Nick M
This is the second film by Mauritz Stiller to make the list for 1919. Three Scottish soldiers of fortune are locked up for an alleged plot to conspire against the Crown during the worst winter in living memory. Because of their quick thinking paired with the comical idiocy of their cell guard, they manage to escape. At this point I am rooting for them because they are competent and jovial, and I'm excited to see where the story will next take our three musketeers. They figure their best bet is to return home to Scotland, but soon find themselves starving and on the point of freezing to death. They find a cabin and, driven mad with hunger, eat all the food and drink all the alcohol they find (without harming the frightened woman they find inside). When the man of the house returns he hauls the comatose drunks out of his house. Upon coming to they determine to rob a nearby manor, killing all the occupants and stealing an enormous chest of silver they find inside. A young woman, Elsalill, manages to survive the assault by hiding behind a wall, seeing only the hand of one of the men as he kills her sister. Later on the killer, Sir Archi, overhears her recounting her tale and, realizing she survived the slaughter, becomes obsessed with her. Perhaps if he can treat her well he can redeem himself for his heinous crimes? His attentions help her escape her overwhelming grief, and she falls in love with him without realizing who he is. One day she overhears him lamenting his actions to his two compatriots, but finds she cannot bring herself to turn him in because of her love for him. She shares her heartbreak with a townswoman who forces the issue and alerts an officer at the soldiers' barracks. Elsalill rushes to warn her sister's murderer/lover that he must run in order to save himself, and he attempts to convince her to come with him as his wife. She refuses, as despite her feelings for him she cannot bring herself to spend her life with the man who killed her family and destroyed her life. Elsalill sees the soldiers coming and begs him to escape, but he, despondent, sinks down and refuses to run because without her he feels he has no path to redemption. She asks why he did it, and he attempts to excuse his actions by saying he was out of his mind with hunger and cold. The soldiers are right at the door, and he begins to feel trapped and afraid. He tells her that now that he is in his right mind he can promise her that no harm will come to her tonight, and then proceeds to pick her up and rush outside to use her as a human shield. Elsalill grabs one of the soldier's spears pointing in her direction, and as Sir Archi steps forward she guides the spear into her heart. He manages to escape with her body to a ship bound for Scotland, where he is discovered and turned in along with the other two mercenaries. The story comes from a novel by the wonderful Selma Lagerlöf (who also wrote The Lass from the Stormy Croft) , who mixes romance with mysticism in the original tale. Mauritz Stiller downplays some of the mystical elements in favor of the more popular theme of the beautiful, unconquerable, unforgiving power of nature that permeated most Swedish cinema at this time. Everything is weighed down by oppressive masses of snow, and with the very ocean frozen over we are treated with an image of a ship caught in a fjord that drives home the perception that humanity is at the mercy of the elements. The film is bookended by two processions across the ice and snow: the first a group of soldiers escorting a company of arrested Scottish mercenaries, and the last the townswomen dressed in mourning garb arriving at the ship with a bier to carry away the body of Elsalill. We are asked to see her as a martyr who "had loved an evildoer and had given her life to destroy him." I cannot grasp this interpretation based on the way the narrative plays out in the film, however. She pleaded with him to escape justice, and she died only because she basically committed suicide while he was using her as an unwilling human shield. I cannot see that her intention was to destroy him. Rather, it was quite the opposite. We are also asked to see Sir Archi as a nuanced character, but again, I cannot buy that at all based on his actions when he was in his "right mind", nor did he once attempt to atone or accept responsibility for what he had done. Perhaps the novel manages to tell it with more finesse. The acting is generally quite good, though Mary Johnson tends to get this far away look whenever feeling a strong emotion that hinders the audience's ability to connect with her. Despite these faults, it is a beautiful picture. The cinematography uses transitions that keep each scene alive and fresh, makes full use of the bleak and beautiful landscape to set the tone of the narrative, and emphasizes nature's role in both drawing out the worst instincts of the villains as well as in determining their fate.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
09/28/24
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Audience Member
pretty spectacular wintry crime film from 1919 sweden, concerning some scottish mercenaries and their theft of a cursed treasure. when they seek to escape by sea, all the ships are locked in ice, leading to a rough justice
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Decent silent drama about greed, guilt, justice and ultimately forgiveness based on a novel by famous Swedish writer Selma Lagerlof.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
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