MovieChat Forums > Gösta Berlings saga (1928) Discussion > complete version

complete version

posted 19 years ago by jrglaves-smith
2 replies | jump to latest

I can only endorse the comments about the poor versions available on video but adding that I was once fortunate enough to see a complete copy in a decent print at the NFT. It made an enormous impact (and I'm not a worshipper at the shrine of Garbo). Presumably this came from the Swedish film archive. Could some company like Kino or Eureka make it available? The German silents have been done proud on DVD in recent years and it's time that similar justice was done to the historically equally significant Scandinavian cinema.

[–] billcro 18 years ago

Scandinavia House in New York City is hosting a Greta Garbo film restrospective that began in September and ends in December. Last Saturday, I had the please of seeing a restored version of Gosta Berlins Saga (restored by the Swedish Film Institute in 1970). It ran 3 hours and 3 minutes with one 10-minute intermission between parts I and II. There was live piano as well. The intersting thing was all of the intertitles and credits were in Swedish, so a woman who spoke both Swedish and English was there reading the translations, which were projected speakers set up throughout the theater.
I found the first half of the movie slightly confusing; also perplexing was that Garbo was only in the first half of the film for about 10-15 minutes total. But she appeared in almsot every frame of the second part. She was magnificant.
I myself have ordered a previewed VHS of GBS from amazon just to see how they edited the film for American audiences. But I would LOVE to see the complete restored version I saw last Saturday eventually be released uncut on DVD.

http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/

[–] Cienna 18 years ago

I just received my DVD in yesterday's post. I hope it's the complete version.