The King of Kings (1927)

American silent epic The King of Kings (1927) was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It was the second in DeMille's biblical trilogy, preceded by The Ten Commandments (1923) and followed by The Sign of the Cross (1932). The King of Kings depicts the last weeks of Jesus before his crucifixion and stars H. B. Warner in the lead role. This classic DeMille shows his storytelling talent and his showmanship by delivering a spectacle like no other. The film has two Technicolor sequences, the beginning and the resurrection scene, which use the two-strip process invented by Herbert Kalmus. The King of Kings was the first film premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on 18 May 1927. The postcards in this post were made in Germany, France and Austria, and the stills were made by William Mortensen with a hand-held camera.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/1. Photo: National Film. Dorothy Cumming as the Virgin Mary in Cecil B. deMille's The King of Kings (1927). Caption: Mary and the blind girl.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/2. Photo: National Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Mary Magdalene. The charioteer was played by Noble Johnson, while Jacqueline Logan played Mary Magdalene.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/3. Photo: National Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Jesus (H.B. Warner) resurrects Lazarus from the Dead.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/4. Photo: National Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Mary Magdalene (Jacqueline Logan) dries Jesus' feet.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/5. Photo: National-Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Caiaphas the High Priest of Israel (Rudolph Schildkraut).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/6. Photo: National-Film. Publicity still for King of Kings (Cecil B. De Mille, 1927). Caption: Caiphas accuses Jesus before Pontius Pilate. Victor Varconi as Pontius Pilate the Governor of Judea, H.B. Warner as Jesus and Rudolph Schildkraut as Caiaphas.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/7. Photo: National-Film. Victor Varconi and Majel Coleman in The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Pontius Pilate and his wife.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/8. Photo: National-Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: The Last Supper.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/9. Photo: National-Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Jesus (H.B. Warner) and his Mother (Dorothy Cumming).

Equal amounts of showmanship and reverence

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Having scored big-time box office with his first Biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), Cecil B. DeMille hoped to top this success with his 1927 The King of Kings. Since he was now dealing with the life of Christ, DeMille had to be careful to serve up equal amounts of showmanship and reverence.

The first creative challenge: how to "introduce" Christ tastefully? The answer: as a blind child is cured through Jesus' intervention, DeMille cuts to the child's point-of-view, slowly fading in on the kindly countenance of H.B. Warner as the Son of Man.

Still, DeMille remained DeMille, especially in his handling of the character of Mary Magdalene (Jacqueline Logan). No longer a tattered streetwalker, Mary Magdalene is now a glamorous courtesan, replete with legions of gorgeous slave girls."

"Once he's gotten his box-office considerations out of the way, DeMille adheres faithfully to the particulars of Jesus' life, betrayal, trial, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. (Again, however, the director improves a bit upon his source material: the storm that follows the Crucifixion is of the same spectacular dimensions as the parting of the Red Sea in Ten Commandments, while the Resurrection is filmed in vibrant Technicolor).

To back up the authenticity of his images, DeMille - with an assist from scenarist Jeannie Macpherson - utilizes Scriptural quotes in his subtitles." The King of Kings is the first film in which stills were made by a hand-held camera. Photographer William Mortenson made four hundred negatives that capture scenes as they were being shot, not posed afterwards.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/10. Photo: National-Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Jesus (H.B. Warner) and the Captain of the Temple Guards (Theodore Kosloff).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/11. Photo: National Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Jesus (H.B. Warner) on the way to Golgotha. The man helping to carry the cross could be William Boyd, who played Simon of Cyrene.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/12. Photo: National Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Under the Cross.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, unnumbered. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft). Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: Pontius Pilate and his wife. Pilate was played by Victor Varconi, and his wife Proculla by Majel Coleman.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, unnumbered. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft). Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927) with H.B. Warner as Jesus.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5062. Photo: Cecil B. de Mille-Studio. Publicity still for The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Victor Varconi as Pontus Pilate.


French postcard, no. 492. Photo: Erka Prodisco. H.B. Warner as Jesus between Dorothy Cumming as the Virgin Mary and Jacqueline Logan as Mary Magdalene in The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927).


French postcard, no. 493. Photo: Erka Prodisco. H.B. Warner as Jesus Christ in The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Caption: On the way to Golgotha. The man helping to carry the cross could be William Boyd, who played Simon of Cyrene.

