In THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928)
the silent film adaptation
of the Victor Hugo novel
directed by Paul Leni,
CONRAD VEIDT
inspired Bob Kane to create
The Joker as Batman's arch nemesis.
Years earlier Veidt played the somnambulist in Robert Heine's
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)
Tim Burton seems a great fan of Veidt, and of this film in particular.
Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands
has a very Veidt-as-somnambulist look...
...but then, so do lots of things.
In this art by Ashley Grover
which I designed for
THE MESMERIZER, I had no
conscious plan at all of referring to the
silent film.
Note: I do own this one picture of The Mesmerizer to the left, but I do NOT own any of the other four photos above or below, and receive no payment for this post which I present to promote film awareness.
Born in 1893 in Potsdam,
Veidt fled Germany in 1933
when Hitler came to power.
Conrad Veidt followed up his career as a deadly character in silent film
by becoming deadly characters in the talkies.
In THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) he plays the evil sorcerer Jafar. This was his only color movie.
By sheer coincidence, of course, in the Disney cartoon ALADDIN (1992) there is also an evil sorcerer named...Jafar.
Stay tuned for
SILENT BUT DEADLY 2:
LON CHANEY...
Dig my film erudition?
Check out my literary action: http://www.amazon.com/Stewart-Kirby/e/B00572M8JC/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
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