arthur_tafero 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.

bob-790-196018 Eventually in this confusing film it is revealed that Vivien Leigh's character Madeleine is French, not Swiss, and that she is a spy for France, not Germany, but it takes a long time to figure out what is going on. The assortment of largely indistinguishable hangers-on among the German, French, and British groups in Stockholm does not help. With the exception of the British character Bob Carter, the others are a blur.Conrad Veidt, playing German spy Baron von Marwitz, was nearly 20 years older than young and beautiful Vivien Leigh, and his bearing in the film--not to mention his monocle!--makes him seem even older. Not a credible romance.Even as this film was being made, the atrocities of Hitler's Germany were in full force. Within two years it would be hard to imagine anyone looking kindly on the character of a German spy. But of course the burden of hindsight should not be forced upon this movie, which should stand on its own.A little harder to accept, however, is the romantic treatment of spy activities that ultimately resulted in the slaughter of thousands of men in the trenches of WW I. The brief shot of trench warfare in this movie makes quite a contrast with the scenes immediately following back in Stockholm--the lavish beer hall, the concert, the fashionable dress shop. The creation of autocrats, military arms makers, and rabid superpatriots, WW I wiped out an entire generation of young Britons, Frenchmen, and Germans.It's a well-mounted film, and Vivien Leigh is truly lovely in it, but I did not find it very enjoyable.

Neil Doyle DARK JOURNEY is a wearisome WWI spy melodrama teaming two wonderful stars, both seen to better advantage in many other films. VIVIEN LEIGH is certainly ready for all of her close-ups but her role is uninteresting even though she's supposed to be a French spy posing as a German spy for the Swiss government.The plot, as everyone else seems to have said, is confusing and totally lacking the requisite suspense required to keep a viewer tuned in. It gets off to a slow and murky start on the foggy seas and stays slow and murky for too much of its running time.Surprisingly, CONRAD VEIDT fails to be charismatic as the romantic lead, nor is he as dangerous as he usually is in these sort of movies which comes as a letdown to anyone who admired the Nazis he played in many a war movie. It's probably his least colorful role. Likewise, Vivien Leigh can do very little with her role and reportedly stated that she was disappointed in the script and found it confusing. So did I.It's all done in veddy British style, circa 1930s, and lacks what might be called the Hitchcock touch. Too bad. Maybe a director of his sort could have made something interesting out of this espionage yarn. Victor Saville fails to give it tension. It has all the suspense of a rubber band about to snap.It's a yawner. Even Leigh and Veidt (top-billed, by the way), can't save it from sinking.

monikgwtw Vivien Leigh and Conrad Veidt - what an interesting and unusual pairing! In my opinion, "Dark Journey" is Vivien's greatest pre-GWTW movie. The script is full of memorable lines, but there are also some great romantic moments between the actors. The combination between Vivien and Conrad is just like having fire and ice in love. It's a palpable, strong, glacial romanticism. Conrad said once: "The one thing I look for everywhere is beauty. I find it everywhere, and in almost every person. A lovely painting, a good book, or music moves me. It has a life of its own." In my favorite scene from the movie, which is the kissing scene, you could see that even after the kiss, Conrad is still holding Vivien in his arms, admiring for a few more seconds her beautiful, perfect, feminine, heart-shaped face, with those two big emerald eyes and the sweet, little lips. He is visibly enchanted by Vivien's unique beauty, as she is telling him "Now, I want you to take me away from my friends and the business, from everyone but you"; and he tells her "That's my dream". This is a lovely, unforgettable scene, in which Vivien and the apparently implacable Conrad Veidt make together a wonderful couple of lovers, despite the differences between them. I would recommend to any fan of the two great actors to watch this spy and romantic film. It would be even nicer if they put back the deleted scenes. The original movie is at least 15 minutes longer than the actual version, of 75 minutes. For example, there was a scene where Karl (Veidt) is trying to seduce Madeleine (Leigh) at the first dinner party they meet. There is a famous photo from that deleted scene with Conrad and Vivien smiling at each other, and clinking two glasses of wine. And this is just one of the many deleted and important sequences from the film. But, the latest DVD version is 79 minutes in length, because it contains more sequences. I was very happy when I bought it, not only because I found some extra-sequences, but also because the quality of the picture and sound was far superior to all the versions I had previously seen. All in all, this is an extraordinary movie and it certainly is among my favorites. I give a 10 to this movie because of Vivien Leigh's unusual beauty and talent, Conrad Veidt's outstanding performance and great charm, because of their unique and fascinating chemistry, because of the interesting, complex and realistic plot,the very good dialogue - many lines are really remarkable, because of the lovely costumes (designed by Rene Hubert) and impressive sets (especially the one at the Grand Hotel), because of the wonderful music score, because of the unforgettable atmosphere which combines love, fashion, war and espionage. If Dark Journey were made in Hollywood, it would've been on the top list of classic movies. Do you need any more reasons?P.S.: I would appreciate very much if the fan who posted on IMDb the quotes from Dark Journey would contact me at [email protected]