Scott Lord
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05 Sep 18:58
Mystery Liner (Nigh, 1934)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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03 Jun 22:07
The computer needed to be recharged when the storm first began, so please allow whatever photos I could get. The rainbow was huge, spanning from the Mystic River Bridge and the Bunker Hill Monument to the Prudential and John Hancok. I'm fifty nine today. She's having scallops again and I'm wearing the new shirt she gave me.
I’m fifty nine years old today
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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03 Jun 22:07
In Memory of her father, Frank McLaughlin
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
I gave Donna a sympathy card on her father’s passing away which reads Nothing Loved Is Ever Lost. She had a doctor’s appointment today after which we went to lunch in an unfamiliar suburb. During a walk before going home we found a museum devoted to the American Revolutionary War. It was the house of a soldier that died during the first shots of the Revolutionary. The garden was fairly beautiful and there are outdoor guided tours during the week- in fact the house itself looks empty, so we gained as much as anyone would. Donna’s father was the prinicpal of Pleasant Point High School in New Jersey and she likes anything to do with the American Revolution here in Boston and near Harvard University. The church library where she worked before Co-Vid 19 in fact had a window to an adjoing graveyard where John Hancock, John Adams, Paul Revere and James Otis were buried. Since her father passed way this week, the musuem after hours provided a meditaive place for seenity that combines with the curiousity which life itself affords, ie. the wonder of prayer. In that way the afternoon, despite being a romantic date, was spent in the memory of her father. 
The above is a photo of Donna's father from the Point Pleasant Beach Highschool year book from when Donna was attending highschool at nearby Tom's River High School, North, both on the New Jersey Shore.
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03 Jun 22:07
Lunch with Donna
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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03 Jun 22:07
(There might be some dust on the windows as we are under construction and of course I am not using a camera) Another rainbow. In the distance you can spot the Bunker Hill monument. We no loner have a terrace after ten years, but the room is larger.
Another rainbow
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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03 Jun 22:07
Donna was librarian today at The Park Street Church on Boston Common. A new minister has been installed since we were last there and we had the chance to meet him today. It has been over a year since we have attended due to CoVid 19.
Donna returned to the library after it was closed for over a year of CoVid 19
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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11 Jan 01:18
During 1913 D.W. Griffith directed Lional Barrymore and Henry B. Wathall in the one reel film "The Switchtower". Silent Film SILENT FILM D.W. Griffith SILENT FILM
Scott Lord Silent Film: The Switchtower (Biograph, 1913)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
During 1913 D.W. Griffith directed Lional Barrymore and Henry B. Wathall in the one reel film "The Switchtower". Silent Film SILENT FILM D.W. Griffith SILENT FILM
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23 Sep 00:08
Mr Wong in Chinatown
by Unknown
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22 Sep 04:59
Sherlock Holmes, The Musgrave Ritual (Treville, ...
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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09 Sep 21:07
Author Leif Furhammar has written that the merger between Swedish Silent Film companies Svensk Bio and Skandia to form Svensk Filmindustri took place in 1919, after Christmas. Without Swedish Silent Film directors Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller, who would leave for America with Lars Hanson and Greta Garbo, the remaining pantheon of John Brunnius and Gustaf Molander would teeter and by 1925 delineate the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film with films that luckily, remarkably, would be contemporary interior dramas more amenable to the advent of sound rather than films that analysed the interior of the character by contrasting it to exterior landscapes and the divine-like prescence of nature as an unreachable narrator, or perhaps the character in specific historic contexts of interest to an audience looking to distance themselves aesthetically from modernity.
Swedish Silent Film scholar Bo Florin makes note of the province held by Nils Bouveng at the newly structured Svenska Filmindustri after the merger had taken place of the smaller companies into one and that Bouveng had published an article entitled Swedish Film Advertising: How the Industry Plans to Conquer the World in the 1919 periodical Filmjournalen. Nils Bouveng of Swedish Biograph was very much responsible for the distribution of Swedish Silent Film in the United States. The publication Exhibitor's Herald during 1921 noted that although Bouveng was deemed to have thought the film market overcrowded, he would still export film "of merit" to the United States. It wrote,"Swedish Biograph has control of all product of Scandinavian studios and will offer only the cream of these pictures to American theaters...While Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness is regarded as its finest offering, company executives believe that Judge Not, Sir Arne's Treasure, Youth Meets Youth, Dawn of Love and Secret of the Monastery will compare favorably with any American made production." Actors that were anticipated to greet audiences in the United States included Mary Johnson, Gosta Ekman Renee Bjorling, Tora Teje, Edith Erastoff Lars Hanson, Karin Molander and Victor Sjostrom.
Scandinavian films were often peered at by American and British film magazines and for thos looking for film rveiews, extatextural discourse on European films can often be located within them. Picture Play Magazine during 1921 looked at the theater screens of Sweden. "Lars Hanson, a star of the Swedish constellation may be added to the European counterparts of American stars. Lesley Mason denominates him 'the Charles Ray of Sweden' and considers him the best male bet of Europe so far as American popularity is concerned. The most popular of the Swedish feminine stars, according to Mr. Mason, are Tora Teje, Karin Molander and Mary Johnson. During the following year, 1922, the periodical Picturegoer magazine in fact recognized actress Mary Johnson as being the leading actress from Sweden in an article about actors known internationally and transnational cinema but opined that as a foreign celebrity she entertained a more subdued fame, as though to denote a lack of commodification of the female in extratextural discourse, ie. exploitation. "Although she rejoices in the title of 'Sweden's Sweetheart", loveable, little Mary Johnson has never recieved a 'fan' letter from Sweden. The reason is extremely simple. There are no 'fans' there. The star, as a star and personality, simply doesn't count. The Swedish picturegoer is very critical as to story, technique and acting and highly appreciative too; but as to writing to the movie stars- perish the thought." Author Walter Bloem, in his volume The Soul of the Moving Picture from 1924, in a discussion on The Scene, singled out two Swedish Silent Film actresses by briefly mentioning Karin Molander and Tora Teje as having "the psychic power which spells variety in the creation of character" as contrasted with a plentiful supply of American actresses that presented "a soporific drama of a single sorrow or grief or pain, of a conventional melancholy, sadness or lament." Author Benjamin B. Hampton to the contrary, in his volume A History of the Movies, published during 1931, seems to transverse the period following the Golden Age of Silent Film as though from 1925-1930 were stagnant, typifying Swedish Silent Film as tendentious. "The Scandinavians, despite fine actors and directors, lean so frequently toward gloomy, sophisticated stories, that they have been negligible factors in production as far as production is concerned." Hampton overlooks that this is exaclty what helps to account for the film made in Sweden after 1925 having been attempts at commercial success through light hearted comedies.
The periodical Motion Picture News during 1925 cited Charles Magnusson as the president of The Swedish Film Industry, Inc. of Stockholm. The occaision was his visit to America and Hollywood. It quoted Magnusson as having said, "American pictures are teaching the people of Sweden to think like Americans, to dress like them and to act like them...They are all emulating the American screen stars and bobbed heads are almost universal throught the North country." He added that Swedish filmmakers were dependent upon artifical lighting, "Our plant in Stockholm is about twelve acres, but we have only two production stages." The Film Daily covered the same visit of Charles Magnusson to Hollywood with the title "Sweden Can't Compete". It claimed that Sweden would look to European markets rather than American and that Swedish audiences demanded American films, one hundread out of one hundread and forty films shown in Sweden being made in Hollywood. Leif Furhammar explains, "Swedish film ended up in a vicious circle, where the production volume declined as American films gained market share, resulting in theaters demanding even more American films to fill the Swedish void." In 1925, only 3% of films screened first run to Swedish audiences were produced in Sweden against 70% of films shown in Sweden being American.
The sentiment that the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film had been overwhelmed by Hollywood and its towering economic system rather than the expected bolstering of Swedish studios through exportation is expressed by author Joel Fryholm, Lund University, who includes the global prescence of American films as conributing to the decline of the Scandinavian art film in a paper tracing the "Swedish Agitation against American Films" and the splashing of advertisements for them in Swedish newspapers that had neccesitated the need for debate regarding legislation. Providing a historiography of Ipsea, for which Gustaf Molander and Olaf Molander directed, Fryholm sees Ipsea as much of the demise of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film by its differing from the transnationalism of a global American cinema by providing a national cinema that differed it choice of subject material from earlier "peasant films", their romanticism, their depiction of provincal culture and that they often "forgrounded the local natural landscape". In effect, Fryholm seems to decribe Sweden as losing world wide ticket holders by offering a new Sweden shown in "Swedish International Films", the reverse effect modernizing storylines had had for the silent film career of Greta Garbo, who at the crescendo of the silent era began to offer a flapper alternative while depating from early costume dramas. In extratextual discourse, film critics had begun to appraise the lack of "peasant films" before the departure of Sjostrom, Stiller, Hanson and Garbo to America had taken hold in the critical reception of first run features. Perhaps not an autuer, Gustaf Molander had reinvented himself and the signature styles of Swedish silent cinema, newspaper critics attempting to compare his films to those made in Hollywood, which at the beginning of the decade absorbed 80% of the Swedish market, as though a new cinematic experience for the remaining 20% of Swedish movie theater tickets. This alternative cosmopolitanism and metropolitanism intended to vie with Hollywood is in part faulted for the decline of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film it later having beenn seen unfavorably by film historian Gosta Werner.
During 1921, the periodical Motion Picture Magazine reported there would be an increase of importations from Stockholm and while it featured still photographs from the films Dawn of Love, The Secret of the Monsastery and A Fortuned Hunter, it marked that the storylines we're to be adaptations from the literature of Ibsen, Bjornsen and Selma Lagerlof and that the principal players had come from the Swedish theater, which aptly describes the way in which actress Greta Garbo would be introduced to Swedish film audiences two years later.
