Scott Lord on Film: A Lady To Love (Victor Seastrom, 1930)

Scholar Bo Florin gives us a point of departure when seeking to analyze the ten reel film “Lady to Love” and the transition from silent to sound film by placing director Victor Sjostrom as part of the M.G.M. Studio, adding that Sjostrom had ushered in the beginning of the Golden Age of Swedish Silent Film with his adapation of Ibsen’s poem Terje Vigen and effected the transition which would be carried through the merger of Swedish film companies that had changed Svenska Bio to Svenska Filmindustri, and in doing so it is important to Florin that both transitions were from quantity to quality when involving Victor Sjostrom.

Bo Florin sees the transition of silent to sound film as one that depicts both off screen and onscreen space through the use of diegetic sound. Florin sees the film "Lady to Love" as important when analysizing "the intersection of different cultures" and "the consequences of the transition to sound for an individual director who was frequently using visual 'sound effects' in his films during the silent era."

Edward G. Robinson starred in both versions of the film, the English languge and the German, as did his co-star actress Vilma Banky, who in 1928 starred in the film "The Awakening" (Victor Fleming (nine reels), a film presently presumed to be lost silent film with no surviving copies.

Bo Florin, Stockholm University, in his volume Transition and Transformation, Victor Sjostrom in Hollywood, 1923-1930, writes, "The making of multi-language versions remains on the side of diversity; here, concrete dialects, accents, and sociolects in different spoken languages enter the public sphere through sound recording, but the concept of the film as a unified work with a potential for universalism is also challenged." There were some "minor changes in camera angles" between the two versions and some alternative filming of a bedroom scene to accomodate the American censors, although Florin sees a metonymy that is suggestive through ellipsis.

Victor Sjostrom would soon return to Sweden, not to direct Swedish Sound Film, but to step into the proscenium arc with the blocking of an actor in front of the camera and under the lights. Bo Florin writes that it had been considered that returning to Sweden would have been only a sabbatical and that he could film for M.G.M. there, on location. Florin mentions that Begnt Forslund viewed "A Lady to Love" as "in some sense unworthy of Sjostrom as a director" without directly attributing the Hollywood production system as a reason for Sjostrom's departure, although it may be recurring that Hollywood methods differred from those of Svenska Bio.

Victor Sjostrom
Victor Seastrom playlist Victor Sjostrom

Scott Lord Swedish Silent Film: Hans nåds testamente (Victor Sjostrom, ...

During 1919, Victor Sjostrom directed the film “His Lord’s Will” (“His Grace’s Will” “Hans nads testamente”) from the writings of Hjalmer Bergman. Photographed by Henrik Jaenzon, it starred actresses Greta Almroth, Tyra Dorum and Augusta Lindberg. In bookstores during 1919, God’s Orchid, written by Hjalmer Bergman appeared published in its first edition, followed in 1921 by the novel Thy Rod, Thy Staff and in 1930 by Jac the Clown. The film was remade in 1940 by Per Lindgren, scripted by Stina Bergman and starring Barbra Kollberg and Alk Kjellin.

Scott Lord Scott Lord Victor Sjostrom

Scottt Lord Silent Film: The Three Musketeers (Niblo, 1921)

Douglas Fairbanks the following year continued his series of films in which he starred as an adventure protagonist, each film seeming to be a story in a different historical period and a different geographical country. In addition to its being a costume drama, author William K. Everson saw "The Three Muskateers" (Fred Niblo, 1921, twelve reels) as being indicative of the influence of D.W. Griffith with its cornocopia of intertiles and various intersecting subplots. Starring in the film with Douglas Fairbanks was actresses Barbara Del La Marr.

Photoplay Magazine, in a full page of six publicity stills, not only explained that "Dumas' famous romance" was a ten reel silent film, but that Douglas Fairbanks' moustache was real. It included publicity stills of acresses Mary MacLaren and Margueritte de la Motte in costume drama attire. Exhibitor's Herald included a six sheet poster "suggesting action and romance" and a twenty four sheet inteded for the "far flung" bilboard".

Douglas Fairbanks in The Iron Mask Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Fairbanks