Thursday, August 28, 2025

Movie review - "King of the Damned" (1935) **

 From that mid 30s period at Gaumont British where they tried to take on America and actually had some success. This is a Devil's Island picture on not set on Devil's Island due to censorship instead there are British accented officers, German Conrad Veidt is a prisoner, there are Spanish names.

The script is credited to Charles Bennett and Sidney Gilliat, two of the best British screenwriters, and it does move at a fair clip. It builds up satisfyingly to a mutiny but then punches are pulled. The romance with Veidt and a woman isn't great. The finale is a little confusing with there being a counter attack and a flat resolution with Veidot going off to appear at a trial - he should've died or something.

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