Swedish Silent Film director Ivan Hedqvist, who had acted for Svenska Biografteatern in Kristianstad, during 1919 directed the film "The Downy Girl"(Dunungen) from a novel and play by Selma Lagerlof, the film having starred Jenny Tschernichin-Larssen, Mia Grunder in her first appearance on the silent screen and Renee Bjorling in her first screen appearance for Svenska Biografteatern. The cinematographer to the film was Julius Jaenzon. As an adaptation of the work of Selma Lagerlof the film well meets the criteria if being included as an example of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film. The following year Ivan Hedqvist directed the film "Carolina Rediviva" scripted by Esther Julin and starring Rene Bjorling, Lia Noree and Hilda Bjorgstrom. Paul Rotha attributes the decline of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film simply, uncomplicatedly to their production being discontinued, "In fact, it may be said truthfully that the Swedish Film declined and it died a natural death by reason of its national characteristics of poetic feeling and realism". Paul Rotha typified Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film production with, "They are realized with exceptional visual beauty, being characterized by their lyrical quality of theme and their slowness of development. For their enviornment, full use was made of the natural landscape value of Sweden, whilst their directors were marked by poetic feeling."
Among the films produced by Filmindustri Skandia during 1920 photographed by Raol Reynolds and directed by Rune Carlsten was the film "The Bomb" ("Sunshine and Shadow", "Bomben"), starring Karin Molander and Gosta Ekman. Actress Karin Molander had starred in the lost film "Surrogatet" during 1919, the being no surviving copies of the film. A short film lasting only slightly over a half hour, it was directed by Einar Braun for Filmindustri Scandia, Stockholm. Rune Carlsten in 1920 wrote and directed the Swedish Silent Film film "A Modern Robinson" ("Robinson i skargarden") with actress Mary Johnson. The cinematographer to the film was Raoul Reynolds. Actress Mary Johnson married Norwegian actor Einor Rod after having appeared with him in the film. Director Rune Carlsten that year also directed Mary Johnson with Tora Teje and Hilda Castegren in "Family Traditions" ("Familjens traditioner") which he coscripted as well, his co-author having had been being Sam Ask. The film was produced by Svensk Filmindustri and photographed again by Raoul Reynolds. Einar Froberg was behind the camera duting 1920 to direct the film "Lunda Indians", photographed by Hellwig F. Rimmen. The running time of the film was three quarters of an hour.
Swedish Silent Film director Solve Cederstrand directed his first film, "A Fateful Incognito" (Ett odesdigert kognito), starring Tage Alquist and Signe Selid in 1920. The film was written by Axel Essen and photographed by Kurt Jager, who went on to direct the film "Elaman maantiella" (1927) in Finland. Children were allowed to public exhibition of the 1920 film "The Shoemaker Prince",directed by Hjalmer Davidsen and scripted by Jens Locher for Palladium film. The film starred Maja Cassel as Princess Charlotte and Oda Larsen. In her paper The Excavation of New Swedish Childen's Film History, scholar Taichi Niibori, Stockholm University, asks if Pauline Brunius, wife of Swedish Silent Film director John Brunius was the "Founding Mother" of the Swedish Barnfilm with the film "Dragonfly" (1920) in a chapter on the Ambiguity of Generic Identity in exhibition strategies, that its "textural aspect symbolises the contemporaneuous concept of children's films". It is a short film of 21 minutes running time. Brunius often made short films with child actors in the leading parts.
Scripted by Hjalmer Bergman as an adaptation of his 1917 work "Friarna pa Rockesnas", the 1921 film "Fru Mariannes fare" was directed by Gunnar Klintberg, the cinematographer to the film having had been Robert Olsson. The film starred Astri Torsell, Ingrid Sunblad, Aslag Lie-Erde and Gota Klintberg. Gunnar Klintberg continued by directing Astr Torsell in two more Swedish Silent Films, "The Love Circle" [Elisabet) with actresses Julia Hakanson and Gota Klintberg and in "Lord Saviles Brott", adapted from the work of Oscar Wilde. Gunner Klintberg's wife, actress Gota Klintberg had appeared with Signe Kolthoff during 1919 in the film "Jefthas dottar", directed by Robert Dinesen. Swedish Silent Film director Ivan Hedqvist in 1921 directed the film "Pilgrimage to Kevlaar" (Valfarten till Kevlaar). Ragnar Hylten Cavailius, who scripted the photoplay of the film, appears on film as a supporting actor. Ivan Hedqvist followed the film in 1924 with "Life in the Country" (Livets pa Landet), photgraphed by Julius Jaenzon and starring Renee Bjorling, Einar Hanson, and the beautiful Mona Martenson. The film us considered a lost silent film with only fragments from newsreel footage.
Mona Martenson during 1922 was on the Swedish stage at Dramaten , under the direction of Olof Molander, performing Hjalmar Bergman's one act play "Mr. Sleeman is Coming". Greta Garbo that year would give her first on stage performance there, at Dramaten, in the play "The Adventure" (La Belle Adventure".
Bo Florin, Stockholm University, descries a financial crisis in Svensk Filmindustri during 1922, to the extent that its affect was the company only having made three films during 1923. Florin points out that a staggering 90% of all silent films shown in Sweden were in fact American and that this loomed over the perhaps immanent departure of director Victor Sjostrom.
Formerly a journalist, Gustaf Edgren in 1922 had founded his own film company, Varmlandsfilm, making his screenwriting and directorial debut with the film "Miss at Pori" (The Young Lady of Bjorneborg/Froken pa Bjorneborg) starring actresses Rosa Tillman, Elsa Wallin and Edith Ernholm in her first film. The photographer was Adrian Bjurman. Adrian Bjorman was again the photographer for Gustav Edgren during 1923 for the film "People of Narke (Narkingara), which Edgren wrote and directed. Starring in the film were Anna Carlsten, Gerda Bjorne, and Maja Jerlstrom in her first appearance on screen. The film was also produced by Edgren's company Varmlandfilm, which would continue to produce only the flms of Gustaf Edgren.
Aparrently actress Karin Swanstrom was required to give co-directing screen credit to her screenwriter Oscar Rydqvist to the first film she was to direct, "Boman at the Fair" (Boman at the Exbhition, Boman pa Uttstallingen", 1923). Photographed by Gustav A Gustafson, the film starred Ingeborg Strandin and was the only film in which Karin Gardtman was to appear.
Although it joins the narrative of film history in a chapter concerned with the decline of Swedish Silent Film and its Golden Age, author Forsyth Hardy describes the work of Inga Tiblad and Einar Hanson in the 1923 Gustaf Molander film "Malapirater" as "pleasant acting". The film is a comedy. Ragnar Widestedt in 1923 directed Agda Helin and Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson in the film "Housemaids" (Hemslavirmor) written by Ragnar Hylten-Cavallius.
Frederick Andersson in 1923 directed the film "En rackarunge" with actresses Elsa Wallin and Mia Grunder. Gustaf V, King of Sweden, is listed as being in the film. It was photographed by Swedish cinematographer Sven Bardach. Sven Bardach had earlier that year photographed his first film, "Andersson, Petterson och Lundstrom", under the direction of Carl Barklind. The film stars Vera Schmiterlow and Mimi Pollock, both aquaintances of Greta Garbo, Inga Tiblad, and Gucken Cederborg.
Swedish Silent Film director Per Lindberg directed his first film during 1923, "Norrtullsligan", written by Hjalmer Bergman and starring Tora Teje, Stina Berg, Linnea Hillberg and Nils Asther. Peter Cowie, in his volume Scandinavian Cinema, commended the film by writing it "belongs among the most courageous and enjoyable films of the European decade. Films prior to 1923 had presented individual female characters of flesh amd blood, but the Nortell Gang established a precedent....The screenplay by Hjalmer Bergman transcends the familiar image of women as decorative objects." Hjalmer Bergman was in fact the brother-in-law of director Per Lindberg. Per Lindberg directed a second film scripted by Hjalmer Bergman during 1923, "Anna Klara and her Brothers" (Anna Klara och hennes broder), it having starred Anna-Britt Ohlsson, Hilda Bjorgstrom, Karin Swanstrom, Linnea Hillberg and Margit Manstad in what would be her first appearance on screen. The film was photographed by Ragnar Westfelt.
The first two films directed by Sigurd Wallen are presumed lost, with no surviving copies existing. Wallen directed "Anderssonkans Kalle" during 1922 with Anna Diedrich and Stina Berg, the photographer to the film Adrian Bjurman. The following year Wallen directed "Anderssonkans Kalle pa Nya Upptage" photographed by Henrik Jaenzon and starring Edvin Adolphson, the debut film of actress Mona Martenson. Swedish Silent Film director Sigurd Wallen during 1923 directed the lost silent film "Friaren fran Landsvagen", which , co-scripted with Sam Ask and photographed by Henrik Jaenzon, had starred Edvin Adolphson, Jenny Hasselquist, and Mia Grunden. Edvin Adolphson in fact had directed a short film during 1923 starring Hilda Castegren, "Gronkopings veckorevy" his first appearance in Swedish movie theaters as a film director. Castegren had previously worked for Rune Carlsten and Gustaf Molander.
Swedish Silent Film director Bror Abelli in 1923 directed his first two films, including the film "Janne Modig", starring Ture Ottoson in the titular role.
