Customer Reviews

The Saga of Gosta Berling

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is a shame that amazon has put no further information on this DVD. It is also a pity that we see reviews from customers which actually refer to the previous release (in a short butchered version of the film with no musical score) on VHS. Just to make things clear. This is major new DVD release of a restored version of this wonderful film (184 minutes) accompagnied by a new musical score. The film was restored by the Swedish Film Institute and was presented last September for Garbo's centennial in Stockholm. In addition to the film, there are extras as well including extracts from Garbo's first film "Luffar Peter", the advertisements she did at the Department store PUB in Stockholm, archive films and others. For more information on this DVD edition you can see at the web site of Kino video which is releasing the DVD. In addition to this film they are also releasing more great swedish films of that period including some Stiller films like Erotikon or Sir Arnes treasure. This is certainly a release not to be missed.

THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING has been available on VHS for many years but never like this. Previous versions were cut-rate low budget affairs that were missing over half the film's running time and were often presented without any kind of musical accompaniment. European silent films in particular have suffered in the U.S. where, because of the limited appeal and general unavailability of the material, any version was better than no version. While this is true to a certain extent it is also true that a great deal of harm was done as it gave most people the wrong impression of many of these silent classics by making them appear crude and primitive. Over the last decade that misconception is being corrected as quality releases from companies like Kino International and Milestone Films help to rectify the situation. Movies like METROPOLIS and NOSFERATU, to cite two well known titles, can be seen more or less the way they were intended. Such is now the case with GOSTA BERLING which turns out to be a monumental epic on par with films like BIRTH OF A NATION and NAPOLEON.

The storyline, as has been noted before, is like a Swedish version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Contrary to the way the film is advertised, it is not a vehicle for Greta Garbo. Her part is important and it got her noticed but she is only one of several characters who inhabit this large scale canvas. At 184 minutes GOSTA is very long and at times hard to follow because of the numerous storylines but if you stick with it you'll find yourself inevitably drawn in and the last third of the film is a powerful emotional ride that is almost impossible to turn away from. Bravos to the Swedish Film Institute for the restoration work which is truly remarkable and to Kino International for making this masterwork available the way it was meant to be seen.

Special mention should be made of the outstanding new score by Matti Bye that accompanies the film. It enhances the various moods of the many characters and keeps you drawn to the story as it unfolds. Sweden was one of the major players during the silent era and GOSTA BERLING would mark the zenith of Swedish cinema for nearly 30 years as most of the talent involved with the film would migrate to Hollywood where superstardom awaited Garbo, several good parts awaited Lars Hanson, and the end of his career awaited director Mauritz Stiller who would die in 1928 after returning to Sweden. This is part of a three film tribute along with SIR ARNE'S TREASURE and the romantic comedy EROTIKON devoted to the great but forgotten Swedish director. It's a must have for any silent film aficionado or for anyone who loves an epic romance. Think of it as a silent film treatment of GONE WITH THE WIND or DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.

Here's the film that introduced the most successful female star in cinematic history to the world and began the remarkable yet short-lived Svengali-like professional relationship between Garbo and Mauritz Stiller ('Moje' to Greta).
At over three hours long (!), it is an early Swedish silent equivalent of Pride and Prejudice, very much a costume melodrama of the Expressionist era.
Some might say it was an overly ambitious effort on Stiller's part in that he attempted to tell too much of a story in the already epic three hours of footage used; however fans of silent cinema and of the inimitable Garbo will find this one well worth the journey.
Print quality for this release is naturally outstanding (considering its age) after Svenskfilmindustri's restoration job.
Of exceptional interest to Garbo fans are some of the extra features included on the disc. The rare and compelling footage of Greta dining on the rooftop restaurant of the PUB Department Store in Stockholm (where she worked selling hats) for a promotional film, of Garbo and several other young actresses taking tea in a garden (from some or other short film of the day) and also of the lady leaving Sweden on her return to the states after her first holiday back there.
All in all this release is an absolute gem.

This is a gorgeous film, based on the novel of the same name by the Nobel prize winning Selma Lagerlof.

Let me take a moment to complain about the Amazon writers failing to mention Lagerlof's name, or even that of the film's best-known actress, Greta Garbo, in its introduction!

