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of regaining world distribution for their films, whatever method they adopted. Svensk Filmindustri, through its producers Karin Swanstrom and Stellan Claesson, was content to produce modestly conceived films for the home market. They were for the most part comedies with a strong theatrical flavour or farces, some of them originating strangely in the novels of P. G. Wodehouse.
Gosta Ekman, an actor with a somewhat formal style although capable of expressing powerful emotion, was the mainstay of many of the comedies. Typical of the films in which he appeared was Swedenhielms (1935), based on a play by Hjalmar Bergman and directed by Gustaf Molander. Ekman took the part of a Swedish scientist, who feels he cannot accept the Nobel Prize he has won as he is afraid his spendthrift son is about to be exposed as a forger. The treatment of the film— dialogue, acting, situations — was entirely theatrical, although it moved smoothly in its refined groove. The only moment at which the theme came alive, in the film sense, was during the prize-giving festival in the Stockholm Concert Hall, where shots taken during an actual ceremony gave it the urgency of reality.
Swedenhielms had more substance than most of the comedies of this period. They took as their model Vi Som Gar Kbksvagen (1932), adapted by Solve Cederstrand from Sigrid Boo's novel and directed by Gustaf Molander. The leading part was played by Tutta Rolf, a vivacious young actress with something of the gamin charm of Jessie Matthews, who was to appear in a long series of almost identical films. The forced frivolity of these films was perhaps a product of the age. They achieved their purpose in filling the cinemas and there their value ended. It is difficult to understand how one of these routine comedies, Molander's En Stilla Flirt (1933), again with Tutta Rolf, was awarded the first prize at the Vienna Festival, where it was in competition with Feyder's Le Grand Jen and George Cukor's Little Women. Molander's films had a high technical polish and, at the first encounter, a certain gaiety, but in repetition they quickly produced monotony.
The broader forms of comedy and farce came from two players, Fridolf Rhudin and Edvard Persson. In appearance and style Rhudin recalled Buster Keaton. He had the clown's tragic mask and in many of his parts developed a typical note of pathos. His first films, including Hon, Han och Anderson (1926) and Spokbaronen (1927) were silent, but before his death he made a number of sound-films including Skepp Ohoj! (1931) and Simon i Backabo (1934). Most of his films were directed by Gustaf Edgren. In contrast to the small slender Rhudin with his thin, twisted smile was the fat jolly Persson. Everything about this comedian suggested the enjoyment of life and his films quickly achieved an enormous popularity. He made his first comedy for Europa Film in 1932 and by 1950 had made over thirty films. His producers showed considerable resource in devising new situations for him. In 1946 they sent him to America to make a film — a gesture to his popularity in the United States — and later he appeared in the first Swedish colour film.
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