The periodical Motion Picture World during 1927 reminded its readers that actress Sigrid Holmquist had already been introduced to audiences in the United States. "Sigrid Holmquist , once called the 'Swedish Mary Pickford' is another foreign star, very popular with american public, who might named. She is at present making some color art pictures at Tiffany." The periodical Motion Picture Classic countered with a full page portrait of the actress photocaptioned with ,"Sigrid Holmquist is one of the dozen or more 'Swedish Mary Pickfords' - every country has one to fifty." After her first silent film made in the United States, "Just Around the Corner" (Frances Marion, 1921, seven reels) in ehich she started with actress Margaret Seddon for Cosmopolitan Pictures, most of the filmscmade in Hollywood by Swedish actress Sigrid Holmquist are presumed lost, with no surviving existing copies, including two of her earliest, the lost silent film "The Prophet's Pradise" (Alan Croslnd, 1922), and the lost silent film "My Old Kentucky Home" (Ray C. Smallwood, as well as including the films "A Gentleman of Leisure" (Joseph Heneby) (1923) and in all probality the film "The Light That Failed" (George Melford, 1923) in which she starred with actress Jacqueline Logan; all filmed in the United States before Greta Gabo, Mona Martenson, and Vera Schmiterlow had entered the Royal Dramatic Training Academy. Before having left Sweden, actress Sigrid Holmquist had debuted in three comedies directed by Lau Lauritzen during 1920 for Palladium, among which were "Karleck och bjornjakt" and "Flickorna i Ave". Swedish Silent Film director Lau Lauritzen continued during 1921 to film the presumed to be lost film 'Silkesstrumpen" starring actresses Oda Rostrup and Winifred Westover an American from California that had appeared in the "Bodakungen" directed by Gustaf Molander. The cinematographer to the film was Hugo J. Fischer. There are no existing copies of the film that survive. Lau Lauritzen also that year continued with the presumed to be lost film "Karleck och Hypnotism", also for Palladium, starring actress Kiss Andersson.
Swedish Silent Film director John Lindlof in 1924 directed the film "Man of Adventure" (Odets Man) with Inga Tiblad and Uno Henning, photographed by Gustav a Gustafson and written by J. Evicius. Knut Lambert who appears as an actor in the film and subsequently several later films, directed the lost film "Equal Among Equal" (Lika mot lika) in 1906, it having been the first film in which actress Tollie Zellman was to appear. Lambert appears with Tollie Zellman in the film as an actor with his wife Helfrid Lambert. There are no surviving copies of the film.
Sigurd Wallen during 1924 directed Inga Tiblad with Einar Froberg in " Grevarna pa Svanta" photographed by Henrik Jaenzon. Mostly known for being a theater director it was the first of only a handful of films Froberg had appeared in and the only film script that he had written. Froberg had directed an earlier film, "Lunda-indianer" starring Ture Sjogre and Malte Akerman, during 1920, his only time behind the camera, and had directed his own play, "Individerna Forbund' in Stockholm during 1919. Gustaf Molander appeared on stage in Stockholm in Froberg's play "Erna" under the direction of Gustaf Linden at The Drama (Dramaten) during 1922.
Ivar Kage in 1924 directed Gosta Hillberg and Edvin Adolphson in the film "When the Lighthouse Flashes" (Dar fyren blinken) for Svensk Ornfilm. The script was written by Esther Julin who had earlier adapted the novels of Selma Lagerlof to the screen for Victor Sjostrom. A fairly obscure or nonprolific photographer, Hellwig Rimmen during 1924 photographed the only film that he was to direct, "Hogsta Vinsten", it having starred actress Hilma Bolvig. The running time to the film was a half hour. Rimmen had began filming in Sweden under the direction of Einar Fronerg during the only film he was to direct, the 1920 film "Lunda-Indianer".
Actor Bror Berger directed one Swedish Silent Film the 1924 "Den Forgylida lergoken", based on thebplay by Emil Norlander. The film stars actresses Anna-Lisa Lindzen, Gunnilla Ehrenmark, Anna Herzman, and Stina Gutterman.
In the world Swedish Literature, during 1924 the author Birger Sjoberg published the novel Kvartetten som sprangdes (The Quartet That Split Up) which was later adapted for the screen three times, the directors including Arne Bornebusch,Gustaf Molander and Hans Alfredson.
Gustaf Edgren in 1924 directed the film "The King of Trollebro" (Trollebokungen) an adaptation of the Maja pa Stadt's 1917 novel scripted by Solve Cederstrand and photographed by C.A. Soderstrom, the film having starred actresesses Signe Ekloff, Gunvor Winberg, and Anna Carlsten, wife of Rune Carlsten.
Rune Carlsten directed a handful of Swedish Silent Films before distinguishing himself as a director of Swedish Sound Film, in 1924 their having included the film "The Young Nobleman" (Ung greven tar flickan och priset) starring Karin Swanstrom. In 1925 Rune Carlsten married beautiful Dora Soderberg, daughter of novelist Hjalmer Soderberg, author of the 1905 novel "Dr. Glas" and the 1912 novel "The Serious Game".
Included in the number of Swedish Silent Films that are lost, with no surviving copies known to exist is the film "40 Skipper Street" (Skeppargatan 40), directed by Gustaf Edgren during 1925. The film brought Mona Martenson and Einar Hanson together on screen , it also having featutred actresses Magda Holm and Karin Swanstrom. The photoplay was cowritten by director Gustaf Edgren with HUgo CLareus and Solve Cederstrand.
During 1925, Pauline Brunius was appearing on stage with Gosta Ekman in the play "Dalin och Drottningen", written by her brother in law, August Brunius. August Brunius has recently been described by one biographer as having been "the first professional Swedish critic", his having had begun writing essay on the theater in 1917.
Swedish Silent Film director William Larsson during 1925 directed the film "Broderna Ostermans huskors" with Jenny Tscherichin-Larsson and Frida Sporrong; the film is presumed to be lost with no surviving copies existing as is its 1932 remake directed by Thure Alfe, in which actress Fida Sporrong also appeared. During 1925 William Larsson also directed "For hemmet och flickan" with Jenny Tchernichin Larsson and Elsa Widborg in what was to be the first film in which she was to appear. The former was photographed by Arthur Thorell, the former by Henrik Jaenzon. "For hemmet och flickan" is presumed to be lost, with no surviving copies existing and carried the first screenplay written by Weyler Hildebrand, who went on to direct Swedish sound films.
Swedish Silent Film director Sigurd Wallen during 1925 directed the film "Hennes lilla Majestat" starring actresses Margita Alfven, Stina Berg, Gucken Cederborg, and Olga Andersson in the first feature film in which she was to appear. With a photoplay scripted by Henning Ohlson, the film was photographed by Axel Lindblom.
Olaf Molander, to bring the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film to an anticlimax rather than a crescendo, directed only three silent films, the first in 1925, the next the following year and one the year following that. About the 1925 film, "Lady of the Camelias"(Damen med kameliorna) Forsyth Hardy writes,"The film derived some distinction from the delicately composed interiors and the touching performance of Tora Teje gave in response to Molander's skilled direction." Peter Cowie writes, "Although the film betrays the theatrical loyalties of its director, the camera observing most scenes from a single, rigid, set up, Molander knows how to rein in the histrionics of his players (Nils Arehn, for example creates an excellant Georges Duvall) and he copes well with the outdoor scenes." Photographed by Gustaf A. Gustafson, the films stars Ivan Hedqvist, Hilda Bjorgstrom and Lisskulla Jobs in the first film in which she was to appear. Not incidentally, during 1925 Olaf Molander directed "Kameliadamen" on stage at the Royal Dramtic Theater, Stockholm.
During 1926 Olaf Molander directed August Strindberg's play "Advent" at the Royal Dramatic Theater, Stovkholm. Olaf Molander chose August Strindberg's short story "Ett Dockhem" for his second of three Swedish Silent Films, adapted for the screen in 1926 from a screenplay by Per Axel Branner as the film "Married Life/Getting Married" (Giftas), photographed by Gustaf A. Gustafson. Scholar Jesper Larsson, in his paper "Tora Teje, Reception and Swedishness" writes that actress Tora Teje "was deemed to be stiff and unsuited for the screen". Jesper Larsson intuitively or sagaciously recognizes the reception of the star image of Tora Teje as "an extension of how American films reproduced ideas about consumption and luxury" veering from the concept and aesthetic of the golden age of Swedish Silent Film and its "distillation of a distinctive national style...often set in historical times or rural Sweden." Also appearing in the film "Married Life" are actresses Hilda Borgstrom and Margaret Manstad.
Actress Tora Teje returned to the stage and Dramaten during 1926 to bring August Brunius' play "Messeniernas fall" to Swedish Theater under the direction of of Olaf Molander. Mimi Pollack gives an account that she and Greta Garbo looked up to Tora Teje while at drama school and attempted to imitate her, which may account for Garbo's languishing fatigue of disinterest while portraying characters- Tora Teje at the time was austere while being devoted to religion and lofty. Pauline Brunius, on the other hand was to become Tora Teje's bitter rival.
During a year that he directed "Peer Gynt" by Henrik Ibsen at the Royal Dramtic Theatre in Stockholm, Olaf Molander continued during 1927 with "Only a Dancing Girl" (Bara en danserska), starring Lili Dagover, Karin Swanstrom, and Anna-Lisa Ryding, which he wrote and directed. The cinematographer to the film was Hugo Edlund.
Sigurd Wallen during 1926 directed the film "Ebberods Bank", the assistant director to the film Rolf Husberg. The film starred acresses Stina Berg, Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson and Carina May in her first of three screen appearances. The film is presumed to be lost, with no survivivng copies.
There are no surviving copies of the lost silent film "My Wife Has a Fiancee" (Min Fru har en Fastman, 1926) directed by Theodor Berthels who coscripted the photoplay with wife Greta Berthels. SWedish silent film actress Jenny Hasselquist stars in the film with Thora Ostberg and Tyra Leijman-Uppstrom. It was one of two films produced by Thebe Film. THe following year Theodor Berthels directed the film "Arnljot" (1927) from a manuscript written by his wife Greta Berthels. Both appear onscreen in the film with actress Thora Ostberg. The photographer of the film was Adrian Bjurman. The film is also presumed to be lost, with no surviving copies.