Sources: David Fahey and Linda Rich (Masters of Starlight), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

L'uomo più allegro di Vienna (1925)

Maria Corda, Ruggero Ruggeri and Victor Varconi star in the Italian silent film L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (1925). Amleto Palermi directed and produced the film with his Palermi Films. G.B. Falci and A. Traldi both produced a series of attractive postcards of the film.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: S.A.I.C. Ruggero Ruggeri in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. photo: S.A.I.C. / Palermi Films. Maria Corda and Victor Varconi in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925). Caption: Il Congedo/The Goodbye.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 345. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda and Victor Varconi in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).

Quite moralistic but also modern

The plot of L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925) is quite moralistic but also modern. Katy, a young girl (Maria Corda) is easily attracted to a fancy life by a gigolo, William (Victor Varconi). Her father Max Bluck (Ruggero Ruggeri), a happy-go-lucky leader of a jazz band, energetically manages to subtract her from danger, even if all the relatives think he is a good-for-nothing.

Hungarian Maria Corda (1898-1975) was an immensely popular star of the silent cinema of Austria and Germany. The pretty, blonde actress was a queen of the popular epic spectacles of the 1920s, which were often directed by her husband, Alexander Korda.

Ruggero Ruggeri (1871-1953) was one the most important Italian stage actors of the first half of the twentieth century, who often performed the plays by Pirandello. He did perform in films too, both in silent and sound films. Nowadays, he is best remembered as the voice of Jesus in the Don Camillo films.

Handsome Victor Varconi (1891–1976) was a highly successful matinee idol of the Hungarian-Austrian and German silent cinema in the 1910s and early 1920s. Later he was the first Hungarian actor to become a Hollywood star until the sound film completely altered the course of his career.

In addition to Corda, Ruggeri and Varconi, Gianna Terribili Gonzales played Katy's mother, Loulou. Cinematography was by Vittore Armenise, while art direction was by Nino Macarones and Vittorio Cafiero.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 341. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 343. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 345. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda and Victor Varconi in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 349. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda and Ruggero Ruggeri in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).

Set in the louche dens of Vienna with its brutish visitors

L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925) was produced by Palermi's company A. P. Films (Almeto Palermi Films), while S.A.I.C. distributed it. On 25 November 1925, the film had its premiere in Rome.

At the time, the Milanese journal La rassegna del teatro e del cinematografo wrote that the plot seemed like a modernised Rigoletto, as a very moral tale about a father who in vain tries to prevent his daughter from dishonour, and also commented that the story was not entirely innocent, set in the louche dens of Vienna with its brutish visitors. The journal concluded the film was like a true restaurant dish: good meat but with an indigestible sauce.

In addition, the Roman source Il Tevere wrote that the plot may have seemed sentimental and old hat, but Ruggero Ruggeri gave a modern, innovative performance to it, giving his character a life of its own, while Maria Corda was given ample space to excel side by side with him.

A print of L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna was restored by the Cineteca del Friuli, Gemona (Italy), in collaboration with the Hungarian National Film Archive in Budapest.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 402. Photo: La Fotominio. Gianna Terribili Gonzales as Loulou and Victor Varconi as William in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 350. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda and Ruggero Ruggeri in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 352. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 363. Photo: La Fotominio / Fotolux / Palermi Films. Maria Corda and Victor Varconi in L'uomo più allegro di Vienna/The Most Cheerful Man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1925).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1923-1931 - Italian), Cineteca del Friuli, and IMDb.

The Divine Lady (1929)

The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929) was an American historical drama in which Corinne Griffith starred as Lady Emma Hamilton and Hungarian-Austrian matinee idol Victor Varconi played her lover, Admiral Horatio Nelson. For her performance, Griffith was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress. The Divine Lady was a Vitaphone sound film with a synchronised musical score, sound effects, and some singing, but no spoken dialogue.


British postcard by Max Kracke & Co, London, in the Talkie Song Series, no. 4. Photo: First National. Corinne Griffith and Ian Keith in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929). Caption: Lady Divine. Your eyes, your smile find me longing, To draw your breast to mine; Love's call obeying, And hear you saying, You are my Lady Divine.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 19. Photo: First National. Corinne Griffith in The Divine Lady (1929).


