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Post by Mary Ellen Byrne on Aug 1, 2011 20:24:58 GMT -5
A friendly reminder to all Connie fans that as of today, August 1, 2011, there are 22 days left until the big Conrad Veidt film festival on Turner Classic Movies. We can prepare for the big event by sharing discussions of our favorite Connie movies, our favorite Connie scenes and our favorite Connie stories. A full schedule for the "Summer Under the Stars" can be found at: i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TCM/Files/Static/August2011_schedule.pdfThe schedule for Connie can be found on page 9. You will note on the "Summer Under The Stars" homepage a link to purchase DVDs of all the summer's respective stars. May I take this opportunity to remind one and all that our own Monica is selling Conrad Veidt movies at the shop page of her web page honoring Connie. You can check out all the latest additions at conradveidt.wordpress.com/shop/I've been there several times. Monica has quite a selection, So check it out!
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Post by monica on Aug 2, 2011 5:44:20 GMT -5
Dear Mary Ellen,
Thank you for this message! If they happen to show the short documentary about Connie on TCM, perhaps you could record it and share it with the rest of the CV fans.
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Post by monica on Aug 2, 2011 16:38:14 GMT -5
I propose that we should start discussing one by one all the 14 movies of Connie that will be shown on TCM. So the first - and, in reality, the last movie of Connie - Above Suspicion. It was released soon after Connie's untimely death - without much success This was also Joan Crawford's last motion picture at MGM. Their co-star was Fred MacMurray - a fine actor, who appreciated, just like Joan, Connie's great professionalism. For those who enjoy the spy/comedy movies, Above Suspicion is a very good choice. This is not a bad movie, no matter what people say. And seeing Connie for the last time with his monocle on his right eye is very significant. Furthermore, the movie has a good cast, which also includes another great actor, Basil Rathbone. So, here we have a good spy - Connie -, a nice couple - Fred and Joan -, a great villain - Basil Rathbone -, a pretty good plot - and with some amusing moments. The movie has action and some sort of aristocratic elegance and nostalgia - perhaps owing to Connie's presence, as usual. Here I would like to share with you a photo from the novel Above Suspicion and a screencap that will remind us of Connie's last motion picture on Earth - perhaps he is making more in Heaven... Attachments:
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Post by monica on Aug 2, 2011 16:39:52 GMT -5
Connie's last moments alive on and off the screen Attachments:
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Post by Mary Ellen Byrne on Aug 2, 2011 18:50:17 GMT -5
I remember I bought and downloaded "Above Suspicion" from the Warner Brothers website and two things jumped out at me immediately as I watched it. First was the scene when Mr. and Mrs. Myles are in their room on their wedding night. Richard sees his wife writing in her diary and he asked to read it. He reads the section dated April 2nd where Frances writes that she has decided to marry Richard. I heard that date and a chill just ran right through me. I got thinking 'Can you imagine if Connie is on the set and listening? He has just heard announced his last full day on this earth and he has no idea!' Later on in the film, almost at the end, one of the characters who has been helping the Myles along with Connie is Thornley played by Bruce Lester. During the rescue of Frances, Thornley gets shot, dies and his body is carried out by Richard. Once outside, Richard lays Thornley's body down and Seidel (Connie) covers it up with a blanket and say "Well, he finished his job." and Richard replies "That's about as much as any of us can ask nowadays." Again my whole body went stiff when I heard that line. I understand this movie to have been shot in January of 1943 and I was thinking 'God in Heaven have mercy! Connie do you realize that in a little over 60 days time they'll be say thing about you - for real!' Those were my strongest impressions during the film. I agree with you Monica on some of your other postings about the film. It was very bittersweet watching it knowing what we know now. Still I am glad the last role he ever had was as a hero or "good guy" as we Americans put it. He was so stereotyped as a villain. I was happy he "signed off" showing the world he could be more than just despicable and devious. 21 more days until our Connie's big day!
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Post by monica on Aug 3, 2011 3:12:21 GMT -5
Mary Ellen, this is Fate. No one knows when he or she would die, but Connie looked tired in the movie - more tired and even older than in Casablanca. Obviously, he wasn't feeling well. His biggest mistake was to get involved in these minor roles, tiring himself, and not taking good care of his, by now, delicate health. He had serious heart problems when he came to Hollywood in the spring 1940. He neglected this and that is why he risked his life going, after a long party the night before, to the golf course, where he suddenly died. People who knew him said that if someone should die in a wonderful way, this would be the one. Let's not forget that both of Connie's parents had heart problems and died in their 50s. One thing that really makes me sad is that he was cremated, not buried. I wonder if he agreed with this, or Lily, who was Jewish, took the decision by herself. Here is an excerpt from a letter from Paul Kohner to Eduard Wallach, after the funerals:
My dear Edi,
You can imagine how shocked I was when I was called in the early morning and given your telegram. It was the first word I had of the untimely passing of Connie. It certainly was a terrible shock to all of his many friends that he was called away so unexpectedly, and his untimely death has been a great sorrow to all of us.
