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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Skip this one unless you are a total nerd for early 1930s European cinema. If you love watching old movies struggle with early sound tech, you might find some fun here, but anyone else will likely be bored to tears in ten minutes. 😴
Sonja is one of those movie rich girls who seems to exist solely to wear huge coats and look annoyed by her own wealth. She meets a public prosecutor who is so straight-laced he looks like he has never smiled in his entire life.
They fall in love, because that is what the script says they must do. But their romance has all the spark of a wet match. The chemistry is just not there.
The actor playing the prosecutor, Uno Henning, stands so stiffly. I kept wondering if he had a wooden plank strapped to his spine under that suit.
It has that same heavy-handed moral lessons you find in The Tree of Knowledge. The movie really, really wants you to know that being spoiled is bad and being a lawman is noble.
The audio is pretty rough too. There is a constant, terrible hiss in the background of the parlor scenes that sounds like a leaky radiator.
During one driving scene, Sonja is spinning the steering wheel back and forth like crazy. Yet, the screen behind her shows the car going completely straight. It is hilarious.
There is also a strangely long shot of a maid cleaning a table that just lingers. It goes on for about thirty seconds too long, and you can practically hear the director forgetting to yell cut.
Still, Weyler Hildebrand shows up in the cast and brings a tiny bit of energy. He has this naturally confused face that always makes me chuckle.
It is not a lost masterpiece by any means. But as a clunky little time capsule of Swedish cinema trying to figure out talking pictures, it has its moments.