Petschler-Film during 1926 produced the film "Brollopet i Brana" directed by Eric A. Petschler and written by Esther Julin and Lars Tessing. The film, photographed by Gustav A. Gustafson, teamed Edvin Adolphson, Mona Martensen and Emmy Albin. The film "Hin och smalanningen" directed by Erik A Petschler for Petschler Film during 1927 is presumed to be lost, with no known surviving cooies of the film. Co-written by Petschler with Sam Ask as an adaptation of the 1888 play by Frans Hedberg, the film starred actresses Jenny Tchernichin-Larsson, Anita Dow, Birgit Tengroth and Greta Anjov. Screenwriter Sam Ask appears on screen as an actor. The film was photographed by Gustav A. Gustafson.
"Mordbrannerskan" (1926), directed by John Lindlof, photographed by Gustaf A. Gustafson and starring Vera Schmiterlow and Brita Appelgren was the first film in which Birgit Tengroth was to appear.
Actress Vera Schmiterlow, fondly remembered for being a friend of Greta Garbo, during 1927 under the direction of Sigurd Wallen with actress Stina Berg in the film "The Queen of Pellagonia" (Drottninggen av Pellagonia". Scripted by playwright Henningen Ohlsson, the film was photographed byAxel Lindblom.
Swedish Silent Film director Gustaf Edgren in 1927 directed "The Ghost Baron" (Spokbaronen) starring Karin Swanstrom and photographed by Adrian Bjuman, which was followed by "Black Rudolph" (Svarte Rudolph) in 1928, starring Inga Tiblad amd Fridolf Rhudin, both films having been written by Solve Cederstrand. The assistant director to the film "Black Rudolph" had been Gunnar Skogland. It was the first film in which actress Katie Rolfson was to appear.
Vilhelm Bryde directed his only film during 1927, "A Husband By Proxy" (En Perfekt Gentleman) a comedy scripted by Hjalmar Bergman starring Gosta Ekman, La Jana and Karin Swanstrom. The film was produced by Minerva Film. Bryde had acted in a more than a dozen Swedish Silent Films beggining with "Erotikon", directed by Mauritz Stiller.
Screenwriter Ragnar Hylten Cavailius directed a half dozen films over two decades included in his more than fourty years of contributing scripts to Swedish Silent and Swedish sound films. Included among them during 1928 was the film "Hans kungl. Hoget shinglar" starring actresses Karin Swanstrom, Brita Appelgren and Maria Paudler. The film was scripted by Paul Merzbach.
Like Ragnar Hylten Cavailius, a screenwriter from the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film that later had had a limited foray into directing films, Sam Ask wrote and directed the 1928 Swedish Silent "Erik XIV", it having starred Sophus von Rosen, Eva Monk af Rosenchold, Lisa Ryden and Gosta Werner. Nothwithstanding, despite the film "Erik XIV", author Peter Cowie sees 1928 as the beginning of a "barren period" ensuing after Charles Magnusson was "eased out of" Svenska Filmindustri by Ivar Kruger with Olaf Andersson as head of the firm. Charles Magnusson had folded, and left his position at Svenska Filmindustri during 1928, but the present author feels that perhaps author Peter Cowie is either mistaken or exaggerating when he claims that it had precipitated a "veritable exodus of talent"- the directors Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller admittedly were in the United States, but contrary to Cowie's volume Scandinavian Cinema, actor and actress Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson had undoubtedly left Sweden prior to the departure of Charles Magnusson, as had Einar Hanson, leaving only the screenwriters Hjalmer Bergman and concievably Tancred Ibsen. And yet the spirit of Cowie's passage views him as essential as a founder and catalyst, which he was.
Peter Cowie, in his volume Scandinavian Cinema chronicles the end of the silent era in Sweden as being a time of less output, "Swedish film production declined through the 1920's, reaching a nadir in 1929, when a mere six features were released."
Danish Silent Film
Victor Sjostrom
Victor Sjostrom
Gustaf Molander
As The Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film Begins to Wane
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Swedish Silent Film Companies Merge, Svensk Filmindustri Emerges
Author Leif Furhammar has written that the merger between Swedish Silent Film companies Svensk Bio and Skandia to form Svensk Filmindustri took place in 1919, after Christmas. Without Swedish Silent Film directors Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller, who would leave for America with Lars Hanson and Greta Garbo, the remaining pantheon of John Brunnius and Gustaf Molander would teeter and by 1925 delineate the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film with films that luckily, remarkably, would be contemporary interior dramas more amenable to the advent of sound rather than films that analysed the interior of the character by contrasting it to exterior landscapes and the divine-like prescence of nature as an unreachable narrator, or perhaps the character in specific historic contexts of interest to an audience looking to distance themselves aesthetically from modernity.
Swedish Silent Film scholar Bo Florin makes note of the province held by Nils Bouveng at the newly structured Svenska Filmindustri after the merger had taken place of the smaller companies into one and that Bouveng had published an article entitled Swedish Film Advertising: How the Industry Plans to Conquer the World in the 1919 periodical Filmjournalen. Nils Bouveng of Swedish Biograph was very much responsible for the distribution of Swedish Silent Film in the United States. The publication Exhibitor's Herald during 1921 noted that although Bouveng was deemed to have thought the film market overcrowded, he would still export film "of merit" to the United States. It wrote,"Swedish Biograph has control of all product of Scandinavian studios and will offer only the cream of these pictures to American theaters...While Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness is regarded as its finest offering, company executives believe that Judge Not, Sir Arne's Treasure, Youth Meets Youth, Dawn of Love and Secret of the Monastery will compare favorably with any American made production." Actors that were anticipated to greet audiences in the United States included Mary Johnson, Gosta Ekman Renee Bjorling, Tora Teje, Edith Erastoff Lars Hanson, Karin Molander and Victor Sjostrom.
Scandinavian films were often peered at by American and British film magazines and for thos looking for film rveiews, extatextural discourse on European films can often be located within them. Picture Play Magazine during 1921 looked at the theater screens of Sweden. "Lars Hanson, a star of the Swedish constellation may be added to the European counterparts of American stars. Lesley Mason denominates him 'the Charles Ray of Sweden' and considers him the best male bet of Europe so far as American popularity is concerned. The most popular of the Swedish feminine stars, according to Mr. Mason, are Tora Teje, Karin Molander and Mary Johnson. During the following year, 1922, the periodical Picturegoer magazine in fact recognized actress Mary Johnson as being the leading actress from Sweden in an article about actors known internationally and transnational cinema but opined that as a foreign celebrity she entertained a more subdued fame, as though to denote a lack of commodification of the female in extratextural discourse, ie. exploitation. "Although she rejoices in the title of 'Sweden's Sweetheart", loveable, little Mary Johnson has never recieved a 'fan' letter from Sweden. The reason is extremely simple. There are no 'fans' there. The star, as a star and personality, simply doesn't count. The Swedish picturegoer is very critical as to story, technique and acting and highly appreciative too; but as to writing to the movie stars- perish the thought." Author Walter Bloem, in his volume The Soul of the Moving Picture from 1924, in a discussion on The Scene, singled out two Swedish Silent Film actresses by briefly mentioning Karin Molander and Tora Teje as having "the psychic power which spells variety in the creation of character" as contrasted with a plentiful supply of American actresses that presented "a soporific drama of a single sorrow or grief or pain, of a conventional melancholy, sadness or lament." Author Benjamin B. Hampton to the contrary, in his volume A History of the Movies, published during 1931, seems to transverse the period following the Golden Age of Silent Film as though from 1925-1930 were stagnant, typifying Swedish Silent Film as tendentious. "The Scandinavians, despite fine actors and directors, lean so frequently toward gloomy, sophisticated stories, that they have been negligible factors in production as far as production is concerned." Hampton overlooks that this is exaclty what helps to account for the film made in Sweden after 1925 having been attempts at commercial success through light hearted comedies.
The periodical Motion Picture News during 1925 cited Charles Magnusson as the president of The Swedish Film Industry, Inc. of Stockholm. The occaision was his visit to America and Hollywood. It quoted Magnusson as having said, "American pictures are teaching the people of Sweden to think like Americans, to dress like them and to act like them...They are all emulating the American screen stars and bobbed heads are almost universal throught the North country." He added that Swedish filmmakers were dependent upon artifical lighting, "Our plant in Stockholm is about twelve acres, but we have only two production stages." The Film Daily covered the same visit of Charles Magnusson to Hollywood with the title "Sweden Can't Compete". It claimed that Sweden would look to European markets rather than American and that Swedish audiences demanded American films, one hundread out of one hundread and forty films shown in Sweden being made in Hollywood. Leif Furhammar explains, "Swedish film ended up in a vicious circle, where the production volume declined as American films gained market share, resulting in theaters demanding even more American films to fill the Swedish void." In 1925, only 3% of films screened first run to Swedish audiences were produced in Sweden against 70% of films shown in Sweden being American.
The sentiment that the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film had been overwhelmed by Hollywood and its towering economic system rather than the expected bolstering of Swedish studios through exportation is expressed by author Joel Fryholm, Lund University, who includes the global prescence of American films as conributing to the decline of the Scandinavian art film in a paper tracing the "Swedish Agitation against American Films" and the splashing of advertisements for them in Swedish newspapers that had neccesitated the need for debate regarding legislation. Providing a historiography of Ipsea, for which Gustaf Molander and Olaf Molander directed, Fryholm sees Ipsea as much of the demise of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film by its differing from the transnationalism of a global American cinema by providing a national cinema that differed it choice of subject material from earlier "peasant films", their romanticism, their depiction of provincal culture and that they often "forgrounded the local natural landscape". In effect, Fryholm seems to decribe Sweden as losing world wide ticket holders by offering a new Sweden shown in "Swedish International Films", the reverse effect modernizing storylines had had for the silent film career of Greta Garbo, who at the crescendo of the silent era began to offer a flapper alternative while depating from early costume dramas. In extratextual discourse, film critics had begun to appraise the lack of "peasant films" before the departure of Sjostrom, Stiller, Hanson and Garbo to America had taken hold in the critical reception of first run features. Perhaps not an autuer, Gustaf Molander had reinvented himself and the signature styles of Swedish silent cinema, newspaper critics attempting to compare his films to those made in Hollywood, which at the beginning of the decade absorbed 80% of the Swedish market, as though a new cinematic experience for the remaining 20% of Swedish movie theater tickets. This alternative cosmopolitanism and metropolitanism intended to vie with Hollywood is in part faulted for the decline of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film it later having beenn seen unfavorably by film historian Gosta Werner.
