Conrad Veidt, Demon of the Silver Screen

His Life and Works in Context
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4766-9081-0
Verlag: McFarland

Buch, Englisch, 277 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 178 mm x 254 mm

This book depicts the life of Conrad Veidt (1893 - 1943), the defining German actor of Expressionist cinema in the 1920s. His legendary performance in Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1919/20) earned him the epithet "Demon of the Screen" and made Veidt an international star. To this day, Veidt is considered an icon of early horror film. He showed his enormous acting range in more than a hundred films, among them masterpieces such as The Indian Tomb (1921), Orlac's Hands (1924), The Man Who Laughs (1928), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), and Casablanca (1942).

Conrad Veidt used his acting to become socially and politically involved, starting with the film Anders als die Anderen, the first film to advocate homosexual rights, in 1919. After the Nazis came to power, he left Germany to protest anti-Semitism and Nazi rule. Along with his biography, this book provides insights into the development of filmmaking from its beginnings through the 1940s. This exciting epoch of cinematic art is marked by technical innovations like sound and color film and by world-shaking events, including two world wars.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgattungen, Filmgenre
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Einzelne Filmschauspieler, Filmregisseure, Drehbuchautoren

Über Autor(innen)

Sabine Schwientek is a communication designer and art historian. She works as a freelance artist and author. Her scientific interest is film history. She lives in the Bergisches Land region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.