Specialty CollectionGenre: SILENT FEATURE FILMS
Description: SILENT FILM. IN 1917, VICTOR SJOSTROM STARRED IN AND DIRECTED A SUPERBLY ACTED AND VISUALLY STUNNING DRAMA WHICH GAVE SWEDISH FILMS THEIR INTERNATIONAL BREAK-THROUGH AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR. TAKES PLACE IN ICELAND DURING THE 19TH CENTURY. IT IS THE STORY OF A FARMER, HUNTED BY THE POLICE FOR A PETTY CRIME, WHO, WITH HIS WIFE, MUST FLEE INTO THE HILLS TO ESCAPE DETECTION. EVENTUALLY THE COUPLE, STILL UNITED BY THEIR MUTUAL LOVE, SUCCUMB TO THE BRUTAL FORCE OF NATURE. SJOSTROM, WHO CONTINUED TO DIRECT BRILLIANTLY IN HIS NATIVE SWEDEN, WORKED IN HOLLYWOOD FOR A BRIEF TIME, AT THE INVITATION OF M.G.M., WHERE HE MADE "HE WHO GETS SLAPPED" (1924) WITH LON CHANEY, "THE SCARLET LETTER" (1925) WITH LILLIAN GISH, AND ONE OF THE GREATEST SILENT FILMS EVER, "THE WIND" (1926) ALSO WITH GISH. HE THEN RETURNED TO SWEDEN, WHERE HE CONTINUED TO ACT UNTIL A VERY OLD MAN, HIS FINAL FILM BEING "WILD STRAWBERRIES" (1957) FOR INGMAR BERGMAN. THE TIME MAKING THIS FILM SJOSTROM ALWAYS CLAIMED, WAS ONE OF THE HAPPIEST IN HIS LIFE, AS HE WAS NEWLY MARRIED TO HIS LEADING LADY AND AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS POWERS AS A FILM DIRECTOR. LIKE THE ORIGINAL, IT IS TINTED IN VARIOUS HUES, TO SUGGEST LOCATION AND TIME OF DAY. CAST: VICTOR SJOSTROM, EDITH ERASTOFF, JOHN EKMAN, NILS AREHN SCRIPT: VICTOR SJOSTROM & SAM ASK PHOTOGRAPHY: JULIUS JAENZON ART DIRECTION: AXEL ESBENSEN MUSIC: COMPOSED & CONDUCTED BY TORBJORN IWAN LUNDQUIST
