Balettprimadonnan

This film comes from the Schloss Archive of His Highness, Herr Graf Ferdinand von Galitzien: I start off the second round of silent rarities from the Count's archive with the reconstructed version of Mauritz Stiller's 1916 silent Balettprimadonnan. The film was thought to be lost until extended fragments were found in the 1990s; subsequently, the film was reconstructed with the help of still photographs and explanatory intertitles, enabling the viewer to follow the action (at least if you can read Swedish). However, even in this form the film only lasts little more than 19 minutes (original length was 54 min.). But they are worth it, as the surviving material shows Stiller in full command of his craft, with striking photography and some positively enchanting scenes with the main actress Jenny Hasselqvist during a ballet audition. （Balettprimadonnan tells the story of a gypsy dancer ( Frau Jenny Hasselquist ) who is discovered accidentally by a violin player ( Herr Lars Hanson ); fame and a good social status will be waiting for the two artists after they meet each other but also jealousy and sorrow, always the price of fame, certainly. The reels found in Saragossa include the audition of Frau Anjuta, the gypsy dancer, to a ballet-dance academy and the final part of the film, the most interesting and beautiful one, genuine Stiller. This includes a duel ( that aristocratic pastime that this Herr Von likes so much )as well as a thrilling sequence with our heroine running wild through a snowy landscape trying to avoid a calamity between the men that are fighting for her love ( the ending sounds a bit like the climax to Herr Clarence Brown’ “Flesh And The Devil ( 1926) , also with Lars Hanson and Herr Stiller’s advanced pupil Frau Garbo ), a lyrical and beautiful ending wherein Nature (Swedish style) is also an important dramatic character. This is typical of the importance in Herr Stiller’s later work where cold landscapes carry great artistic weight, evocative and dramatic.