A tinted nitrate fragment of Balettprimadonnan was found by Luciano Berriatúa at Filmoteca Municipale de Zaragoza in 1994, and later identified by Gösta Werner. A duplicate negative was made from this fragment, and a new tinted print was struck in 1995 with inserted Swedish titles. Copyright frames and stills from glass negatives were added to cover the missing parts.

Balettprimadonnan was one of the first films Stiller directed after his voluntary six-month-break in 1915-16, and is proof of the higher level of sophistication apparent in his work at this stage of his career. Jenny Hasselquist, making her screen debut, plays a gypsy dancer being discovered by violinist Lars Hanson and then entering the ballet academy under the protective wings of Richard Lund’s count. The scene covering her audition at the academy is shot with no less then seven different camera set-ups, and there are several examples of parallell action in this brief fragment. The beginning of the first reel is missing, and no footage from the second reel has survived. However, most part of the thrilling last reel exists, and the final winter-time scene, in and outside the count’s villa, is beautifully staged and superbly lit by Julius Jaenzon.

Jon Wengström