August Stringberg’s famous stage play seemingly doesn’t lend itself to the cinematic form, given its limited number of characters and settings, but it’s been oft filmed nonetheless, most impressively in 1951 by Swedish director Alf Sjoberg, a visual master who was often eclipsed in the limelight by the international emergence of Ingmar Bergman in 1953, but held prominence in the Swedish film and theater industry for decades. “Miss Julie” is arguably Sjoberg’s best, and most known film – though his association with Bergman for 1944’s “Torment” is well documented – a beautiful looking black and white adaptation that literally opens up Strindberg’s kitchen set sexual drama, about a flighty lady-of-the-house (Anita Bjork, sexy and commanding) and her affair with her footman (Ulf Palme), by employing a fluid camera style and narrative device that seamlessly blends the past and present, often in a single unbroken shot. Praise goes out yet again to the Criterion Collection for presenting a well-known international classic with a much needed re-release, including in the package a television documentary on the history of Strindberg’s play, and a brilliant video essay by historian Peter Cowie paying tribute to Sjoberg and his masterpiece.