With the Great Depression still dragging on in 1935 and the Spanish Civil War already brewing, who could blame the US and other western nations for nervousness about the rise of socialism? In this thinly disguised parable about revolution by the oppressed masses, a brave creative team tackles a subject that was a political hot potato in its time. It's not too hard to see that the scriptwriters' sympathies lie with the downtrodden prisoners, and unfortunately there's a preaching quality to the slow-moving script which tends to carry over into the acting. For this reason it's not one of Conrad Veidt's best performances (you'll know him better as a nasty Nazi in Casablanca). The movie is partly redeemed by some quite high production standards in other areas, especially the staging of the large crowd scenes.
Review of King of the Damned
