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Leaves From Satan's Book

Play trailer Poster for Leaves From Satan's Book Released Jan 24, 1921 1h 50m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
The devil influences history throughout the ages.

Critics Reviews

View All (4) Critics Reviews
Don Druker Chicago Reader The film is overdirected and, paradoxically, underdeveloped, but it does feature some marvelous, dazzling imagery by ace cinematographer George Schneevoight. Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion An incalculable foundation of themes and images for Dreyer Feb 14, 2010 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews An ambitious study of evil through the ages. Rated: B- Jul 28, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 4/5 Jun 26, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member No doubt very important in the development of Dreyer, but his right-wing politics seem to have been right there from the beginning with him, and the cartoon villainy of the French and Russian revolutionaries gets a bit much after a while. 2 hours and 45 minutes of the same story, repeated over and over again, is also a litlle bum-numbing. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review eric b This film does not live up to its sensational title, but Carl Theodor Dreyer ("The Passion of Joan of Arc") crafts an interesting look at Satanic temptation. Separated into four parts a la D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance," the film spans stories from Christ's time, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and Dreyer's own era. Satan (Helge Nissen, in his only screen role) is portrayed as a weary pawn of God who's ambivalent about his evil work but forced to carry on in hopes of shortening his banishment. In each tale, Satan adopts human form and conspires to tempt a virtuous person into betraying his or her peers. The fourth segment (set in Russia-occupied Finland) lacks universality and the sins of Judas have been depicted better countless times, but the middle sections fare better. In the second part, a priest weighs loyalties to the Church and his forbidden romantic love, while the third finds the fates of Marie Antoinette and a (fictional?) countess and daughter resting on the moral quandary of a well-meaning servant. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I understood what this movie was wanting the audience to understand with just watching the first couple of stories, but then it just keeps going on and on telling more stories that are exactly the same, and you just get bored with it. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member It's much too predictable to be successful, but its portrayal of temptation can be effective. The film follows Satan's exploits as he is commanded to tempt people even though he'd prefer to be back in God's grace. The segment on Jesus is the most workmanlike, while there are moments in the other three segments that preview Dreyer's formal command, even though it's not consistently on display. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Boy was I disappointed, I thought this was going to be really cool, but it was basically like the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" except it isn't totally awesome. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Ambitious, but not wholly successful. Dreyer was still finding his footing here; none of the imagery resonates, as it so often did in all his later pieces, and his multi-epochal narrative is in equal turns interesting and dull (the Spanish Inquisition segment feels like a complete waste of time, and the Jesus segment isn't all that much better). The fact that it was cribbed directly from Intolerance at Dreyer's admission makes it feel a lot less impressive overall, but Leaves from Satan's Book's actual accomplishments still stand. The final two segments are stirring, but ultimately nothing here will really stick with you like it did in Joan of Arc or Day of Wrath. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Leaves From Satan's Book

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis The devil influences history throughout the ages.
Director
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Screenwriter
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Edgar Høyer, Marie Corelli
Distributor
Grapevine Video
Production Co
Nordisk Film
Genre
Drama
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 24, 1921, Wide
Release Date (DVD)
Apr 12, 2005
Runtime
1h 50m