Strike a pose - portraits by Franz Xaver Setzer

 

Maria Jeritza in the title role of Turandot, 1926. 

Opera singer and sculptor Helge Lindberg, circa 1920.

Betty Fischer in Die Königin, 1927.

 Toni Birkmeyer in Prinz Karneval, 1927.

Gusti Pichler as Sulamith in Josefslegende, 1922.

Carina Ari (Maria Karina Viktoria Jansson) in "Anitra’s Dance," 1922. Two images.

Nora Gregor as Thaisa in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1937.

Conrad Veidt as Cesare in Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, 1920.

Grete Wiesenthal in Schwingen im Licht, 1924.

Leopoldine Konstantin in Das Weib und der Hampelmann, 1918.

Lena Amsel, 1918.

Mizzi Günther, 1918.

Riki Raab in Der Liebeszauber, 1929. Two images.

Raoul Aslan as Emperor Joseph II, 1937.

Marie Gutheil-Schoder - the photographer's wife - in the title role of Carmen, circa 1922.

Grete Wiesenthal in Der Taugenichts in Wien, 1930.

Hedy Pfundmayr in Ravel, 1923.

Maria Jeritza in the title role of Turandot, 1926. Two images.

Maria Ley, 1925.

Ellen Petz with her ensemble, circa 1920s.

Elsie Altmann-Loos as Miss Mabel Gibson in Die Zirkusprinzessin, 1926.

 Walter Slezak, circa 1922.

Hedy Pfundmayr in Schéhérazade, 1923.

Conrad Veidt as Cesare in Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, 1920.

Toni Birkmeyer, 1923.

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Franz Xaver Setzer (born Franz Anton Adolf Setzer; 6 August 1886, Vienna – 10 January 1939, Vienna), Austrian photographer. After receiving his training at the Imperial Royal Institute of Prints and Drawings, he founded his own studio in 1909. The well-lit studio in the attic of the Museumstrasse 5 in the 7th district in Vienna was - as an early advertising card described - equipped with "a lift and a telephone", and personalities from the theatre and opera, music and literary scenes became enthusiastic patrons. In 1917 he received the Voigtländer Medal of the Photographic Society. He married the opera singer Marie Gutheil-Schoder in 1920, and this marriage expanded his social position; in addition to those in the Arts, aristocrats and politicians and the like were increasingly included among his clientele. In spite of competing for the same portrait subjects, it appears he had friendly relationships with his contemporary photographic colleagues, such as Madame d'Ora and Arthur Benda. The global economic crisis of the 1930s had a serious impact on his business and, also dealing with health concerns, he withdrew from the daily running of the studio. Marie Karoline Tschiedel, who had been his assistant for more than a decade, became the technical director of the studio in 1934, and increasingly assumed overall responsibility for the business. Setzer died at the age of fifty-two in 1939. Tschiedel took over the studio from his heirs and continued it under the name Setzer-Tschiedel until 1980.

In and out of the shadows - Joan Crawford and Conrad Veidt in "A Woman's Face", 1941

 

"A Woman's Face" is really rather a silly film. It can't decide what it wants to be. And there are unfortunate shifts in tone; told in flash-backs, the gritty - MGM's idea of gritty, anyway - melodramatics are frequently interrupted by jarring moments of flat-footed comedy. It's too bad, because the photography is often quite beautiful and there are moments of brilliance, mostly whenever Conrad Veidt is on screen. His Torsten Barring is first fascinated, even aroused, by Crawford's character's scarred face, disfigured soul, recognizing in the professional blackmailer a kindred spirit; “We are both proud, both wretched.” And later, her Anna Holm, face miraculously restored, once having longed for him, is now trapped by his will, unable to extricate herself from his evil plans. Their scenes together are fairly electric.

Conrad Veidt

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (January 22, 1893, Berlin – April 3, 1943, Los Angeles), German actor best known for his roles in the films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Thief of Bagdad, and Casablanca. He had a very successful career in German cinema, but after the Nazis came to power in 1933, he and his new, third wife, who was Jewish, emigrated to England and, later, to the United States.

Like the afore-blogged Peter Lorre, I find Veidt peculiarly beautiful.  And even more so in movement than in repose.  Of course, he's best remembered as the Nazi Major Strasser in Casablanca, but of the performances of his that I've seen, his Torsten Barring in A Woman's Face - a very uneven Joan Crawford picture - is probably my favorite; as he described his character, "I'm Lucifer in a tuxedo!"  He's the best thing about the film.

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