Victor Sjostrom
Victor Sjostrom
The Outlaw and His Wife (1918)
RANKED:
6. The Scarlet Letter (1926)
Lilian Gish wanted to adapt Nathaniel Hawethorn's world famous novel to the big screen. To adequately adapt the Puritan lifestyle, she looked to the Swedish director Victor Sjostrom. The film depicts the strict Puritan rule over its community and showcases the hatred and bigotry that comes from a woman exercising individual freedom.
5. The Outlaw and His Wife (1918)
With his continuation into the exploration of humanity and nature, Sjostrom created a tale of love, grief, and suffering. "The Outlaw and His Wife" can be a bleak watch. However, its portrayal of the vastness of human experience is told within the framing of the vastness of nature. The sum total is encompassing while telling a very intimate story between two lovers.
4. A Man There Was (1917)
"A Man There Was" was not considered ambitious for its scale and complexity, but for its simplicity. Cutting something far more efficient than his previous work, Victor Sjostrom was able to let his film breathe with life. Based on the Norwgeian poem, this tale tells of a simple man who has everything stripped from his in the Napoleonic Wars. To tell such a story, Sjostrom took the camera on the open seas and was able to capture the menacing waters unlike any film before. The subject matters also resonated with audiences who were experiencing the first World War right at their doorstep.
3. The Wind (1928)
Told with a subjective female perspective, Victor Sjostrom's "The Wind" stands out as an incredibly artistic piece of filmmaking. Like with his other films, Sjostrom uses nature as both a backdrop and an intimidating force for the characters. Following a frail impoverished waif who moves out west, this film pushes her to her breaking point. On the other side of her breaking point, however, she finds resiliency. Using the wind as a metaphor for external sexual transgressions, Sjostrom's film relies purely on allusionary thematic ideas, rather than a tight plot-driven narrative. Because of the changing film industry in 1928, this film would be the last silent picture MGM produced, as well as the last silent film for both Lillian Gish and Victor Sjostrom.
2. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
The very first film MGM ever produced was also Victor Sjostrom's first major critical and commerical success in America. The film centers on a man who loses everything, and then some. Based on a Russian play, "He Who Gets Slapped" is an incredibly bleak portrayal of humanity. Everyone in the film takes pleasure in the pain of others, as is the way of our sadistic souls. Many hailed this pictures as an unflinchingly nuanced piece that did not pander to its audience. Rather, it presenting a damning depiction of hatred, humilation, and isolation.
1. The Phantom Carriage (1921)
After the fallouts of the first World War, Europe was in a malaise of drunkenness and violent anger. So too is the protagonist in "The Phantom Carriage." However, when death arrives at his doorstep, the protagonist David must reconcile with his alcoholism and violence, seeing how his behavior has affected everyone and everything around him. This brush with death provides him a new perspective, and the hope by Sjostrom is that this film would provide the same. With his ingenious use of superimposition, Sjostrom created some of the most astounding visual effects ever put to screen up until that point. These techniques of filmmaking, on top of the Dickensian subject matter, created one of the greatest pieces of art in the silent film era.
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