IMDb > Prästänkan (1920)

Prästänkan (1920) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   261 votes
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Writers:
Kristofer Janson (story)
Carl Theodor Dreyer (adaptation)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Witch Woman on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 October 1920 (Sweden) more
Genre:
Plot:
A young man is elected by a small village to be its parson. As part of his duties, he is required to marry the widow of the parson before him... more | add synopsis
User Comments:
A posthumous (and minor) masterpiece. more (8 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Greta Almroth ... Mari
Einar Röd ... Söfren
Hildur Carlberg ... Margarete Pedersdotter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Olav Aukrust ... First Candidate
Emil Helsengreen ... The Gardener
Mathilde Nielsen ... Gunvor
Lorentz Thyholt ... The Beadle
Kurt Welin ... Second Candidate
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Witch Woman (International: English title) (USA)
The Fourth Marriage of Dame Margaret
The Parson's Widow
Youth to Youth
more
Runtime:
USA:71 min (2003 alternate version)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
USA:TV-14 (TV rating)
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Featured in Carl Th. Dreyer (1966) more

FAQ

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A posthumous (and minor) masterpiece., 8 August 2009
8/10
Author: Irie212 from New York City

Hildur Carlberg, the skilled septuagenarian actress who plays Dame Margarete, died in August, 1920, two months before this film opened-- a heartbreaking irony, in part because the plot involves her youthful husband marrying her only to await her death.

The film has marvelous comic moments, capitalizing on the fact that the medieval Europeans suffered from backbreaking work, a total absence of education, and a desperate need for dentists. The scene when two of the clerics (the losers) compete for the job of parson by delivering sermons in which they inadvertently skewer their own backwardness is priceless, especially as they are speaking to a congregation of bedraggled and toothless locals who were mostly in church to nap. And the scene where an old lady hocks something out of her nose before returning to her needlepoint-- fabulous.

Dreyer, a committed naturalist who didn't even approve of make-up on his performers, shot this film on location at Maihaugen, Norway, in an open-air museum of 200 medieval buildings. Even the interiors are authentic. Every frame shows it. Watch particularly for a folk wall hanging in Dame Margarete's home. This is another silent gem from the director of The Passion of Joan of Arc.

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