Film Review
Immediately before setting off for France to direct what would be his
most acclaimed film,
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
(1928), Carl Theodor Dreyer managed to knock out this somewhat lighter
work in a matter of a few weeks. You'd hardly think that the same
director could make two such completely different films.
The Bride of Glomdal (a.k.a.
Glomdalsbruden) shows a return to
the spontaneity, humour and light touch of Dreyer's early film
The Parson's Widow (1920), and
like that film it was shot entirely on location in picturesque rural
Norway.
Not only did Dreyer have only a short time in which to shoot the film
(owing to the fact that the actors were only available for their summer
holidays), he also had next to no time to prepare for it. Not
having a script, scenes would be improvised from the pages of the book
containing the stories on which the film was based -
Glomdalsbruden and
Eline Vangen by the Norwegian
author Jacob Breda Bull. It was a chaotic production but somehow
Dreyer managed to extract from it one his most charming and lively
films. The influence of Victor Sjöström and Mauritz
Stiller's pastoral melodramas can readily be seen, and the dramatic
climax, in which the hero has to fight for his life whilst traversing a
dangerous stretch of river, is an unashamed homage to Stiller's
Johan
(1921).
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Carl Theodor Dreyer film:
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
Film Synopsis
Tired of working for others, Tore finally decides to take over his
father's rundown farm and restore it to its former glory. As he
does so, he falls in love with a young woman named Berit who lives on
the opposite side of the river. Unfortunately, Berit's father
intends that she should marry a rich young man named Gjermund.
Unwilling to go along with her father's plans, Berit runs away from
home and lives for a while with Tore, until she falls seriously
ill. When she recovers, a priest intervenes to persuade her
father to allow her to marry the man she loves. At the wedding,
Gjermund intends taking his revenge against his rival...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.