Spanish leaflet, supplement to Spanish film journal Films Selectos, showing the Battle of Trafalgar in the First National production The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 103/4. Photo: Defina / First National. Victor Varconi as Horatio Nelson in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929). The death of Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar.

A historical mix of love, war, and social differences

In the American Vitaphone sound film The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929), Corinne Griffith plays the elading role of Emma Hart, the beautiful daughter of a cook (Marie Dressler) who works for the actor George Romney (William Conklin).

Emma is friends with Charles Greville (Ian Keith), but later she marries Charles' uncle, Lord William Hamilton (H.B. Warner), the British ambassador to the court of the Kingdom of Naples. Despite the age difference and their different social backgrounds, the couple is happy. Emma even becomes a confidante of the Queen of Naples (Dorothy Cumming).

Years later, Emma meets the English captain Horatio Nelson (Victor Varconi). England is at war with France. Nelson, commander of an English warship, is able to bunker important supplies and water in Naples thanks to Emma. The two fall in love.

Nelson's victories over the French fleet and Emma's influence at the court of Naples are closely watched in London. Eventually, the lovers are summoned to London, where they are greeted enthusiastically by the crowds. But the higher society rejects Emma. Her husband also avoids her. When Emma is refused an invitation to a royal celebration in honor of the captain, Nelson leaves his wife Fanny and retreats with Emma to his country estate. For a time, both are happy there, but Nelson is soon entrusted with another fleet mission. Again he wins victories over the French fleet. At the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson is mortally wounded. He dies surrounded by his crew, his last thoughts are of Emma.

The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929) was adapted by Harry Carr, Forrest Halsey, Agnes Christine Johnston, and Edwin Justus Mayer from the novel 'The Divine Lady: A Romance of Nelson and Emma Hamilton' by E. Barrington. The novel was based on the lives of Lord Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) and Lady Emma Hamilton (1765-1815). Their love affair, while both were married to others, shocked English society at the time. After Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Lady Hamilton faded into obscurity and died in poverty. The fact that the couple had a daughter named Horatia is not mentioned in the film. The couple's love story also inspired many other films.

The Divine Lady was filmed silently, but with all sound recorded separately and added in post-production - the music, singing, and sound effects, but no spoken dialogue. Filmed in 1928, most studios and cinemas were still in transition to the new sound-on-film technology. First National released the film in 1929 in both a silent and a sound version. The sound version featured the theme song 'Lady Divine', with lyrics by Richard Kountz and music by Nathaniel Shilkret, which became a popular hit in 1929 and was recorded by numerous artists.

In 1930, Frank Lloyd received the Oscar for Best Direction for The Divine Lady, while Corinne Griffith was nominated for Best Actress in a leading role and John F. Seitz for Best Cinematography.
The Divine Lady has survived intact along with its Vitaphone soundtrack, thanks to a joint preservation project of the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Film Archive. It was restored in conjunction with the project American Moviemakers: The Dawn of Sound. In 2009, the film was released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 103/5, 1928-1929. Photo: Defina / First National. Corinne Griffith in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3679/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Defina / First National. Corinne Griffith in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3679/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Defina / First National. Corinne Griffith in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3680/1. Photo: Defina / First National. Victor Varconi in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929) as Horatio Nelson, here already without his right arm which Nelson had lost in 1797 at the Battle at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Victor Varconi

Handsome Victor Varconi (1891–1976) was a highly successful matinee idol of the Hungarian-Austrian and German silent cinema in the 1910s and early 1920s. Later he was the first Hungarian actor to become a Hollywood star until the sound film completely altered the course of his career.


Italian postcard by C. Chierichetti, Milano. Photo: Grandi Films, Roma. Publicity still for the Italian-German silent film Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii/The Last Days of Pompeii (Amleto Palermi, Carmine Gallone, 1926), starring Victor Varconi as Glaucus, on the photo he is training at the gymnasium. The film was one of the many adaptations of the novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton. Sets were by Vittorio Cafiero, costumes by Duilio Cambellotti.


Italian postcard by C. Chierichetti, Milano, no. 8. Photo: Grandi Films, Roma. Publicity still for the Italian-German silent film Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii/The Last Days of Pompeii (Amleto Palermi, Carmine Gallone, 1926), starring Victor Varconi as Glaucus.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 360/1. Photo: Paramount-Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5062. Photo: Cecil B. de Mille-Studio. Publicity still for The King of Kings (Cecil B. de Mille, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4075/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Lansing Brown, Los Angeles.

