Dark Journey

Vivien Leigh fans won't want to miss "Dark Journey," a 1937 film starring the up and coming Leigh and Conrad Veidt. The film takes place during World War I in neutral Sweden, where a Swiss woman, Madeleine Goddard (Leigh) has a dress shop, a front for her spy activities on behalf of - the Germans? Or the French? She becomes involved with a German spy (Conrad Veidt) and is put in danger. This film is a little confusing - it was hard to tell who was on what side and when. Both Leigh and Veidt are very good, but they deserved a better script. Not a huge film, nothing like what would await Leigh in the U.S. a short time later. Worth seeing for her.

but this film is slow and lacking in action to be honest. Nevertheless it has two fantastic leads in Conrad Veidt and Vivian Leigh who are both excellent. Also it has outstanding cinematography and a surprisingly realistic story. There are some unforgettable scenes and moments here but the film does move at a rather slow pace.

It's spring time 1918. A passenger ship is stopped by a German U-boat. They start rounding up non-neutral citizens as spies. Madeleine Goddard (Vivien Leigh) avoids being taken and travels to her Stockholm dress shop. She's actually a German spy delivering allied troop movements with her dresses. Former German soldier Baron Karl Von Marwitz (Conrad Veidt) arrives in Sweden. He's seen as a deserter by other soldiers. I don't buy the romance but I'm more than happy to buy the spy vs spy. Veidt does not look like a romantic lead but he does look like an espionage villain. I like the switcheroo. I just can't buy the romance. I do not ship them.

Now I know why David O Selznik picked Vivien Leigh for Scarlett O'Hara. He must have seen this film and was impressed by her screen persona and torrid sex appeal. She was a queen of cat and mouse in this film, and would repeat that persona in GWTW as well. As for Conrad Veidt; I have no idea why any woman would be attracted to him in real life or in this film. The second strike against the film was the costuming, which though very fashionable for the 1930s, had nothing to do with actual time period of the film; 1918. With two strikes, however, the rest of the film, the actors and actresses all hit a home run and kept you riveted to the screen for the duration. A true WW 1 spy classic, as good as the legendary WW 1 spy, Mata Hari ever was. Recommended.

There seems to be real chemistry between Conrad Veidt & Vivian Leigh in this movie, and that is what makes it so compelling. The cinematography is also rather sophisticated, and the music score is good. Fascinating portrayals of "society" nightlife of the era. The special effects are better than average, and the duel between the U-Boat and the Q-Ship is not something you see every day. Vivian Leigh is simply ravishingly beautiful in this picture, made two years before "Gone With The Wind." But as beautiful as she is, Veidt's performance stole the show for me, and left me wishing he had been in more talkies.

This film features superb direction by Victor Saville, a magnificent cast led by Conrad Veidt and Vivien Leigh, outstanding production design and costumes while a complex script blends high adventure and romance; a scenario which perfectly makes order from wartime chaos and faith from despair. By combining varying themes and by a masterful use of extras, Saville clearly brings forth one of the better British efforts of the 1930s.

Vivien Leigh is even better in this film than she was in GONE WITH THE WIND. She has a fragile, hunted beauty which works perfectly for her role as the unwilling spy forced into romantic entanglements and deceptions. The story is murky, but that doesn't really matter. Watch the sequence where Vivien has been marched aboard ship and locked into her stateroom for deportment as an unwanted spy. Using just her eyes and her expression, Vivien does an entire scene of tossing in her sleep, going to the porthole, and lying back down to sleep again, showing every emotion from fear, suspicion, and doubt to acceptance of her own guilt. Then there's an explosion and she sits bolt upright, looking as fragile and unspeakably lovely as a hunted deer. This is a movie where the sheer radiance of the lead actress makes everything else seem dull by comparison.