The Heavenly Play (1942)

Mats Ersson is engaged to Marit and they plan to get married in the spring. But when the plague comes, the people accuse Marit of witchcraft. She is sentenced to death. Mats can not ... See full summary »

Director:

Alf Sjöberg

Writers:

Rune Lindström (play), Rune Lindström (screenplay)

Stars:

Rune Lindström, Eivor Landström, Anders Henrikson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rune Lindström	...	Mats Ersson
Eivor Landström	...	Marit Knutsdotter
Anders Henrikson	...	Our Lord
Holger Löwenadler	...	King Salomo
Gudrun Brost	...	King Salomo's mistress
Arnold Sjöstrand	...	Juvas Anders, painter
Emil Fjellström	...	Gammel-Jerk
Nils Gustafsson	...	Blind man at the road
Hugo Björne	...	profet Elias
Torsten Winge	...	Jonas
Erik Hell	...	Jon Persson
Åke Claesson	...	Profet Jeremiah (as Åke Claeson)
Björn Berglund	...	Josef
Inga-Lilly Forsström	...	Virgin Mary (as Inga Lilly Forsström)
Lisskulla Jobs	...	Peasant woman

Storyline

Mats Ersson is engaged to Marit and they plan to get married in the spring. But when the plague comes, the people accuse Marit of witchcraft. She is sentenced to death. Mats can not understand the divine justice and decides to go to paradise and ask God himself. It becomes a journey where he meets the prophets, king Solomon and finally God himself.

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Plot Keywords:

witchcraft | supernatural power | bible | odyssey | religion | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

8 October 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Heavenly Play

Filming Locations:

Lövbergets fäbodar, Dalarnas län, Sweden

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wivefilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min (original)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Minns Ni? (1993)

User Reviews

A little known fact about this Swedish classic...

This film is rarely seen in North America. As monumental a film as it is in Swedish film history (its influence on Bergman is notorious), it is almost never shown and is not available on DVD. I was lucky enough to have seen it as a child on the Radio-Canada (French) channel on a show called "Ciné-Club", in Québec in the fifties. It struck me then as an amazing supernatural epic but populist drama about life's meaning, in the grand tradition of "Peer Gynt". One scene stayed with me my whole life: The farmer, grown older, richer and bitter, throws a party to flaunt his wealth and nobody shows up but the lame and moribund. Whatever the originality of the film and the play it's based on (written by its star, actor Rune Lindström), this 1942 film plays in many ways like an instant remake of the American classic "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (William Dieterle, 1941). The party scene, in particular, is eerily similar in content, mood and structure to that of the American film, besides the other more obvious common traits in plot (a poor farmer makes a deal with the devil) between the two films. These two films are so similar, in fact, that this should be mentioned in the "Movie Connections" link of both films in the IMDb. Just a thought... It's amazing to think that such an idiosyncratic piece of American mythology like the legend of Daniel Webster and the Devil should end up as part and parcel of the Swedish heritage, but there it is!