The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924) and Swedish silent cinema
- charliechaplinfan
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- Ann Harding
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- charliechaplinfan
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- Ann Harding
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- charliechaplinfan
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- [Moon Dust]
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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.
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.)
(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.)