Tösen från Stormyrtorpet was the first screen adaptation of the writings of Selma Lagerlöf, whose works would become such a rich literary source for Swedish silent cinema. The idea to make a film out of Lagerlöf’s short novel came to Sjöström when he received a letter from a young female admirer who advised him to read the novel, and to make a film of it with Greta Almroth in the main role. The director was intrigued, and a few months later informed the author of the letter that the screen rights had been acquired from Lagerlöf, and that shooting would take place on location in Dalarna in the summer of 1917.
Sjöström infuses the film’s story about bigotry, class and moral stature with exceptional visual qualities. There are many extraordinary compositions, and the director stages actions and reactions in different levels of depth in the same shot, revealing the characters’ inner dramas and feelings through gestures. The interiors of the three different households are characterized by Sjöström with symbols and details that clearly indicate three different strata of society.
Greta Almroth plays the unwed mother, brought against her will to court in a paternity case, where judgement is passed without any sentence being issued. She had appeared in several earlier films by Sjöström, most of which are sadly lost. Lars Hanson makes his first appearance here as a charming, swaggering country boy with a troubled mind and a big heart, a role in which he would later excel, and Karin Molander is seen in a rare performance as a rather unsympathetic character.
The film was a critical and commercial success, not least in the US where more than forty prints were distributed. The “National Board of Motion Picture Review” in January 1919 praised the film for its “excellent photography, unusual acting, exceptional technical handling” and its “excellent moral effect”. The Lagerlöf story was later filmed several times, the first sound version being the UFA 1935 production Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (The Girl from the Marsh Croft), directed by Detlef Sierck (Douglas Sirk).

Jon Wengström