Dödsritten under cirkuskupolen

This film, "The Last Performance", is a film by the Swedish filmmaker Georg af Klercker that is highly imitative of Danish films of the era and is especially similar to the film "The Great Circus Catastrophe" (Dødsspring til hest fra cirkuskuplen) (1912), which was, reportedly, being made at the same time and was released on the same day as this film in Stockholm, Sweden. The second episode, "Art's Promised Land", of the excellent documentary series "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" compares the two movies. Now that I've seen both of these films (at least what is left of this one), I agree that they, indeed, do resemble each other. And, in general, this Swedish film emulates the-then national Danish genre of sensational circus films.

Unfortunately, the restored version I saw is missing the second half of what I'm guessing was a two-or-three-reel picture and so only lasts about 15 minutes. This first part is mundane-establishing the circus milieu and the romantic rendezvous. The melodramatics of the second half and the circus accident climax are mostly lost and, in the restoration, are filled in by explanatory titles and still images. Based on the descriptions in the restoration and the aforementioned documentary, however, it doesn't seem to have been any different than the other sensational circus films, which, in my experience of watching the Danish Film Institute DVDs, mostly tend to run together.

Klercker, the director of "The Last Performance", doesn't seem to have ever adopted classical continuity editing practices, which resulted in slower, if not primitive, pictures. I based this on what I've read from historians like Astrid Söderbergh Widding and my viewing of two later Klercker films, "The Suburban Vicar" (1917) and "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter" (1918). (Additionally, his directorial career was mostly over by 1918). Yet, in 1912, all longer films had this static pacing, including such dated practices as having only one camera setup for a scene (there's only one view of the circus in this film, for instance). There is some panning, however, in the rendezvous sequence, when the action isn't constrained to an arena, to keep action within frame. Additionally, I liked the opening of a curtain to introduce the circus grounds. Compared to fellow Swede and the would-be master filmmaker Victor Sjöström's 1912 film "The Gardener", however, "The Last Performance" is actually probably somewhat more advanced, which is doubtless due to Klercker learning by imitating the Danes.

A very carefully prepared picture; it shows the skill of its producer in its cumulative interest, which reaches breathless suspense at the climax and also in the simplicity and naturalness of its scenes. Much of its charm comes from the personal grace and good acting of its leading lady equestrienne in a big circus. The story won't bear a too close inspection; but its shortcomings have been covered and it seems plausible. A count falls in love with the circus girl, his father won't consent to a marriage, so the young man joins the circus as a horseman. As such, he becomes the rival of the girl. She is jealous of his success and also of another girl and drugs his horse so that he is killed. We dare predict that it will be a big success everywhere; it was liked by the audience with which we saw it. - The Moving Picture World, January 4, 1913