Power (1934)

Jud Süß is a film made in 1934 by Michael Balcon, head of production at Gaumont British in the 1930s. The film was directed by Lothar Mendes and starred German actor Conrad Veidt in the role of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer. British censors would not have allowed a movie to openly criticize the persecution of Jews, since it would have appeared as an attack on German policy and led to a diplomatic incident. The movie had little success in America or most of Europe, but a great political impact in Vienna, where it was banned. Unlike the 1940 version, the 1934 version is based on Lion Feuchtwanger's 1925 novel and is a condemnation of anti-Semitism, not a justification of it. The 1940 version is considered by some to be a response to the British version.