Swedish Silent Film director Ivan Hedqvist, who had acted for Svenska Biografteatern in Kristianstad, during 1919 directed the film "The Downy Girl"(Dunungen) from a novel and play by Selma Lagerlof, the film having starred Jenny Tschernichin-Larssen, Mia Grunder in her first appearance on the silent screen and Renee Bjorling in her first screen appearance for Svenska Biografteatern. The cinematographer to the film was Julius Jaenzon. As an adaptation of the work of Selma Lagerlof the film well meets the criteria if being included as an example of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film. The following year Ivan Hedqvist directed the film "Carolina Rediviva" scripted by Esther Julin and starring Rene Bjorling, Lia Noree and Hilda Bjorgstrom. Paul Rotha attributes the decline of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film simply, uncomplicatedly to their production being discontinued, "In fact, it may be said truthfully that the Swedish Film declined and it died a natural death by reason of its national characteristics of poetic feeling and realism". Paul Rotha typified Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film production with, "They are realized with exceptional visual beauty, being characterized by their lyrical quality of theme and their slowness of development. For their enviornment, full use was made of the natural landscape value of Sweden, whilst their directors were marked by poetic feeling."
Among the films produced by Filmindustri Skandia during 1920 photographed by Raol Reynolds and directed by Rune Carlsten was the film "The Bomb" ("Sunshine and Shadow", "Bomben"), starring Karin Molander and Gosta Ekman. Actress Karin Molander had starred in the lost film "Surrogatet" during 1919, the being no surviving copies of the film. A short film lasting only slightly over a half hour, it was directed by Einar Braun for Filmindustri Scandia, Stockholm. Rune Carlsten in 1920 wrote and directed the Swedish Silent Film film "A Modern Robinson" ("Robinson i skargarden") with actress Mary Johnson. The cinematographer to the film was Raoul Reynolds. Actress Mary Johnson married Norwegian actor Einor Rod after having appeared with him in the film. Director Rune Carlsten that year also directed Mary Johnson with Tora Teje and Hilda Castegren in "Family Traditions" ("Familjens traditioner") which he coscripted as well, his co-author having had been being Sam Ask. The film was produced by Svensk Filmindustri and photographed again by Raoul Reynolds. Einar Froberg was behind the camera duting 1920 to direct the film "Lunda Indians", photographed by Hellwig F. Rimmen. The running time of the film was three quarters of an hour.
Scripted by Hjalmer Bergman as an adaptation of his 1917 work "Friarna pa Rockesnas", the 1921 film "Fru Mariannes fare" was directed by Gunnar Klintberg, the cinematographer to the film having had been Robert Olsson. The film starred Astri Torsell, Ingrid Sunblad, Aslag Lie-Erde and Gota Klintberg. Gunnar Klintberg continued by directing Astr Torsell in two more Swedish Silent Films, "The Love Circle" [Elisabet) with actresses Julia Hakanson and Gota Klintberg and in "Lord Saviles Brott", adapted from the work of Oscar Wilde. Gunner Klintberg's wife, actress Gota Klintberg had appeared with Signe Kolthoff during 1919 in the film "Jefthas dottar", directed by Robert Dinesen. Swedish Silent Film director Ivan Hedqvist in 1921 directed the film "Pilgrimage to Kevlaar" (Valfarten till Kevlaar). Ragnar Hylten Cavailius, who scripted the photoplay of the film, appears on film as a supporting actor. Ivan Hedqvist followed the film in 1924 with "Life in the Country" (Livets pa Landet), photgraphed by Julius Jaenzon and starring Renee Bjorling, Einar Hanson, and the beautiful Mona Martenson. The film us considered a lost silent film with only fragments from newsreel footage.
Mona Martenson during 1922 was on the Swedish stage at Dramaten , under the direction of Olof Molander, performing Hjalmar Bergman's one act play "Mr. Sleeman is Coming". Greta Garbo that year would give her first on stage performance there, at Dramaten, in the play "The Adventure" (La Belle Adventure".
Bo Florin, Stockholm University, descries a financial crisis in Svensk Filmindustri during 1922, to the extent that its affect was the company only having made three films during 1923. Florin points out that a staggering 90% of all silent films shown in Sweden were in fact American and that this loomed over the perhaps immanent departure of director Victor Sjostrom.
Formerly a journalist, Gustaf Edgren in 1922 had founded his own film company, Varmlandsfilm, making his screenwriting and directorial debut with the film "Miss at Pori" (The Young Lady of Bjorneborg/Froken pa Bjorneborg) starring actresses Rosa Tillman, Elsa Wallin and Edith Ernholm in her first film. The photographer was Adrian Bjurman. Adrian Bjorman was again the photographer for Gustav Edgren during 1923 for the film "People of Narke (Narkingara), which Edgren wrote and directed. Starring in the film were Anna Carlsten, Gerda Bjorne, and Maja Jerlstrom in her first appearance on screen. The film was also produced by Edgren's company Varmlandfilm, which would continue to produce only the flms of Gustaf Edgren.
Aparrently actress Karin Swanstrom was required to give co-directing screen credit to her screenwriter Oscar Rydqvist to the first film she was to direct, "Boman at the Fair" (Boman at the Exbhition, Boman pa Uttstallingen", 1923). Photographed by Gustav A Gustafson, the film starred Ingeborg Strandin and was the only film in which Karin Gardtman was to appear.
Although it joins the narrative of film history in a chapter concerned with the decline of Swedish Silent Film and its Golden Age, author Forsyth Hardy describes the work of Inga Tiblad and Einar Hanson in the 1923 Gustaf Molander film "Malapirater" as "pleasant acting". The film is a comedy. Ragnar Widestedt in 1923 directed Agda Helin and Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson in the film "Housemaids" (Hemslavirmor) written by Ragnar Hylten-Cavallius.
Frederick Andersson in 1923 directed the film "En rackarunge" with actresses Elsa Wallin and Mia Grunder. Gustaf V, King of Sweden, is listed as being in the film. It was photographed by Swedish cinematographer Sven Bardach. Sven Bardach had earlier that year photographed his first film, "Andersson, Petterson och Lundstrom", under the direction of Carl Barklind. The film stars Vera Schmiterlow and Mimi Pollock, both aquaintances of Greta Garbo, Inga Tiblad, and Gucken Cederborg.
Swedish Silent Film director Per Lindberg directed his first film during 1923, "Norrtullsligan", written by Hjalmer Bergman and starring Tora Teje, Stina Berg, Linnea Hillberg and Nils Asther. Peter Cowie, in his volume Scandinavian Cinema, commended the film by writing it "belongs among the most courageous and enjoyable films of the European decade. Films prior to 1923 had presented individual female characters of flesh amd blood, but the Nortell Gang established a precedent....The screenplay by Hjalmer Bergman transcends the familiar image of women as decorative objects." Hjalmer Bergman was in fact the brother-in-law of director Per Lindberg. Per Lindberg directed a second film scripted by Hjalmer Bergman during 1923, "Anna Klara and her Brothers" (Anna Klara och hennes broder), it having starred Anna-Britt Ohlsson, Hilda Bjorgstrom, Karin Swanstrom, Linnea Hillberg and Margit Manstad in what would be her first appearance on screen. The film was photographed by Ragnar Westfelt.
The first two films directed by Sigurd Wallen are presumed lost, with no surviving copies existing. Wallen directed "Anderssonkans Kalle" during 1922 with Anna Diedrich and Stina Berg, the photographer to the film Adrian Bjurman. The following year Wallen directed "Anderssonkans Kalle pa Nya Upptage" photographed by Henrik Jaenzon and starring Edvin Adolphson, the debut film of actress Mona Martenson. Swedish Silent Film director Sigurd Wallen during 1923 directed the lost silent film "Friaren fran Landsvagen", which , co-scripted with Sam Ask and photographed by Henrik Jaenzon, had starred Edvin Adolphson, Jenny Hasselquist, and Mia Grunden. Edvin Adolphson in fact had directed a short film during 1923 starring Hilda Castegren, "Gronkopings veckorevy" his first appearance in Swedish movie theaters as a film director. Castegren had previously worked for Rune Carlsten and Gustaf Molander.
Swedish Silent Film director Bror Abelli in 1923 directed his first two films, including the film "Janne Modig", starring Ture Ottoson in the titular role.
The periodical Motion Picture World during 1927 reminded its readers that actress Sigrid Holmquist had already been introduced to audiences in the United States. "Sigrid Holmquist , once called the 'Swedish Mary Pickford' is another foreign star, very popular with american public, who might named. She is at present making some color art pictures at Tiffany." The periodical Motion Picture Classic countered with a full page portrait of the actress photocaptioned with ,"Sigrid Holmquist is one of the dozen or more 'Swedish Mary Pickfords' - every country has one to fifty." After her first silent film made in the United States, "Just Around the Corner" (Frances Marion, 1921, seven reels) in ehich she started with actress Margaret Seddon for Cosmopolitan Pictures, most of the filmscmade in Hollywood by Swedish actress Sigrid Holmquist are presumed lost, with no surviving existing copies, including two of her earliest, the lost silent film "The Prophet's Pradise" (Alan Croslnd, 1922), and the lost silent film "My Old Kentucky Home" (Ray C. Smallwood, as well as including the films "A Gentleman of Leisure" (Joseph Heneby) (1923) and in all probality the film "The Light That Failed" (George Melford, 1923) in which she starred with actress Jacqueline Logan; all filmed in the United States before Greta Gabo, Mona Martenson, and Vera Schmiterlow had entered the Royal Dramatic Training Academy. Before having left Sweden, actress Sigrid Holmquist had debuted in three comedies directed by Lau Lauritzen during 1920 for Palladium, among which were "Karleck och bjornjakt" and "Flickorna i Ave". Swedish Silent Film director Lau Lauritzen continued during 1921 to film the presumed to be lost film 'Silkesstrumpen" starring actresses Oda Rostrup and Winifred Westover an American from California that had appeared in the "Bodakungen" directed by Gustaf Molander. The cinematographer to the film was Hugo J. Fischer. There are no existing copies of the film that survive. Lau Lauritzen also that year continued with the presumed to be lost film "Karleck och Hypnotism", also for Palladium, starring actress Kiss Andersson.
