note the capital R), but is not here much.



Under the Red Robe.
Not as bad as I thought it would be.

Still bad though. Bad acting, no sword fights, weird editing sometimes. Veidt feels like he doesn't want to be there. Some lines made me chuckle.

Oh! And the version I got was a recording of a Channel 4 airing, so we got a couple of ads. It was unexpected, but it was highly amusing.

Escape.
There's a reason why, after this film, Conrad Veidt had a clause in his contract that, were he to play a Nazi, he had to be undoubtedly the big bag. The lead was so uninteresting (and at times unlikeable), the film almost fails to deliver its message.

I like that Kurt von Kolb as diseasitis or something and suddently dies. Nancy Drew is there.

Apparently Hitchcock was going to direct it. I wish he did. Give me better pacing and more compelling characters, come on!

The cover makes the film look like a romcom.

Die Grosse Sehnsucht.
Meh. I liked the setting, because I'm a film nerd and like seeing the behind the scenes things. I don't know where Herr Veidt is doing.

Whistling in the Dark.
Veidt over here making the film better.

Had a few chuckles, but it's meh overall. Red Skeleton or whatever his name is is obnoxious. The pacing is too slow sometimes (okay, a lot of the time).

We part in radiant contemptment, at least.

Bonus: Actually good films :D

Der Kongress Tanzt.
Nobody:
Metternich: *slobbers over a scone or smth*

Also Uralksy is my son, I shall protect him. If only he stopped fawning over every girl he sees...

(The film does slow to a crawl to show the crazy amount of extras and the beautiful sets, and suffers from it :/ )

The English version is faster-paced but I don't know if it's necesseraly the better version, especially considering the only print available is incomplete, from the 50s, and in rough shape. Veidt's weird English is worth it though. Bless him.

Le Joueur d'Échecs.
Really enjoyed it. It's a political thriller with some small retrofuturistic elements. A little funny, but mostly dramatic. The baroque/rococo aesthetic is strong, it's a beautiful film.

Kempelen is a mood (and invented synthesised speech!). I did not cry in the end, I swear.

Die Flucht in die Nacht.
It feels like an adaptation of a stage play. Because it is.

Shame that the only copy in existence is so badly preserved and missing so much footage. Veidt gave an incredible performance.

Bonus bonus: Saw both the 1971 and 1995 adaptations of Persuasion, and really enjoyed them.
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