Sumptuously produced with magnificent photography by Sophus Wangøe, decked out with state of the art special effects and visual treats like a creepy vignette depicting Satan (resembling Nosferatu with hair) tempting Christ - and ending with a spectacular fire (followed by an even more spectacular conversion to Christianity by Asta Nielsen), 'Towards the Light' has a surface sophistication wholly at odds with it's sanctimonious Sunday school didacticism.
Asta Nielsen plays Ysabel, a self-absorbed countess with the power to drive men to suicide; not that Ysabel cares, being an atheist and thus having no morals or sense of responsibility. (Lilly Jacobsson hovers menacingly in the background during these earlier scenes as a young rival in love named Inga, casting envious eyes at Ysabel and her current beau as if plotting mischief; but this leads nowhere, suggesting missing footage). A parallel storyline concerns the plight of Astrid Holm as Wenka, alone in the world apart from her brutal stepfather and beloved cat, who finds sanctuary on clergyman Elias Renato's island community for the destitute. (We don't learn what happened to the cat.)
Ysabel then weds (improbably wearing white) a fake Baron with whom her honeymoon is rudely interrupted when the newlyweds' taxi is intercepted and the groom led away in handcuffs. The shock breaks Ysabel's mother's health and it is at this low ebb that Elias catches Ysabel's eye and she abruptly finds God. The film makes the usual specious claim that religious faith alone automatically makes someone a better person regardless of their individual motives, despite it plainly being the collapse of her personal life rather than a genuine change of heart that drives Ysabel into religion's clammy embrace; deriving - as with the bandit Anacleto in 'The Singer Not the Song' - from her yen for dishy Elias rather than what he's actually selling.
Asta Nielsen plays Ysabel, a self-absorbed countess with the power to drive men to suicide; not that Ysabel cares, being an atheist and thus having no morals or sense of responsibility. (Lilly Jacobsson hovers menacingly in the background during these earlier scenes as a young rival in love named Inga, casting envious eyes at Ysabel and her current beau as if plotting mischief; but this leads nowhere, suggesting missing footage). A parallel storyline concerns the plight of Astrid Holm as Wenka, alone in the world apart from her brutal stepfather and beloved cat, who finds sanctuary on clergyman Elias Renato's island community for the destitute. (We don't learn what happened to the cat.)
Ysabel then weds (improbably wearing white) a fake Baron with whom her honeymoon is rudely interrupted when the newlyweds' taxi is intercepted and the groom led away in handcuffs. The shock breaks Ysabel's mother's health and it is at this low ebb that Elias catches Ysabel's eye and she abruptly finds God. The film makes the usual specious claim that religious faith alone automatically makes someone a better person regardless of their individual motives, despite it plainly being the collapse of her personal life rather than a genuine change of heart that drives Ysabel into religion's clammy embrace; deriving - as with the bandit Anacleto in 'The Singer Not the Song' - from her yen for dishy Elias rather than what he's actually selling.