Swedish Silent Film director John Lindlof in 1924 directed the film "Man of Adventure" (Odets Man) with Inga Tiblad and Uno Henning, photographed by Gustav a Gustafson and written by J. Evicius. Knut Lambert who appears as an actor in the film and subsequently several later films, directed the lost film "Equal Among Equal" (Lika mot lika) in 1906, it having been the first film in which actress Tollie Zellman was to appear. Lambert appears with Tollie Zellman in the film as an actor with his wife Helfrid Lambert. There are no surviving copies of the film.
Sigurd Wallen during 1924 directed Inga Tiblad with Einar Froberg in " Grevarna pa Svanta" photographed by Henrik Jaenzon. Mostly known for being a theater director it was the first of only a handful of films Froberg had appeared in and the only film script that he had written. Froberg had directed an earlier film, "Lunda-indianer" starring Ture Sjogre and Malte Akerman, during 1920, his only time behind the camera, and had directed his own play, "Individerna Forbund' in Stockholm during 1919. Gustaf Molander appeared on stage in Stockholm in Froberg's play "Erna" under the direction of Gustaf Linden at The Drama (Dramaten) during 1922.
Ivar Kage in 1924 directed Gosta Hillberg and Edvin Adolphson in the film "When the Lighthouse Flashes" (Dar fyren blinken) for Svensk Ornfilm. The script was written by Esther Julin who had earlier adapted the novels of Selma Lagerlof to the screen for Victor Sjostrom. A fairly obscure or nonprolific photographer, Hellwig Rimmen during 1924 photographed the only film that he was to direct, "Hogsta Vinsten", it having starred actress Hilma Bolvig. The running time to the film was a half hour. Rimmen had began filming in Sweden under the direction of Einar Fronerg during the only film he was to direct, the 1920 film "Lunda-Indianer".
Actor Bror Berger directed one Swedish Silent Film the 1924 "Den Forgylida lergoken", based on thebplay by Emil Norlander. The film stars actresses Anna-Lisa Lindzen, Gunnilla Ehrenmark, Anna Herzman, and Stina Gutterman.
In the world Swedish Literature, during 1924 the author Birger Sjoberg published the novel Kvartetten som sprangdes (The Quartet That Split Up) which was later adapted for the screen three times, the directors including Arne Bornebusch,Gustaf Molander and Hans Alfredson.
Gustaf Edgren in 1924 directed the film "The King of Trollebro" (Trollebokungen) an adaptation of the Maja pa Stadt's 1917 novel scripted by Solve Cederstrand and photographed by C.A. Soderstrom, the film having starred actresesses Signe Ekloff, Gunvor Winberg, and Anna Carlsten, wife of Rune Carlsten.
Rune Carlsten directed a handful of Swedish Silent Films before distinguishing himself as a director of Swedish Sound Film, in 1924 their having included the film "The Young Nobleman" (Ung greven tar flickan och priset) starring Karin Swanstrom. In 1925 Rune Carlsten married beautiful Dora Soderberg, daughter of novelist Hjalmer Soderberg, author of the 1905 novel "Dr. Glas" and the 1912 novel "The Serious Game".
Included in the number of Swedish Silent Films that are lost, with no surviving copies known to exist is the film "40 Skipper Street" (Skeppargatan 40), directed by Gustaf Edgren during 1925. The film brought Mona Martenson and Einar Hanson together on screen , it also having featutred actresses Magda Holm and Karin Swanstrom. The photoplay was cowritten by director Gustaf Edgren with HUgo CLareus and Solve Cederstrand.
During 1925, Pauline Brunius was appearing on stage with Gosta Ekman in the play "Dalin och Drottningen", written by her brother in law, August Brunius. August Brunius has recently been described by one biographer as having been "the first professional Swedish critic", his having had begun writing essay on the theater in 1917.
Swedish Silent Film director William Larsson during 1925 directed the film "Broderna Ostermans huskors" with Jenny Tscherichin-Larsson and Frida Sporrong; the film is presumed to be lost with no surviving copies existing as is its 1932 remake directed by Thure Alfe, in which actress Fida Sporrong also appeared. During 1925 William Larsson also directed "For hemmet och flickan" with Jenny Tchernichin Larsson and Elsa Widborg in what was to be the first film in which she was to appear. The former was photographed by Arthur Thorell, the former by Henrik Jaenzon. "For hemmet och flickan" is presumed to be lost, with no surviving copies existing and carried the first screenplay written by Weyler Hildebrand, who went on to direct Swedish sound films.
Swedish Silent Film director Sigurd Wallen during 1925 directed the film "Hennes lilla Majestat" starring actresses Margita Alfven, Stina Berg, Gucken Cederborg, and Olga Andersson in the first feature film in which she was to appear. With a photoplay scripted by Henning Ohlson, the film was photographed by Axel Lindblom.
Olaf Molander, to bring the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film to an anticlimax rather than a crescendo, directed only three silent films, the first in 1925, the next the following year and one the year following that. About the 1925 film, "Lady of the Camelias"(Damen med kameliorna) Forsyth Hardy writes,"The film derived some distinction from the delicately composed interiors and the touching performance of Tora Teje gave in response to Molander's skilled direction." Peter Cowie writes, "Although the film betrays the theatrical loyalties of its director, the camera observing most scenes from a single, rigid, set up, Molander knows how to rein in the histrionics of his players (Nils Arehn, for example creates an excellant Georges Duvall) and he copes well with the outdoor scenes." Photographed by Gustaf A. Gustafson, the films stars Ivan Hedqvist, Hilda Bjorgstrom and Lisskulla Jobs in the first film in which she was to appear. Not incidentally, during 1925 Olaf Molander directed "Kameliadamen" on stage at the Royal Dramtic Theater, Stockholm.
During 1926 Olaf Molander directed August Strindberg's play "Advent" at the Royal Dramatic Theater, Stovkholm. Olaf Molander chose August Strindberg's short story "Ett Dockhem" for his second of three Swedish Silent Films, adapted for the screen in 1926 from a screenplay by Per Axel Branner as the film "Married Life/Getting Married" (Giftas), photographed by Gustaf A. Gustafson. Scholar Jesper Larsson, in his paper "Tora Teje, Reception and Swedishness" writes that actress Tora Teje "was deemed to be stiff and unsuited for the screen". Jesper Larsson intuitively or sagaciously recognizes the reception of the star image of Tora Teje as "an extension of how American films reproduced ideas about consumption and luxury" veering from the concept and aesthetic of the golden age of Swedish Silent Film and its "distillation of a distinctive national style...often set in historical times or rural Sweden." Also appearing in the film "Married Life" are actresses Hilda Borgstrom and Margaret Manstad.
Actress Tora Teje returned to the stage and Dramaten during 1926 to bring August Brunius' play "Messeniernas fall" to Swedish Theater under the direction of of Olaf Molander. Mimi Pollack gives an account that she and Greta Garbo looked up to Tora Teje while at drama school and attempted to imitate her, which may account for Garbo's languishing fatigue of disinterest while portraying characters- Tora Teje at the time was austere while being devoted to religion and lofty. Pauline Brunius, on the other hand was to become Tora Teje's bitter rival.
During a year that he directed "Peer Gynt" by Henrik Ibsen at the Royal Dramtic Theatre in Stockholm, Olaf Molander continued during 1927 with "Only a Dancing Girl" (Bara en danserska), starring Lili Dagover, Karin Swanstrom, and Anna-Lisa Ryding, which he wrote and directed. The cinematographer to the film was Hugo Edlund.
Sigurd Wallen during 1926 directed the film "Ebberods Bank", the assistant director to the film Rolf Husberg. The film starred acresses Stina Berg, Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson and Carina May in her first of three screen appearances. The film is presumed to be lost, with no survivivng copies.
There are no surviving copies of the lost silent film "My Wife Has a Fiancee" (Min Fru har en Fastman, 1926) directed by Theodor Berthels who coscripted the photoplay with wife Greta Berthels. SWedish silent film actress Jenny Hasselquist stars in the film with Thora Ostberg and Tyra Leijman-Uppstrom. It was one of two films produced by Thebe Film. THe following year Theodor Berthels directed the film "Arnljot" (1927) from a manuscript written by his wife Greta Berthels. Both appear onscreen in the film with actress Thora Ostberg. The photographer of the film was Adrian Bjurman. The film is also presumed to be lost, with no surviving copies.
Petschler-Film during 1926 produced the film "Brollopet i Brana" directed by Eric A. Petschler and written by Esther Julin and Lars Tessing. The film, photographed by Gustav A. Gustafson, teamed Edvin Adolphson, Mona Martensen and Emmy Albin. The film "Hin och smalanningen" directed by Erik A Petschler for Petschler Film during 1927 is presumed to be lost, with no known surviving cooies of the film. Co-written by Petschler with Sam Ask as an adaptation of the 1888 play by Frans Hedberg, the film starred actresses Jenny Tchernichin-Larsson, Anita Dow, Birgit Tengroth and Greta Anjov. Screenwriter Sam Ask appears on screen as an actor. The film was photographed by Gustav A. Gustafson.