I'd heard of the novel but didn't know it had been made into a film and I was very happy to find it in the library of a local community college. True, when I discovered it was a silent film, I was disappointed, but I stuck with it and am very glad I did.

I've never been a fan of old black and white, silent movies, even the highly acclaimed ones starring Charlie Chaplin. They bore me to tears. However, this one held my interest intently for three hours! I intended to take a break after Part I and leave Part II for another sitting but I couldn't leave it alone.

The acting style is exaggerated, as expected, especially on the part of Lars Hanson, as Berling. But I soon got used to it, as well as the frequent written summaries of the action, which were well handled. I was especially impressed by the very naturalistic acting of the players who carried on their actions and conversations while we waited for the next text.

And then there is Greta Garbo, in her first screen appearance! Although she is not on screen for much of the time, when she is, you are mesmerized by her astounding beauty. Whoa!

Then there is the brilliant acting by a woman who is not named here, nor on the cover so I cannot credit her. She plays Margaret the strong, beautiful, older woman who owns the manor house where Berling lands after his exile. When she is on screen with Garbo, one looks at her, not Garbo, not for her beauty but for her magnificent presence.

The cinematography is stunning, capturing the drama of winter in the north country. People wear huge fur coats and ride in sleighs, which is quite enchanting. There is a scene of Berling and Elisabeth (Garbo) in a sleigh racing across a frozen lake, chased by a pack of wolves, which is worth the price of the video!

I am distressed by the poor reviews some folks have read here. Some of them have reviewed another product which had no sound track. This one has delightful music; it's unusual and I can't categorize it, but it fit the moods of the action very well.

I hope that interested buyers/viewers take a serious look at this film, and ignore some of the more ignorant remarks. It is truly a film worthy watching.

This is the DVD complete version, which is long (three hours) Both Garbo and Hansen are superb throughout this very complex story about a preacher and his long stay at a castle-like mansion.
The magic of this movie are both Garbo and the cinematography, which is wonderful: snow never looked more poetic and the fire scene of the mansion was epic. However like most things Northern European, it coudl have been shorter, but be patient, it is a gorgeous movie.
Garbo looks exquisite in the early 19th Century gowns that have that peculiar provincial touch so you know this is the countryside in Sweden and not Paris. Her expresiveness and talent are already quite developed and one can understand why it took so liitle time for her to become a superstar.
The best scene is her with her maddened paramour on a sleigh, running at top speed across a frozen lake persecuted by a wild wolf pack....she throws her head back wrapped in furs and looks like the goddess of northern winter lights on flight. Just superb!

After watching Greta Garbo in her very first film "The Saga of Gosta Berling" in 1924, I thought it to be a masterpiece. Her acting along with Lars Hanson was excellent making Garbo a star along with her many other films in the 1920s in America leading her all the way to the 1930s.
The Swedish Film Institute along with Kino did a magnificent job with its restoration, orchestral score, along with its piano, violins, etc making the film look to be at its original debut. I also liked all the sets, costumes and actors in the film also. With this wonderful film based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner and Swedish writer Selma Lagerlof, it is at its finest moment. I think that this film deserves to be one of the best films for Greta Garbo playing the role of Elisabeth Dohna along with Lars Hanson as Gosta Berling and directed by Mauritz Stiller to be considered a monumental work of art for Sweden and its history for cinema.

An avid fan of GG, I was disappointed in discovering I would need to provide my own background music for the viewing of this picture. This lack of sound was not mentioned by Amazon. A silent silent is a bit too silent! I would have preferred some sort of archival recording attached, ideally one that was used for any historical screening of the film (the older the recording of the eldest screening, the better!)

Also, as a die-hard collector, I was disappointed that Amazon did not include the length of play time for this picture. A necessary bit of information if more than one version of releases exist! And in this case, there are many historically significant versions!!! (Unfortunately for this collector, this version is not the director's cut!)

Thirdly, for lack of another star, the original subtitles for this version often need more modern subtitles to explain the dialogue/story. Either some are overexposed or not well contrasted and most are illegible!

Instead of giving this review the lowest possible (which apparently is not available anyway!), I give it one FULL star to Amazon for even having ANY copy of such film available for purchase, and one full star for artistic and historical significance: both the grandiose vision of "Moje"'s direction (however, unfortunately an extremely choppy version to his original epic-length version) and then most especially for GG's acting work - the recording of this film goddess' prepubescent acting is worth viewing, regardless of any technical conditions or mishaps.

