Revelj

Mary Johnson's father, the Count, is dead. Her cousin, Lily Cronwin, in concert with her uncle, Carl Barcklind, decide to move her to the country estate, where she is trained unwillingly in the old ways. She starts to run away, but is retrieved by handsome young Nil Olaf Crisander. They fall in love, but Miss Cronwin stops all mail and writes Barcklind that he is not of a suitable rank to marry Miss Johnson. So Crisander is transferred far away, and Miss Johnson goes to live miserably with her uncle. But fate has more in store for the young lovers, and Barcklind too.

As a story it lacks all subtlety, and director Georg af Klercker directs his performers to play it broadly, so the audience can have no doubt that the youngsters are wonderful and true, and the old people are not just mistaken, obnoxious snobs, unconcerned with anything that anyone but they want. For what it is, it is well presented, but utterly one-note in its characterizations or story.

Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström are famous in Swedish cinema history. With movies like Herr Arnes Pengar, Erotikon, Gösta Berlings Saga, Terje Vigen and Körkarlen, they were the creative forces behind the Swedish cinema's first golden age. Georg af Klercker, who worked at the Hasselblad film studios during the same period, is less well known today. The few of his movies that survive now are rarely seen.

Which is a shame, because they have their merits. One of them is the beautiful, charming Mary Johnson, the star of the Hasselblad studio. She is of course mostly known for her role as Elsalill in Herr Arnes Pengar, but before that, she was making melodramas under the direction of Georg af Klercker. In Revelj, she shines as the young waif who comes to live with her strict aunt. She is a free spirit, who loves playing around. When her aunt isn't looking, she stages plays for the servants, and flirts with a handsome soldier. In defiance of her aunt, who wants her to marry a rich man, she sneaks out at night to meet him.

However, the aunt manages to force the girl into marrying a man of higher military rank. The marriage transforms her from a happy young girl into a sad, somewhat withdrawn lady. Then her soldier returns...

The plot isn't really what makes the movie special; it's the photography. The melancholy summer evenings are captured wonderfully in this film. The quality of the photography is what elevates the film above an ordinary melodrama. If you ever get the chance, see it.