"Mordbrannerskan" (1926), directed by John Lindlof, photographed by Gustaf A. Gustafson and starring Vera Schmiterlow and Brita Appelgren was the first film in which Birgit Tengroth was to appear.
Actress Vera Schmiterlow, fondly remembered for being a friend of Greta Garbo, during 1927 under the direction of Sigurd Wallen with actress Stina Berg in the film "The Queen of Pellagonia" (Drottninggen av Pellagonia". Scripted by playwright Henningen Ohlsson, the film was photographed byAxel Lindblom.
Swedish Silent Film director Gustaf Edgren in 1927 directed "The Ghost Baron" (Spokbaronen) starring Karin Swanstrom and photographed by Adrian Bjuman, which was followed by "Black Rudolph" (Svarte Rudolph) in 1928, starring Inga Tiblad amd Fridolf Rhudin, both films having been written by Solve Cederstrand. The assistant director to the film "Black Rudolph" had been Gunnar Skogland. It was the first film in which actress Katie Rolfson was to appear.
Vilhelm Bryde directed his only film during 1927, "A Husband By Proxy" (En Perfekt Gentleman) a comedy scripted by Hjalmar Bergman starring Gosta Ekman, La Jana and Karin Swanstrom. The film was produced by Minerva Film. Bryde had acted in a more than a dozen Swedish Silent Films beggining with "Erotikon", directed by Mauritz Stiller.
Screenwriter Ragnar Hylten Cavailius directed a half dozen films over two decades included in his more than fourty years of contributing scripts to Swedish Silent and Swedish sound films. Included among them during 1928 was the film "Hans kungl. Hoget shinglar" starring actresses Karin Swanstrom, Brita Appelgren and Maria Paudler. The film was scripted by Paul Merzbach.
Like Ragnar Hylten Cavailius, a screenwriter from the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film that later had had a limited foray into directing films, Sam Ask wrote and directed the 1928 Swedish Silent "Erik XIV", it having starred Sophus von Rosen, Eva Monk af Rosenchold, Lisa Ryden and Gosta Werner. Nothwithstanding, despite the film "Erik XIV", author Peter Cowie sees 1928 as the beginning of a "barren period" ensuing after Charles Magnusson was "eased out of" Svenska Filmindustri by Ivar Kruger with Olaf Andersson as head of the firm. Charles Magnusson had folded, and left his position at Svenska Filmindustri during 1928, but the present author feels that perhaps author Peter Cowie is either mistaken or exaggerating when he claims that it had precipitated a "veritable exodus of talent"- the directors Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller admittedly were in the United States, but contrary to Cowie's volume Scandinavian Cinema, actor and actress Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson had undoubtedly left Sweden prior to the departure of Charles Magnusson, as had Einar Hanson, leaving only the screenwriters Hjalmer Bergman and concievably Tancred Ibsen. And yet the spirit of Cowie's passage views him as essential as a founder and catalyst, which he was.
Peter Cowie, in his volume Scandinavian Cinema chronicles the end of the silent era in Sweden as being a time of less output, "Swedish film production declined through the 1920's, reaching a nadir in 1929, when a mere six features were released."
Danish Silent Film
Victor Sjostrom
Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
09 Sep 20:56
While writing about the film "Wild Strawberries", Jorn Donner notes that Ingmar Bergman's film is in part a tribute to Victor Sjostrom the director. "Many scenes have a tie-in with Victor Sjostrom's work. A smashed watch plays a part in 'Karin Ingmarsdotter'." Author Peter Cowie, in his volume Scandinavian Cinema, points out the danger involved in the hazardous stunts, notably plunging into an icy river, that Victor Sjostrom employed while shooting the film.
Author Forsyth Hardy again defines the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film by describing the several adaptations of the novel "Jerusalem", written by Selma Lagerlof, "These stories of peasant life had the qualities which had come to be expected in the Swedish films: a stern and exacting moral code, an expressive use of landscape, and a consciousness of the power of the elements...Her novels had their roots deep in the counntry's culture and in this, and in the breadth and sweep of their treatment they gave the directors what they needed."
With a photoplay scripted by director Victor Sjostrom, the six reel film was photographed by Julius Jaenzon. It had been Victor Sjostrom that had visited Selma Lagerlof in Dalecarli to discuss the filming of adaptations of the novel. Sjostrom had in fact hoped to film Liljecrona's Home rather than Jerusalem. Scholar Ulla Britta Lagerroth, University of California, chronicles Selma Lagerlof and Victor Sjostrom having corresponded at legnth, Lagerroth particularly noting that Sjostrom had turned down adapting a short story about the symbolic relationship between men an trolls, The Changeling, written by Lagerlof during 1908.
Actress Tora Teje costars in the film "Karin Ingmarsdottar" as the title character of the film with director Victor Sjostrom. Harriet Bosse, who was married to playwright August Strindberg between 1901-1904 and then actor Gunnar Wingard between 1908-1911, appears in a breif appearance during the film. She had previously appeared in the film "Ingmarssonerna", written and directed by Victor Sjostrom and photographed by Julius Jaenzon during 1919. Victor Sjostrom Silent Film
Scott Lord Swedish Silent Film: Karin Ingmarsdotter (Victor Sjöström, ...
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
While writing about the film "Wild Strawberries", Jorn Donner notes that Ingmar Bergman's film is in part a tribute to Victor Sjostrom the director. "Many scenes have a tie-in with Victor Sjostrom's work. A smashed watch plays a part in 'Karin Ingmarsdotter'." Author Peter Cowie, in his volume Scandinavian Cinema, points out the danger involved in the hazardous stunts, notably plunging into an icy river, that Victor Sjostrom employed while shooting the film.
Author Forsyth Hardy again defines the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film by describing the several adaptations of the novel "Jerusalem", written by Selma Lagerlof, "These stories of peasant life had the qualities which had come to be expected in the Swedish films: a stern and exacting moral code, an expressive use of landscape, and a consciousness of the power of the elements...Her novels had their roots deep in the counntry's culture and in this, and in the breadth and sweep of their treatment they gave the directors what they needed."
With a photoplay scripted by director Victor Sjostrom, the six reel film was photographed by Julius Jaenzon. It had been Victor Sjostrom that had visited Selma Lagerlof in Dalecarli to discuss the filming of adaptations of the novel. Sjostrom had in fact hoped to film Liljecrona's Home rather than Jerusalem. Scholar Ulla Britta Lagerroth, University of California, chronicles Selma Lagerlof and Victor Sjostrom having corresponded at legnth, Lagerroth particularly noting that Sjostrom had turned down adapting a short story about the symbolic relationship between men an trolls, The Changeling, written by Lagerlof during 1908.
Actress Tora Teje costars in the film "Karin Ingmarsdottar" as the title character of the film with director Victor Sjostrom. Harriet Bosse, who was married to playwright August Strindberg between 1901-1904 and then actor Gunnar Wingard between 1908-1911, appears in a breif appearance during the film. She had previously appeared in the film "Ingmarssonerna", written and directed by Victor Sjostrom and photographed by Julius Jaenzon during 1919. Victor Sjostrom Silent Film
Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
01 Sep 08:07
Scott Lord Swedish Silent Film: Forstadprasten (Suburban Priest, George ...
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
During 1917, Swedish Silent Film director George af Klerker directed actress Mary Johnson in the film "The Suburban Vicar" ("Forstudprasten"), in which she starred with Corcordia Selander and Lilly Graber. Photographed by Carl Gustaf Florin, the film was scripted by Harriet Bloch.
Victor Sjostrom
Victor Sjostrom
Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
28 Aug 09:22
Scott Lord Silent Film: The Bond (Charlie Chaplin, 1918)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
25 Aug 21:24
Scott Lord Silent Film: Silent Command (J.Gordon Edwards,1923)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Its first run having coincided with Lon Chaney having appeared on theater marquees while starring in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, "The Silent Command", directed by J. Gordon Edwards during 1923, starred the relatively unknown actor Bela Lugosi. With actresses Alma Tell, Martha Mansfield and Florence Martin, the periodical Photoplay Magazine offered its review as near hyperbole, "Betty Jewel is the prettiest thing in the cast."
Lon Chaney Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney Lon Chaney
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
25 Aug 05:10
Scott Lord Mystery: Ellery Queen’s Penthouse Mystery (Hogan, 1942)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Scott Lord likes this
22 Aug 08:12
Scott Lord Silent Film: Mary Pickford in Little Annie Rooney (William Beaudine, 1925)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Audiences in 1925 viewed Mary Pickford in the silent film "Little Annie Rooney" (William Beaudine, nine reels). Silent Film Silent Film Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
21 Aug 04:10
Exhibitor's Herald during 1921 praised the film "The Golem" (Der Golem) for its "ingenious handling of the masses engaged in many of the scenes, persons numbering in the thousands", claiming, "the point of direction and composition" was a "splendid piece of work". It also added, "The lighting, photography and general detail is lacking, and the characters, many of them, are over done in make-up."
Author Lotte H. Eisner, in his volume "The Haunted Screen", explains the contemporaneity of "The Golem", "Paul Wegener always denied having had the intention of making an Expressionist film with his Golem. But that has not stopped people from calling it Expressionist." Seeing the film as an import, or "art film"- an idea particularly important to Scandinavian film companies during that decade almost up to the departure of Charles Magnusson from Swedish Biograph, and therefore an idea frequent in the extratextural film discourse of film critics and reviewers- Picture Play Magazine during 1921 also compared "THe Golem" to "Doctor Caligari" and the theater of Max Reinhardt in its having translated to the screen "the immense imaginative possiblities of the futurist school of dramatic expression". That year periodical highlighted the film with a two page photo dislay, each photo taking up half a page, explaining that "sensational success is predicted" while introducing the "foeign made film", "one of the most important European productions". The photocaptions pointed out the films "curious haunting beauty." The British peridical Pictures and Picturegoer during 1923 did in fact approach genre theory by combining then recent early examples of the mystery thriller, including John Barrymore in his appearance in Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, in the article Macabre Movies, distinguishing "The Golem" as a "picturization of a mediaeval legend" but comparing its "Cubist scenery" with that of "Doctor Caligari" with its half-lit ineteriors.
