Why on earth do people with not a clue about the area the spouting off about nevertheless come off as some kind of authority on the subject. Witness the reviews so far here - those with marks given. One reviewer describes the plot as ludicrous. This person must have no understanding either of non-English speaking cinema, which ordinarily recognises that what people would normally do in a set of circumstances isn't what everyone would do. The former is the cinema of the average, and in fact, even 'the average' is a fallacy, seeing as in all the little details of how we all are, we are far more odd and unexpected than non-'ludicrous' cinema gives us credit for.
Gunar Hedes Saga is another wonderful film by one of three masters of Swedish cinema - Mauritz Stiller. Those who do know about silent film commonly dismiss Stiller as 'cleverer' than Victor Sjostrom - the other brilliant Swedish director the teens and twenties (before Hollywood) - as if this is a bad thing. He cleverness, or rather mastery of the possible capacity of the camera, is certainly on display here. Though it would not be said, Stiller lost out to Sjostrom by not being 'truly' making Swedish film, despite the fact that he embraced the (Swedish) outdoors and its mystical power, and used Swedish actors and personnel, though he himself was Finnish of an ancestry of Russian Jews. His hold on greatness is shaken by this - though no-one will say it - that he isn't as convenient as Sjostrom to the history of Swedish silent film, or that of the teens/20's.
The acting here is excellent despite what has been said, not exaggerated but expressing states of mind that are out there in the world every day, though the cinema of the average wouldn't admit it. This and Herr Arnes Pengar are marvelous, groundbreaking films . Stiller and Sjostrom were creating cinema wonderfully fresh compared to what went before. Murnau is always given credit for this for his work of the '20's, but before he came along, these two Swedish filmmakers - both of them - were shoving those boundaries back also.
Stiller didn't act and so didn't bind himself to a smaller talent for it than directing, as Sjostrom did. Ingeborg Holm - way back in 1913 - shows what Sjostrom could do with actors when he took himself out of the frame. Terje Vigen has Sjostrom in practically every scene, and would benefit from a little less in what is otherwise another brilliant film.
Gunar Hedes Saga is another wonderful film by one of three masters of Swedish cinema - Mauritz Stiller. Those who do know about silent film commonly dismiss Stiller as 'cleverer' than Victor Sjostrom - the other brilliant Swedish director the teens and twenties (before Hollywood) - as if this is a bad thing. He cleverness, or rather mastery of the possible capacity of the camera, is certainly on display here. Though it would not be said, Stiller lost out to Sjostrom by not being 'truly' making Swedish film, despite the fact that he embraced the (Swedish) outdoors and its mystical power, and used Swedish actors and personnel, though he himself was Finnish of an ancestry of Russian Jews. His hold on greatness is shaken by this - though no-one will say it - that he isn't as convenient as Sjostrom to the history of Swedish silent film, or that of the teens/20's.
The acting here is excellent despite what has been said, not exaggerated but expressing states of mind that are out there in the world every day, though the cinema of the average wouldn't admit it. This and Herr Arnes Pengar are marvelous, groundbreaking films . Stiller and Sjostrom were creating cinema wonderfully fresh compared to what went before. Murnau is always given credit for this for his work of the '20's, but before he came along, these two Swedish filmmakers - both of them - were shoving those boundaries back also.
Stiller didn't act and so didn't bind himself to a smaller talent for it than directing, as Sjostrom did. Ingeborg Holm - way back in 1913 - shows what Sjostrom could do with actors when he took himself out of the frame. Terje Vigen has Sjostrom in practically every scene, and would benefit from a little less in what is otherwise another brilliant film.