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Joel Adlen on Piano

(Gösta Berlings saga). Selma Lagerlöf emphatically opposed the prospect of Mauritz Stiller directing the monumental two-part filming of her classic novel Gösta Berling's Saga as she was concerned about Stiller remaining faithful to her text. In fact, Stiller had little interest in subjecting his cinemagraphic art to textual sources, insisting upon cinema's legitimacy as an independent art form. Gösta Berling is a defrocked priest whose escapades with the other ex–soldiers living at the manor of Ekeby make up the loose structure for the narrative. The film was originally made in two parts with the intention of it being shown over the course of two nights, but because of intense criticism, it was edited down to fit in one showing. The restored version is the closest to the original there is, or is ever likely to be. This film today is best remembered as the first major performance of the nineteen–year–old Greta Garbo as one of Gösta's love interests, the countess Elizabeth Dohna. The film caught the eye of Louis Mayer who brought both Stiller and Garbo to Hollywood, making Gösta Berling's Saga Stiller's final movie in Sweden and the swan song of the golden age of Swedish silent cinema.