Wegener had given a lecture during 1916 entitled "The Artistic Possibilities of Cinema" as a proponent of "cinematic lyricism" where lines would appear then change as moving surfaces.
Motion Picture World, rather, during 1921 chose to begin with the film's "subject matter" and its "preposteruous story". "He has grasped the most essential fact about his duties as a director- to tell a story in action and develop characters at the same time. Every foot of film advances the progress of the story. There are no cutbacks, no halts for bits of local color or parenthetical description of any of the characters. He knows the meaning of the word drama."
The periodical Motion Picture News during 1921 noted, "Wegener deserves double credit for he also plays the tile role and makes it an unforgettable figure."
Paul Wegener wrote,directed and starred in the his first adaptation of the novel "The Golem" in 1915, presumed to be almost entirely lost with only fragments surviving. Henri Galeen co-wrote and co-directed the photoplay exhibited as "Monster of Fate" in the United States, where Wegener appeared in the 1926 film "The Magician", directed by Rex Ingram.
Silent Film Silent Film Lon Chaney
Scott Lord Silent Film: The Golem, How He Came into the World (Paul Wegener, 1920)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Exhibitor's Herald during 1921 praised the film "The Golem" (Der Golem) for its "ingenious handling of the masses engaged in many of the scenes, persons numbering in the thousands", claiming, "the point of direction and composition" was a "splendid piece of work". It also added, "The lighting, photography and general detail is lacking, and the characters, many of them, are over done in make-up."
Author Lotte H. Eisner, in his volume "The Haunted Screen", explains the contemporaneity of "The Golem", "Paul Wegener always denied having had the intention of making an Expressionist film with his Golem. But that has not stopped people from calling it Expressionist." Seeing the film as an import, or "art film"- an idea particularly important to Scandinavian film companies during that decade almost up to the departure of Charles Magnusson from Swedish Biograph, and therefore an idea frequent in the extratextural film discourse of film critics and reviewers- Picture Play Magazine during 1921 also compared "THe Golem" to "Doctor Caligari" and the theater of Max Reinhardt in its having translated to the screen "the immense imaginative possiblities of the futurist school of dramatic expression". That year periodical highlighted the film with a two page photo dislay, each photo taking up half a page, explaining that "sensational success is predicted" while introducing the "foeign made film", "one of the most important European productions". The photocaptions pointed out the films "curious haunting beauty." The British peridical Pictures and Picturegoer during 1923 did in fact approach genre theory by combining then recent early examples of the mystery thriller, including John Barrymore in his appearance in Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, in the article Macabre Movies, distinguishing "The Golem" as a "picturization of a mediaeval legend" but comparing its "Cubist scenery" with that of "Doctor Caligari" with its half-lit ineteriors.
Wegener had given a lecture during 1916 entitled "The Artistic Possibilities of Cinema" as a proponent of "cinematic lyricism" where lines would appear then change as moving surfaces.
Motion Picture World, rather, during 1921 chose to begin with the film's "subject matter" and its "preposteruous story". "He has grasped the most essential fact about his duties as a director- to tell a story in action and develop characters at the same time. Every foot of film advances the progress of the story. There are no cutbacks, no halts for bits of local color or parenthetical description of any of the characters. He knows the meaning of the word drama."
The periodical Motion Picture News during 1921 noted, "Wegener deserves double credit for he also plays the tile role and makes it an unforgettable figure."
Paul Wegener wrote,directed and starred in the his first adaptation of the novel "The Golem" in 1915, presumed to be almost entirely lost with only fragments surviving. Henri Galeen co-wrote and co-directed the photoplay exhibited as "Monster of Fate" in the United States, where Wegener appeared in the 1926 film "The Magician", directed by Rex Ingram.
Silent Film Silent Film Lon Chaney
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
20 Aug 07:01
Actress Theda Bara appeared with Dale Fuller and Eileen Percy during 1925 in "The Unchastened Woman" (seven reels) directed by James Young. Most of the films of Theda Bara are presumed to be lost, with no surviving copies, there being less than half a dozen films out of the fourty in which she appeared that presently can be screened.
Silent Film Silent Film Silent Film Silent Film
Scott Lord Silent Film: The Unchastened Woman (James Young, 1925)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Actress Theda Bara appeared with Dale Fuller and Eileen Percy during 1925 in "The Unchastened Woman" (seven reels) directed by James Young. Most of the films of Theda Bara are presumed to be lost, with no surviving copies, there being less than half a dozen films out of the fourty in which she appeared that presently can be screened.
Silent Film Silent Film Silent Film Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord and one other like this
08 Aug 09:24
SILENT FILM
The book Pictorial Beauty on the Screen, written by Victor Oscar Freeburg in 1923, was dedicated to James Cruze, director of the silent film 'The Covered Wagon' (ten reels). The introduction to the volume was written by silent film director Rex Ingram. Ingram notes that the silent film "must be composed of certain pictorial qualifications such as form, composition and a proper distribution of light and shade." Film poetry began with the silent film, despite any rennaisance in the nineteen seventies.
Allan Eyles notes that "The Covered Wagon" (Cruze, 1923), made in the United States at a time when film criticism was giving more than a cursoy glance to the work of Swedish silent film director Victor Seastrom who had only just then arrived in America with Mauritz Stiller to bring a close to the Golden Age of Swedish Silent, was remarkable for its depicting the relationships of the characters within narrative to the enviornment in which the story takes place, its plotline built around the interaction of its three primary characters.
After mentioning "The Covered Wagon" as having been a western differing in genre from the comedies directed by James Cruze, author Gary Carey, Museum of Modern Art, in his volume Lost Films, as early as 1970, writes of the comedy "Beggar on Horseback", directed by Cruze during 1925 having been once considered lost before copies of it had resurfaced. Gary Carey includes the comedy 'Merton of the Movies", which featured the cameos of fifty silent film actors and actresses, directed by Cruze during 1923 as having been a Lost Silent Film during 1970 while overlooking a sevond satire on tinseltown titled "Hollywood", also presently considered lost, starring Viola Dana and directed by James Cruze during 1923.
Silent Film Silent Film
Scott Lord Silent Film: The Covered Wagon (James Cruze, 1924)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
After mentioning "The Covered Wagon" as having been a western differing in genre from the comedies directed by James Cruze, author Gary Carey, Museum of Modern Art, in his volume Lost Films, as early as 1970, writes of the comedy "Beggar on Horseback", directed by Cruze during 1925 having been once considered lost before copies of it had resurfaced. Gary Carey includes the comedy 'Merton of the Movies", which featured the cameos of fifty silent film actors and actresses, directed by Cruze during 1923 as having been a Lost Silent Film during 1970 while overlooking a sevond satire on tinseltown titled "Hollywood", also presently considered lost, starring Viola Dana and directed by James Cruze during 1923.
Silent Film Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord likes this
27 Jun 06:17
Claimed to have been a "sensation" by writers of the period, "Black Oxen" (eight reels) was directed by Frank Lloyd, who co-wrote the script with Mary O'Hara as an adaptation of a then recent, then controversial novel by Gertrude Atherton. Atherton took the title from a phrase from poet William Butler Yeats. The film stars actresses Corinne Griffith and Clara Bow.
Screenland magazine reviewed the film during November of 1923. "The passing years are like black oxen, wrote Gertrude Atherton, plodding on relentlessly. The heroine of 'Black Oxen' is a famous beauty who successfully renews her youth, thereby creating a new world for herself, far from her old loves and dreams."
SILENT FILM
SILENT FILM
SILENT FILM
Scott Lord Silent Film: Black Oxen (Frank Lloyd, 1923)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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19 Jun 06:19
Lamont Cranston in The Shadow Strikes (Shores,1937)
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Scott Lord likes this
14 Jun 20:01
Motion Picture World Magazine reviewed the one reel film "Lady Godiva" directed by J.Stuart Blackton for the Vitagraph Company of America with Julia Swayne Gordon in the titular role, "There are many dramatic situations in this picture, especially where the appearance of of Lady Godiva is anticipated as she is about to start upon her journey...This climax touches our sympathy and we grasp the refinement and culture dispalyed by Miss Swayne in acting this part part so admirably and sucessfully, a matter not easy to accomplish."
Advertisements for the film were placed in the periodical Moving Picture World heralding the film, "A historic legend of the Eleventh Century. An old tale told with Vitagraph accuracy and clearness. A feature film that you can feature." The studio claimed to release five new films every week.
Appearing in the film were husband and wife Clara Kimball Young and James Young.
Scott Lord Silent Film
Scott Lord Silent Film: Lady Godiva (Vitagraph,1911 )
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
Motion Picture World Magazine reviewed the one reel film "Lady Godiva" directed by J.Stuart Blackton for the Vitagraph Company of America with Julia Swayne Gordon in the titular role, "There are many dramatic situations in this picture, especially where the appearance of of Lady Godiva is anticipated as she is about to start upon her journey...This climax touches our sympathy and we grasp the refinement and culture dispalyed by Miss Swayne in acting this part part so admirably and sucessfully, a matter not easy to accomplish."
Advertisements for the film were placed in the periodical Moving Picture World heralding the film, "A historic legend of the Eleventh Century. An old tale told with Vitagraph accuracy and clearness. A feature film that you can feature." The studio claimed to release five new films every week.
Appearing in the film were husband and wife Clara Kimball Young and James Young.
Scott Lord Silent Film
Scott Lord, Scott Lord Mystery Film likes this
14 Jun 05:40
Lon Chaney Trade Magazine Covers
by Scott Lord on Silent Film
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