Johan

Sweden

1921

85 Min

Black and White

1.33:1

Silent

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
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SCR Mauritz Stiller, Juhani Aho, Arthur Nordén

CAST Jenny Hasselqvist, Mathias Taube, Hildegarde Harring, Urho Somersalmi, Lilly Berg, Nils Fredrik Widegren

Marit weds farmer Johan, a dull old stick with a poisonous mother living across the river. Along comes a fat-arsed lumberjack who easily seduces Marit away, taking her on a perilous journey over the rapids, with Johan in hot pursuit. It ends with the seducer taking a beating and a penitent Marit returning to the farm – happy ending for Johan, his ‘property’ restored, but most modern audiences will feel frustrated at Marit’s inability to kiss off both these jerks and head for the bright lights. (In Juha, the Kaurismäki remake, she suffers even more grievously.) Stiller deadpans the morality of the tale, more intent on having his camera commune with the rugged Scandinavian landscape. The inter-titles are unusual, being in the form of a trad-sounding ballad with a mocking refrain. From a novel by Juhani Aho. —timeout.com

Director

Mauritz Stiller

Director, scriptwriter and actor. Born in Helsinki, Finland, died in Stockholm, Sweden. Original name Moshe Stiller.

Mauritz Stiller (1883-1928) is alongside Victor Sjöström the biggest name in Swedish silent cinema. Stiller grew up in a Russian-Jewish family in Helsinki, Finland, but left for Sweden were he worked in the theatre, both as an actor and as a director. In 1912 he was hired by Charles Magnusson to direct films for Svenska Biografteatern. Just like his colleague Sjöström, Stiller was very prolific in his first years as a film director. During 1912-16 he directed no less than 34 films, in different genres. The most remarkable of these early films was Vingarne / The Wings (1916), an adaptation of Danish writer Herman Bang’s novel Mikael. Stiller added a framing structure to the story, showing the production of the film itself and how it is received by critics and audience.

This self-reflexive element is also present in Stiller’s Thomas… read more

Director, scriptwriter and actor. Born in Helsinki, Finland, died in Stockholm, Sweden. Original name Moshe Stiller.

Mauritz Stiller (1883-1928) is alongside Victor Sjöström the biggest name in Swedish silent cinema. Stiller grew up in a Russian-Jewish family in Helsinki, Finland, but left for Sweden were he worked in the theatre, both as an actor and as a director. In 1912 he was hired by Charles Magnusson to direct films for Svenska Biografteatern. Just like his colleague Sjöström, Stiller was very prolific in his first years as a film director. During 1912-16 he directed no less than 34 films, in different genres. The most remarkable of these early films was Vingarne / The Wings (1916), an adaptation of Danish writer Herman Bang’s novel Mikael. Stiller added a framing structure to the story, showing the production of the film itself and how it is received by critics and audience.

This self-reflexive element is also present in Stiller’s Thomas Graals bästa film / Thomas Graal’s Best Film (1917) and Thomas Graals bästa barn / Thomas Graal’s Best Child (1918), both starring Sjöström in the title role. After making these two comedies, Stiller directed what is arguably his finest work, the excellent Herr Arnes pengar / Sir Arne’s Treasure (1919), after a story by Selma Lagerlöf about greedy Scottish mercenaries in the Swedish army during the reign of King John III. The characteristic trait in Swedish silent films at the time, the interaction between Man and Nature, was taken to new heights by Stiller in Sången om den eldröda blomman / Song of the Scarlet Flower (1919) and Johan (1921). Both films were shot on location in northern Sweden, and both had spectacular downstream log-riding sequences as dramatic climaxes.

With Erotikon (1920), an elegant comedy about infidelity in Stockholm’s upper classes, Stiller excelled in ironic storytelling (not least thanks to the ingenious use of ambigious and funny inter-titles, designed by Alva Lundin), and the film confirmed Stiller’s postion as a major director, both domestically and internationally. After Gösta Berlings saga / The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924), Stiller’s last Swedish film, he and the film’s star Greta Garbo left for Hollywood. Stiller was involved in the production of four American silents, but Hotel Imperial (1928) was the only one over which he maintained artistic control. He returned to Sweden and died shortly afterwards, never recovering from pneumonia. —The Swedish Film Institute

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