Cheers for reading this! I hope this review was helpful for you.

Happy Collecting, SK

This is Sweden's famous silent film sometimes compared to gone with the wind or pride and prejudice. I disagree because of the story is not as complex (especially in female love interest character development)in love development and in more historical adaptation/ setting. IMO the story stands on its own but is the reason I give it 4 stars and not 5. The film stars Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson. The acting is fabulous and Greta Garbo shines. Lars plays Gosta who is removed from public ministry and how he confronts and deals with his life journey. This movie shows strength, weakness, social status, oppression, manipulation, revenge, hope, love, adventure and redemption. The scenery is breathtaking. The cinematography is superb. The chase scene on the frozen lake is indescribable. This is a Kino Video which includes musical score and is remastered. A quality film. Includes extra features on Garbo and her film entrance through modeling, advertising and short films. Region 1.

Based on an extremely popular novel by Selma Lagerlof, THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING was a high water mark of Swedish silent cinema, directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Lars Hanson, and featuring a fairly new actress named Greta Garbo in a supporting role. Released in 1924, it was a major cinema event, shown in two parts over two nights with a running time of about three hours. In 1927, possibly in an effort to capitalize on Garbo's growing fame, the film was re-cut to about half its length; although the cuts were gradually restored, the cut version was the only version available to the home market until 2006, when the reliable KINO released the film in its original form.

The story is convoluted. Gosta Berling (Lars Hanson) begins a career as a preacher, but he soon collapses into drunkenness and is driven from his pulpit. He is later hired by Martha Dohna (Ellen Hartman-Cederström), the stepmother of heiress Ebba (Mona Martenson.) Ebba cannot inherit the estate if she marries a commoner, and Martha hopes she will fall in love with Gosta and marry him, thereby making her own son Henrik (Torsten Hammaren) heir in Ebba's place. The matter seems especially pressing to Martha because while in Italy Henrik has married a woman without a fortune: Elizabeth (Greta Garbo.) It happens that Ebba does fall in love with Gosta; it also happens that Elizabeth previously knew Gosta and loves him as well. When Gosta is exposed as a fallen preacher, Ebba withers and dies from the shock. Elizabeth, although she still loves Gosta, is a faithful wife--until a strange turn of events set all the major characters on a collision course that will include smallpox, a great fire and a memorable escape from wolves by sled across the ice. Ultimately, Gosta repents of his failures, and receives a grand award, while the less savory Dohna family is recognized as the worst white trash this side of Stockholm.

It is said that when Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saw the film he found it so powerful that he jumped at the chance to hire director Mauritz Stiller at a high salary; he also, somewhat grudingly, agreed to contract with Greta Garbo at a significantly smaller salary. Ironically, Stiller was tempermentally unsuited to Hollywood and his career there was soon over; he quickly returned to Sweden, where he died a few years later. Garbo, however, went on to become MGM's greatest star and would remain so through the 1920s and 1930s.

Seen today, it is easy to see what impressed Mayer about the film. THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING is quite unlike the glossy and often silly films made by Hollywood studios at the time, beautifully shot, perfectly played, and unexpectedly realistic in tone. At the same time, it has not held up as well as you might think, for it seems excessively slow and perhaps half an hour too long. The great attraction here is for Garbo fans, and indeed this is Garbo: she is still unpolished, but she is distinctly herself, from her facial expressions to her body language, and it is easy to see how ready she was to explode upon the international scene. Recommended, but primarily for fans of silent cinema--and, of course, fans of Garbo.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The one star is for the movie itself,which is terrific when seen properly with music. Why on earth are Amazon stocking this version of it? From the moment you open the box and see the name Greta Garbo plastered all over it and the real star Lars Hanson has his name misspelt (Lars Hansel?) you know you're in trouble, this oddity is aimed at die hard Garbo fans who will buy anything with her name on it (My excuse? I'm a die hard Hanson fan) Do not touch this with a bargepole, keep away and wait for the day when they bring it out on DVD with music and better subtitling, hopefully they will also bring out "Flesh and The Devil", "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Wind" out on DVD at the same time.