The golden age of Swedish silent cinema is usually said to have spanned 1917 to 1924, from Victor Sjöström’s Terje Vigen (co-scripted by Gustav Molander) to Mauritz Stiller’s Gösta Berlings saga (also screened at this year’s festival). Afterwards, a lot of creative talent from both sides of the camera left Sweden, and major studio Svensk Filmindustri favoured the production of films with a modern touch in urban settings.
However, Molander’s diptych Ingmarsarvet (1925) and Till Österland (1926) form an epilogue to the golden era. Just like the classics of the late 1910s and early 1920s, they are based on a famous literary work (part one and two of Selma Lagerlöf ’s Jerusalem novels), made with a substantial budget, and mainly shot on location, where nature and the elements play an integral part in the drama.
Victor Sjöström hade previously made Ingmarssönerna (Sons of Ingmar, 1919) and Karin Ingmarsdotter (Karin, Daughter of Ingmar, 1920) based on the beginning of the first part of the Lagerlöf novels, and with some overlap, Ingmarsarvet takes up the story where the second film left off. During a night with a storm of biblical proportions, the ancestors appear in the clouds for young Ingmar (Lars Hanson), who then decides to reclaim the family farm. The same dark night, a charismatic preacher (Conrad Veidt) with miraculous powers arrives in the village to spread the word about the promises of the Holy Land, which turns parents and children, men and wives, brothers and sisters against one another.
Ingmarsarvet was produced by NordWesti Film AB, a studio created in part by AB Svensk Filmindustri for international co-productions, and to increase the possibility of engaging international stars in Swedish films. However, their German counterpart went bankrupt soon afterwards, and the studio is only credited with two films: Ingmarsarvet and Till Österland.

Jon Wengström