The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924) and Swedish silent cinema

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks Hedvig, the trip was lovely, so busy. Tomorrow I'll write it up on the thread. 7 stops in 8 days, my head is spinning

I'm in need of a movie fix, the childrens films they ran ad naseum didn't count

[Synnove]

I can understand why your head is spinning! Do you need to wind down?

Watch a musical?

[Ann Harding]

This is the right thread to announce that Kino is releasing 2 Sjöström silents on July, 29th:

The Outlaw and his Wife (Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru, 1918)

A Man There Was (Terje Vigen, 1917)

[MikeBSG]

Both of these Sjostrom movies are terrific. He had a great eye for dramatic use of scenery, and I was amazed at the things he filmed on the water in 1917's "Terge Vigen."

[Synnove]

That is excellent news. Here's hoping they will keep the original music scores.

The film I'm hoping for on DVD is Ingeborg Holm. It's a very good early film, it's pretty famous and Matti Bye wrote a beautiful music score for it, so there's a chance.

[charliechaplinfan]

I'd like to see that one released too, you've told me so much about it Hedvig you've completely sold it to me, I can't wait to see it if it ever becomes available.

[Synnove]

It's an amazing film for 1913.

[Ann Harding]

Update: According to Criterion forum, Ingeborg Holm is included as an extra with Terje Vigen. No more details for the moment; I just hope it's true!

[charliechaplinfan]

I hope so

[Synnove]

Is it? Guess I'll have to buy it then, it might take them a year to release it here. In the extras on my discs they had clips of films like Ingeborg Holm, and fragments of Mauritz Stiller's films.

[Ann Harding]

It is confirmed!



Kino is releasing on July 29:
A Man There Was + Ingeborg Holm Click Here

The Outlaw and His Wife + documentary on Sjöström (1981) Click Here

[Synnove]

That's great!

Even though Kino never includes the original intertitles...

On the plus side I have the script in book form.

[charliechaplinfan]

Yippee, what marvellous news .

[[Moon Dust]]

I absolutely adore silent Swedish cinema. I haven't seen very many, probably five at the most, but each one has had such a profound impact upon me. They're so poetic and enchanting! The Saga of Gösta Berling is actually one of my favorite movies in the whole world and to this day I still have trouble perceiving why that is...I just find the world that movie takes me in beautiful, enriching, and meaningful.

[MichiganJ]

It’s great news that Kino is releasing the Sjöström DVD’s. Just last week I re-watched the Kino laserdisc of The Outlaw and His Wife and was again taken with the spectacular scenery as well as the natural performances. I suppose it’s best to wait until the release of the DVD to discuss the film further (I certainly don’t want to give anything away) but it’s a brilliant, ambitious film, which tackles fundamental themes such as man versus man, man versus nature (and, I might argue, love versus destiny); themes Sjöström would continue to explore, particularly in The Wind.
(On the laserdisc, many of the lengthy intertitles flew by. Hopefully Kino will rectify this on the DVD release.)

Synnove, it is interesting that you see Sjöström’s work as carrying “hope for improvement and forgiveness.” I’m looking forward to the new Kino DVD’s to get a better idea of his vision. The few films I’ve seen (and they are woefully few, unfortunately), seem rather fatalistic. In fact, that’s one of their appeals to me. (Not that I’m fatalistic, necessarily; I simply admire his adult approach to his topics, and he doesn’t seem to sugar coat or provide “conventional” happy endings, The Outlaw and His Wife being a case in point.)