Devilish Good Looks

Victor Varconi was born Mihály Várkonyi in Kisvárda, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) in 1891. He was born into a farming family on the Hungarian/Romanian border. He attended classes at Budapest's commercial college and at the dramatic school.

The young good-looking actor thrived for a time on the Transylvanian stage, where he played leads in such productions as Liliom at the Hungarian National Theatre in Budapest. His rising popularity as a matinee idol led to film roles, and he made his debut in Sárga csikó/Son of the Pusta (Félix Vanyl, 1913).

Other of his silent Hungarian films were Bánk Bán (Mihály Kertész aka Michael Curtiz, 1914) based on the play by József Katona, Mágia/Magic (Sándor Korda aka Alexander Korda, 1917), Szent Péter esernyöje/St. Peter's Umbrella (Alexander Korda, 1917) and Fehér rózsa/White Rose (Alexander Korda, 1919) starring Maria Corda, the director’s wife. Unfortunately nearly all these early films got lost.

After World War I, under the Horthy regime, Korda and many other film makers fled to Vienna, and Varconi followed them. He changed his marquee name to the more internationally friendly Michael Várkonyi and branched out into German and Austrian films. He showed impressive performances in Aus den Tiefen der Großstadt/ From the depths of the big city (Fred Sauer, 1920) and Nachtbesuch in der Northernbank/Night visit in the Northernbank (Karl Grune, 1921).

Then followed such films as Arme Violetta/Camille (Paul H. Stein, 1921) a silent version of La Traviata starring Pola Negri, Herren der Meere/Masters of the Sea (Alexander Korda, 1922), Versunkene Welten/Sunk worlds (Siegfried Philippi, 1922) with Ria Jende, and Namenlos/Nameless (Michael Curtiz, 1923) with Mary Kid.

A huge success was the biblical epic Sodom und Gomorrha/Queen of Sin (Michael Curtiz, 1922) with Lucy Doraine. IMDb reviewer Nora Nettlerash writes about his performance in this film: “with his devilish good looks he doesn't really need to act here, and with his commanding presence he makes a great angel of the Lord”.


Hungarian postcard by B.J., Budapest.


Hungarian postcard by Kiadja Reinitz Joszef, Budapest. Photo: Papp Reszo Felv., 1918.


Hungarian postcard by Shinhazi Elet, Budapest, no. 16. Photo: Labori Miklos, Budapest.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 990/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Arenberg Atelier, Wien (Vienna).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 990/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Arenberg Atelier, Wien.

Trying His Luck in Hollywood

In 1924, because of the ever-shifting political climate of Europe, Michael Várkonyi moved to America to try his luck in Hollywood. First he played a supporting part in Poisoned Paradise (Louis J. Gasnier, 1924) starring It-girl Clara Bow.

Then he was signed by Cecil B. DeMille's company on his exceptional performance in Sodom und Gomorrha (1922). DeMille cast him as a wealthy American tin factory manager in Triumph (Cecil B. DeMille, 1924) opposite established star Leatrice Joy. He was billed now as Victor Varconi.

For DeMille's company, the smoothly handsome Varconi then played in the comedy Changing Husbands (Frank Urson, 1924) again opposite Leatrice Joy, had a character role as a bookkeeper in the afterworld in Feet of Clay (Cecil B. DeMille, 1924), later he was a Russian prince in The Volga Boatman (Cecil B. DeMille, 1926) starring William Boyd, and finally, a disgruntled Pontius Pilate in the biblical epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1929).

Temporarily he returned to Europe. In Germany he reunited with director Alexander Korda and his wife Maria Corda for the comedy-drama Der Tänzer meiner Frau/Dance Fever (Alexander Korda, 1925). With Corda he also acted in the two Italian productions L'uomo piu allegro di Vienna/The happiest man in Vienna (Amleto Palermi, 1926) and the lavish spectacle Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii/The Last Days of Pompeii (Carmine Gallone, Amleto Palermi, 1926) starring Italian diva Rina De Liguoro.

Back in Hollywood, the elegant and impeccably mannered Varconi went on to share the screen with some of the loveliest and talented ladies of silent Hollywood, including Agnes Ayres, Marie Prevost, and Jetta Goudal.

