Selma Lagerlöf was a phenomenally successful author in her time, writing many novels that were extremely popular in her native Sweden and elsewhere. She won the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming one of the very first female Nobel laureates. Today, she is remembered primarily for 'The Wonderful Adventures of Nils', a picaresque children's fantasy that evokes 19th-century Scandinavia very effectively.
'Charlotte Löwensköld', based on one of Lagerlöf's novels, was filmed in 1930: well past the peak of this author's popularity, but she was still a beloved name at this time. The talking-picture revolution came late to Sweden: this 1930 movie is almost entirely silent, with only brief dialogue sequences and a few sound effects.
Charlotte is a beautiful peasant girl in a Swedish village, in love with the handsome firebrand preacher Karl-Artur. (I regret to confess that, every time I saw the name 'Karl-Artur' in this movie's intertitles, I was reminded of the silent-film comedy team Karl Dane and George K Arthur.) Although Charlotte is in love with the preacher (and vice versa), she marries Schagerström, the wealthy owner of the iron-forge that employs most of the local peasantry. All the clichés of romantic fiction require that Charlotte must be unhappy in this marriage, living off her cold and emotionless wealthy husband whilst secretly pining for Karl. Surprise! Charlotte and her rich older husband get along just fine. Yumping yiminy!
But Karl-Artur's mother Beate is dying, grief-stricken that her only son has no bride. For the sake of Beate, Charlotte and Karl-Artur pretend to reconcile. They become officially betrothed (for Beate's benefit) so that the old woman will die happy. From this point, the plot degenerates into Swedish meatballs.
I've read several of Lagerlöf's novels, but I've not read the one that provided the basis for this movie, so I don't know if the script is faithful to Lagerlöf's novel. I do give this film some credit: at several points, its plotline went in unexpected directions that were entirely plausible. But I didn't much care about these characters. Several of the silent-film title cards make comments about how extremely beautiful Charlotte is, but the actress who plays her (appropriately blonde and Nordic) is only slightly above average in the looks department. Greta Garbo's older brother Sven, whom she loved deeply, plays one of the villagers in this movie, and he shows some resemblance to his famous sister without sharing her acting talent. I'll rate this movie 4 points out of 10, and Ay tank Ay go home now.