I have just come from the funeral services. They were very simple and only closest friends of the family attended.
You probably heard how Connie died. He was playing golf with Arthur Field of Metro and with his doctor, Dr. Bergman. The doctor was ahead, Field was second and Connie was third. He had just teed off and Field, who walked ahead, noticed he sat down on the bench. After a few moments, Field looked back and saw that Connie was laying on the grass. He thought Connie was playing a joke on him and called out to him. When Connie did not reply, he walked back and noticed that something was wrong because Connie looked very pale. He tried to feel his pulse and could not feel any. He called out to the doctor who immediately rushed back and pronounced him dead.
If one has to die - and die so prematurely as Connie died - it certainly is a beautiful death.
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Post by Mary Ellen Byrne on Aug 3, 2011 20:39:37 GMT -5
Thanks so much, Monica! I've always wondered exactly what was it that happened when Connie died but I was always afraid to find out.
I was always afraid it was something like the stereotypical heart attack scene one always sees in the movies. Connie would be seized with this sudden large pain in his chest, give a cry of agony, grab at his heart and keel over dead. I am very glad to hear that his passing was much gentler than that.
I imagined it sometimes to be like the death of one of the hospital administrators at Community General where my brother worked. He and a group of other administrators were walking in the front door of the hospital on their way to a meeting when this one gentleman turned around as if in answer to his name and got this look on his face like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, took one step forward and then collapsed on the ground. The Emergency Room staff worked on him for 45 minutes but they couldn't bring him back. This guy was in his early 50's too.
I figured Connie would be standing around waiting for either Mr. Field and Dr. Bergman to take their turn when he looked up and saw - maybe Karl, or his father or mother - maybe all three standing there waving him to come to them. Connie would take one or two steps toward then then his mortal body would drop to the ground dead while his spirit just kept walking, as if nothing had changed, to meet with his family.
That, too, would be a beautiful way to die.
and as of today - 3 days spend + 20 days left to go = the 23rd! The great Connie Marathon! ;D
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Post by monica on Aug 4, 2011 2:48:48 GMT -5
Today's movie for discussion (in the order of the TCM schedule) is Contraband. Conrad and Valerie Hobson starred together for the second time in this interesting thriller of 1940. This movie helped Connie enormously, because he left England - which was at war, under the pressure of a possible German occupation - and went to promote it to the USA. He was on the black list of Hitler and if Hitler had conquered England, he would have assassinated Connie for sure. But, Connie had the splendid idea to go to America and he remained in Hollywood for the rest of his life. Contraband is one of my favourite CV movies. It has all the ingredients to make it a successful movie. It has action, a little suspense in the Hitchcock style, and also some nice, funny moments. The producers Powell and Pressburger knew how to make great motion pictures, and they directed many masterpieces of the British cinema, including Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. Even if Contraband is far from being a masterpiece, it is an entertaining movie. There were some critics about Connie's role as a simple captain on a Danish ship, and that his roles have gotten worse and worse over the time. I cannot agree with this, because even if the role is weak, Connie always knows what trick to use so to make it look interesting and as remarkable as possible. You have below a scan of the cover of Conrad on the Picturegoer magazine, from 1940. This is a publicity portrait for Contraband. Attachments:
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Post by Mary Ellen Byrne on Aug 4, 2011 21:03:58 GMT -5
I watched Contraband as a download off Amazon.com. (I like to preview any movie before I buy it). I thought it was very good and Connie did his usual stellar job. I like the part where Valerie Hobson is caught with Connie in her aunt's house by the German spy ring.
Spy: I suppose you're not Mr. Pigeon.
CV: No! My name is Anderson. Hans Anderson.
Spy: And we're the Brothers Grimm.
and then, for the rest of the film, anytime the spy showed up, Connie and Valerie referred to him as Mr. Grimm.
Spy: Stop calling me that!
VH: That's how you were introduced to us, Mr. Grimm!
I was also impressed at how accurately they portrayed life during a blackout. My father was a great history buff and I think he would have loved the entire movie for that trait alone.
