A rather dated story – exposing the Dickensian condition of contemporary Swedish work-houses – that contrives to be both irredeemably downbeat yet persistently dull, directed with a total lack of movie know-how by Victor Sjostrom who has obviously gone out of his way and made strenuous efforts to ensure that the camera never moves, wobbles or betrays even the slightest shudder. This obviously took some doing as the camera was hand-cranked, and the only way to do it so successfully would be to encase the camera in an extremely sophisticated holder of some sort that was heavy enough to ensure that no vibration was possible when the film was being cranked. How such an inveterately heavy yet extremely cumbersome apparatus was moved around to various real locations defies logic unless the whole thing was carefully taken apart for transportation and then meticulously re-assembled. It amazes me that any director could be so perverse. After all, movies with camera movement – although not common – were not unknown even in 1901. Some critics have argued that the whole idea was to present a movie to audiences as if it were a stage play, but thinking along these lines obviously doesn't apply in this instance in which there are more changes of scene than a stage could easily accommodate and even some real locations. It's a shame that this exposé of Swedish work houses lacks the strenuous punch that a less stage-bound director than stolid Sjostrom would have given it. Available on a good Grapevine DVD.
Review of Ingeborg Holm
