What will be shown here is the first phase of a digital restoration of the film, using three elements: a safety negative showing substantial decomposition in several places, a nitrate print and a safety print of a compilation from the early 1930s for which a key scene was cut out of the negative and therefore missing in both the two other elements. At least 22 films were made in the 1912-18 period from screenplays written by Dreyer, but only two are known to have survived. One, Ned med Vaabnene (Lay Down Your Arms), released in 1915, has been shown several times in Dreyer retrospectives, but this one has remained almost totally unseen. Shot in 1914, it is one of several master criminal films produced by Nordisk, with somewhat lofty ambitions, judging from the program booklet: it identifies the film as “A Psychological Crime Novel”. Nearly half of the screenplays that Dreyer wrote were crime stories of one sort or another, all based on previously existing material and Pavillonens Hemmelighed is probably fairly typical of his work. It was directed by Karl Mantzius, one of the most esteemed actors of the day.

Casper Tybjerg