I was also impressed how Hay Petrie (whom I will say here and now bears an uncanny resemblance to Claude Reins) was able to play the captains assistant AND his twin brother in the same film. That takes some doing on an actor's part. I greatly admire Connie for having the same ability which we will be seeing in 'Nazi Agent' when it plays during Conrad Veidt Day on TCM which I am happy to say is only 19 days away! Yea! ;D
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Post by monica on Aug 5, 2011 3:43:23 GMT -5
Today we are discussing about All Through the Night. Released in 1942, this spy film reunited Conrad with other two great actors, Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. This was one of the many anti-Nazi movies produced in Hollywood during WWII, and Connie was again very effective as the Nazi villain - even if this became a stereotype. The cast also includes the fine actress Judith Anderson and the beautiful (and less known) Kaaren Verne. If you enjoy the film noir style, then All Through the Night is a good choice - especially if you watch it at night. Of course, Connie's character has to be punished, as usual, in the end, but all in all, the movie is enjoyable. *The auction scene is my favourite. Attachments:
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Post by Mary Ellen Byrne on Aug 5, 2011 13:00:10 GMT -5
Oh, is that the scene where Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) keeps confusing Ebbing (Conrad Veidt) by bidding in Gangster terms? That is such a funny scene. Actually we have ATTN to thank for the fact we are all here. It was through that movie I came to know Connie as well as I do. In the Summer of 2009 I was a BIG Peter Lorre fan and I purchased ATTN because it had a lot of Peter Lorre scenes in it and it was through that movie that I began to look more intently at Connie than I ever had before. As I said to all the folks in Lorresburg (another forum of which I am a member) in reference to "Hollywood Canteen" and Peter, I spend years looking, but this was the first time I ever took the time to see. I had watched Connie on the screen a hundred times, mostly through "Casablanca" and "Thief of Baghdad" but it was in "All Through The Night" I actually stopped and said to myself "Whoa! Wait a Minute! This actor's good! Really good! Conrad Veidt. . .hmm. . .what do you know about him?" and thus started the research period where I found out not only was Connie a really good actor, he was a really good man and I fell in love. OK, may not actually love but I fell in really, really REALLY like. I mean I could picture myself being friends with Connie but as yet I just cannot picture myself as his wife or lover. Maybe it's because I have too much respect for Lilli and the love Connie had for her. I mean here is a man who walked away from the everything he knew, took off with the clothes on his back (at least that's what I picture they did) to escape into a world he didn't know and would have to start all over again - all for her sake. Damn, that's love! I would not want to be a disruption to such devotion as that. So, for as much as I admire Connie's character and his talent and for as much as I would love to be a part of his world, I would only do so in a way that didn't hurt Lilli. Maintaining their marriage would have to be part of the deal. My favorite scene in that film is when Donohue is taking Leda (Kaaren Verne) to a hotel to hide from Ebbing and Pepe (Peter Lorre) and as they are going down the street, Donohue takes a look over his shoulder to make sure they are not being followed and when he turns forward again, Ebbing and Pepe peek out from behind the corner of the building. I would love to be in a theater with a regular movie audiance watching that scene. I can just here the ripple of laughter going through the crowd. Connie was taller than Peter by 12 inches exactly and to see them together, they made such Mutt and Jeff team and that was apparent when you see the two of them peek their heads around the corner. That's a really funny scene, too. ;D 18 days left to go, friends! Just 18 short days!
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Post by monica on Aug 5, 2011 13:55:51 GMT -5
Thank you for your interesting story, Mary Ellen. Indeed, Connie was very good in All Through the Night. He was so good at being bad, even if in reality he was exactly the opposite. That's true talent! I can't think of a role entirely positive of Connie, except for the one of the Stranger (in fact, the Angel) in The Passing of the Third Floor Back. You said you see Connie as a close friend. Well, I see him as my ideal grandfather, and that is why I love him so much. I would have liked to be his granddaughter.
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Post by monica on Aug 6, 2011 4:23:34 GMT -5
We are discussing today about the controversial movied Jew Süss. Conrad was detained by the Nazi authorities, who tried to forbid him to leave Germany and to make this movie. Fortunately, he was saved on time by his wife, who had sent a doctor to look after him, as the official explanation for his delay was due to his "illness". Jew Süss is a powerfully emotional story, and Conrad gives one of his greatest performances. The most remarkable scenes are the ones in which Süss visits his mother, finds his daughter and later accepts his execution - even if he discovers that he is not a Jew, but a Gentile. The filmings were very expensive - 100,000 pounds - even for the British film industry, but Jew Süss was quite successful in England, and less in the rest of Europe, especially because of its political implications, owing to its anti-Semitic message. Conrad's performance is outstanding here, and he was acclaimed by all those who saw him in this movie. Attachments:
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Post by Mary Ellen Byrne on Aug 6, 2011 20:44:04 GMT -5
This is one of the movies I am looking forward to seeing during Conrad Veidt Day on TCM (only 17 days away now) as I have never seen this movie before. My understanding from what I've read is that this is one of Connie's best performances. I can't wait to see the film so I can know the particulars of this high praise.
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Post by monica on Aug 7, 2011 1:36:41 GMT -5
I think you might cry watching it... Here is something special about Connie, during the filmings. Attachments:
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