Movie Review: The Saga of Gosta Berling (Gösta Berlings saga)

Gösta Berlings saga a.k.a The Atonement of Gosta Berling a.k.a The Legend of Gosta Berling a.k.a The Saga of Gosta Berling a.k.a The Story of Gosta Berling 

Svensk Filmindustri, Sweden, 1924. 

Based on Selma Lagerlöf's novel. 

Let's continue with "Svenska Stumfilmsklassiker" six silent movie DVD collection!

In Värmland  is the Ekeby manor. Adventurous Cavaliers are welcomed there as they entertain the guests. One of them is ex-priest Gösta Berling (Lars Hanson). Gösta invites 13th guest from heaven or hell to celebrate New Year. A hairy devil appears. The devil says that the manor's mistress, the Major's wife Margaretha Samzelius (Gerda Lundequist) has made a contract with him! Every fourth year the devil must have a soul of a Cavalier. However it is just a prank of Gösta and his mischievous friend Sintram (Sven Scholander). Christian Bergh (Svend Kornbeck) is bitterly in love with the Margaretha. 

Ekeby manor

The Cavaliers

Gösta Berling

Gösta was defrocked because he drank too much and neglected his duties as priest. His outburst in front of bishop shocked the hypocritical parishioners. Gösta wandered around and got a job from Countess Märtha Dohna's (Ellen Hartman-Cederström). Gösta works as private tutor for Countess's step-daughter Ebba (Mona Mårtenson). Ebba is extremely religious and Gösta falls in love with her. 

Gösta was a priest

Countess Märtha Dohna

Ebba

Märtha's son Count Henrik Dohna (Torsten Hammarén) and his wife Elizabeth (Greta Garbo) arrive from Italy. Märtha and Henrik are plotting against Ebba: if Ebba marries outside the nobility, the Borg mansion will be inherited to Henrik. Sincere Elizabeth tells about the plot to Ebba. Ebbas's and Gösta's relationship is ruined. Märtha and Henrik do not take Elizabeth's ruining their scheme lightly. Gösta leaves and goes to Ekeby to become a Cavalier. Ebba dies heartbroken. Gösta continues looking for true love but stumbles from scandal to another. Flirtatious actress Marianne Sinclaire (Jenny Hasselqvist) becomes collateral damage. Bergh's reckless actions bring ruin to Ekeby manor and Margaretha. 

Elizabeth and Count Henrik Dohna

Major's wife Margaretha Samzelius

Marianne Sinclaire

The film is long and heavy, over three hours of epic costume drama. Still it contains only a fraction of the characters and subplots of the original novel. The director manages to create good romantic, dramatic and also some funny scenes. Director Mauritz Stiller cast the young actress Greta Gustafsson a.k.a Greta Garbo as one of the main characters. Garbo performs here the role of an innocent young girl and not yet femme fatale.

Not yet femme fatale

The lavishly produced "Gösta Berling" marked the end of Golden Era of Swedish Silent Movie (1917-1924), and many actors and directors went to America to pursue bigger markets. For Garbo it meant the beginning of her international career, but for Stiller it was the beginning of the end. After disagreements with the American studio executives he returned to Sweden and died in 1928. 

Lars Hanson shines as the tragic hero. This was Greta Garbo's first major movie role and the importance of her character grows towards the end of the story. Gerda Lundequist makes a powerful role as a matriarch who is stripped of her power. Cinematography of Julius Jaenzon is again excellent but bit more conventional than in the previous films of this collection (for example "Körkarlen", "Terje Vigen" or "Herr Arnes pengar"). Highlight scenes include the burning of Ekeby manor and nightly sleigh ride over frozen lake.

This version is the 2005 Swedish Film Institute restored version with Matti Bye's chamber and fiddler music soundtrack. 

Rating: Very good 

Starring: Lars Hanson, Sven Scholander, Ellen Hartman-Cederström, Mona Mårtenson, Torsten Hammarén, Greta Garbo, Gerda Lundequist, Jenny Hasselqvist, Sixten Malmerfeldt, Karin Swanström, Oscar Byström, Hugo Rönnblad, Knut Lambert, Svend Kornbeck, Otto Elg-Lundberg, Hilda Forsslund, Svea Palm, Anna-Lisa Baude, Erik Bergman, A.T.H. Buch, Hilda Castegren, Gucken Cederborg, Jan de Meyere, Anton De Verdier, Carl Deurell, Lars Egge, Bertil Ehrenmark, Signe Enwall, Carl Ericson, Georg Fernqvist, Emil Fjellström, Mia Gründer, Gösta Gustafson, Edmund Hohndorf, Axel Jacobsson, Axel Lagerberg, Birger Lyne, Arne Palm, Gaston Portefaix, Sven Quick, Edla Rothgardt, Albert Ståhl, Tom Walter, Ruth Weijden 

Director: Mauritz Stiller