Actor · 1893–1943

Conrad Veidt

3: briefs
13:00: average
39 min: in total

On film.briefs3

The Thief of Bagdad

Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda · 1940

The Thief of Bagdad (1940) is a British Technicolor fantasy directed by Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda and Zoltan Korda. It tells of Prince Ahmad’s exile, his alliance with the thief Abu, and their battle against the sorcerer Jaffar — all sustained by Georges Périnal’s Oscar-winning cinematography, Miklós Rózsa’s score, and a cascade of inventive special effects. Though its romance lacks spark and its cultural framing is decorative, its visual logic, tonal consistency, and sheer craft make it a durable, joyful achievement.

13:00

Casablanca

Michael Curtiz · 1942

A 1942 Warner Bros. romantic drama set in Vichy-controlled Casablanca, where American expatriate Rick Blaine must choose between rekindling a wartime romance with Ilsa Lund and helping her husband, resistance leader Victor Laszlo, escape to continue fighting the Nazis. Directed by Michael Curtiz, written by Julius and Philip Epstein, Howard Koch and Casey Robinson, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, it is a tightly constructed studio picture whose enduring power lies in its moral economy, disciplined craft and refusal to separate personal longing from political consequence.

13:00

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Robert Wiene · 1920

A 1920 German silent film directed by Robert Wiene, written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, and designed by Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrig. It tells of a hypnotist and his somnambulist through a fractured frame story, using radically distorted sets, high-contrast lighting and stylised performance to argue against irrational authority. Made at Babelsberg Studio, it remains foundational to expressionist cinema, horror and arthouse film.