Notable is his portrayal of cuckolded husband Amos opposite Phyllis Haver's wild jazz-loving and boozing Roxie Hart in the silent Chicago (Frank Urson, 1927). His last major silent role was that of Lord Horatio Nelson in The Divine Lady (Frank Lloyd, 1929) co-starring Oscar-nominated Corinne Griffith as Lady Emma Hamilton.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 53/1. Photo: Hisa Film. Publicity still for the Italian silent epic Gi ultimi giorni di Pompei (Carmine Gallone, Amleto Palermi, 1926). Glaucus (Victor Varconi) and the rich Julia (Lia Maris, not Rina De Liguoro as this card pretends) meet on the streets of Pompeii, so the blind flower girl Nydia (Maria Corda) hears Glaucus is back in town. Set designer Vittorio Cafiero copied various original artefacts from Pompeii for this films, such as here the small burner held up by satyrs in the shop.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 53/2. Photo: Hisa Film. Publicity still for the Italian silent epic Gi ultimi giorni di Pompei (Carmine Gallone, Amleto Palermi, 1926).
Glaucus (Victor Varconi) listens to beautiful and rich Greek Ione (Rina De Liguoro) playing the harp. The statue left was copied from an original Roman one.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/6. Photo: National-Film. Publicity still for King of Kings (Cecil B. De Mille, 1927) with Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner and Rudolph Schildkraut. Caption: Caiphas accuses Jesus before Pontius Pilate.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series no. 338, London.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3734/1, 1928-1929. Photo: DPC.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4279/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Lansing Brown, Los Angeles.

Transition to the Talkies

At the peak of his career as a romantic leading man, Victor Varconi had to face transition from the silent movies to the talkies. It completely altered the course of his career. He had a nice decent voice for sound film but his accent was noticeably thick. He no longer did become offers for leading parts.

Temporarily he worked in European silent films, such as the Polish Kult ciala/The Cult of the Body (Michal Waszynski, 1930) and the German Mein Herz gehört Dir.../My heart belongs to you (Max Reichmann, 1930) with Camilla Horn.

Back in Hollywood, he regressed slightly to suave ethnic character roles, such as in the Charlie Chan mystery The Black Camel (Hamilton MacFadden, 1931) starring Warner Oland. He often played foreign or royal dignitaries, European adventurers or roguish gigolos. He also starred in English-language versions of Anglo-German co-productions, such as Der Rebell/The Rebel (Luis Trenker, Edwin H. Knopf, 1933) starring Luis Trenker.

The forced move to character roles probably added years to his Hollywood life. During World War II Hollywood utilised his talents playing nefarious Axis commanders in spy intrigue and war dramas. In The Hitler Gang (John Farrow, 1944), he was quite skillful portraying Nazi Deputy Rudolf Hess. Varconi also appeared in many of his old boss Cecil DeMille's sound epics such as The Plainsman (Cecil B. DeMille, 1936) (as Indian chief Painted Horse), Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942) starring Ray Milland, Unconquered (1947, Cecil B. DeMille) with Gary Cooper, and Samson and Delilah (Cecil B. DeMille, 1949) starring Hedy Lamarr.

After 1949 Varconi scaled down his workload. He also worked on the New York City stage and wrote for radio. Among his Shakespearean theatre endeavours were roles in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra and Richard III. He also moved occasionally into TV in the 1950s.

Varconi did another film part in the Sci-Fi movie The Man Who Turned to Stone (László Kardos, 1957) starring Victor Jory. The plot was about a group of 18th-century scientists, who have remained young after all these centuries by using electricity to suck the life out of young women. After a supporting part in another Sci-Fi thriller, The Atomic Submarine (Spencer Gordon Bennet, 1960), he retired.

Victor Varconi had appeared in 120 films. He published his memoirs It's Not Enough to Be Hungarian, just before his death. In 1976, Victor Varconi died from a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 85. He was married twice. His second wife was stage actress Anna Aranyosy.


Polish postcard, no. 1244. Photo: publicity still for Kult ciala/The cult of the body (Michal Waszynski, 1930) with Agnes Petersen.


Polish postcard by Edition Victoria PW, no. 209.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5061, 1929-1930. Photo: Cecil B. DeMille Studio.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3301/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Angelo Photos.


British postcard. Photo: B. I. P. Publicity still for The Song You Gave Me (Paul L. Stein, 1933) with Bebe Daniels.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.