Berg-Ejvind och Hans Hustru (1918)

Directed by Victor Sjöström. Starring Victor Sjöström, Edith Erastoff, John Ekman, Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson, Nils Aréhn, William Larsson, Artur Rolén, Sigurd Wallén.

“A pictorial drama in seven parts of the lives of two people”: a thief (Sjöström) trying to go unnoticed and the widow (Erastoff) who leaves her comforts behind to be with him. Uneven but important entry in the emergence of Swedish cinema; picturesque, elemental nature scenes are far superior to the static melodrama occurring within the interiors. Visual storytelling elevated by limited intertitles, but the dialogue itself is stiff and long-winded when it does arrive. The story is defined by a moralistic approach (neither judgmental nor ironic), and one key incident remains pretty shocking even by today’s standards. Loosely based on historical events. English title: The Outlaw and His Wife.

68/100