Online Discussion: Swedish Silent Cinema: Erotikon + The Phantom Carriage

Join us as we continue our discussions of foreign, avant-garde, and experimental films online. The films chosen each month are freely available on one or more platforms such as YouTube, Open Culture, vimeo, and archive.org. In some cases, the films are also available on public library streaming databases such as kanopy or Hoopla. You will need to find and watch the films prior to our discussion.

On May 17 we discuss two classic Swedish silent films. Erotikon, a romantic comedy by director Maurice Stiller, revolves around an entomology professor obsessed with the sexual life of bugs and his easygoing wife who is courted by two suitors. In director Victor Sjöström’s The Phantom Carriage the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.

Erotikon (1920), Maurice Stiller (98 minutes)
“Erotikon is perhaps the greatest comedy of the Swedish silent film era. In this adaptation of Hungarian playwright Ferenc Herczeg's play The Blue Fox, no expense was spared in an attempt to compete with Hollywood films flooding Swedish markets. Even the Stockholm Opera was enlisted as extras to perform the specially commissioned play within a play for the movie. In stark contrast to many of the other works of Stiller, Erotikon is set entirely in an urban milieu and openly challenges social taboos in the story of a wife simultaneously courting two lovers in a comic portrayal of love and infidelity.– Pacific Film Archive

The Phantom Carriage (1921), Dir. Victor Sjöström (107 minutes)
“In this adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf's novella, Sjöström (as actor and director) and cinematographer Julius Jaenzon are at their best. The story of social derelict David Holm's conversion through the love of Sister Edith and his encounter with the ‘phantom carriage’ is made unforgettable by a complex yet effective cinematic narration, penetrating depictions of human psychology, and astonishing photographic experiments by Jaenzon. Although usually considered one of the high points of Sweden's Golden Age of silent cinema, The Phantom Carriage is interestingly unique for Sjöström with its contemporary urban setting and foregrounding of technical and narrational apparatuses such as trick photography and complex narrative frames involving flashbacks and stories within stories. Ingmar Bergman describes The Phantom Carriage as his first great experience with the cinema, and he draws upon it both visually and thematically in Wild Strawberries (1957) featuring the aged Sjöström.” – Pacific Film Archive

Note on searching YouTube: Try searching for the director’s last name plus the name of the film you are seeking, e.g. “Murnau Faust.” When searching for a foreign film, you may need to search for it by its original-language title, (e.g. “Bergman Jungfrukällan” instead of “Bergman Virgin Spring”). If you have trouble finding a version of your film with English subtitles, add “subtitles” to your search terms. Some foreign films offer computer generated subtitles if you click on the Settings icon at the bottom of the screen. If you do not find the film you are looking for on YouTube, try searching archive.org, Open Culture, and vimeo.