Gunnar Sjöberg Movies

Acceding to the literal interpretation of the folk-saying "A virgin is a sty in the devil's eye," Satan employs a reincarnated Don Juan (Jarl Kulle) to seduce Britt-Marie, the young daughter (Bibi Andersson) of a country parson. Poor Don Juan falls in love with the girl, however, while his servant Pablo (Sture Lagerwall) attempts to do the same with her mother. One of Bergman's few direct comedies (he even reassures viewers of the fact in a note titled "Dear Frightened Audience"), Devil's Eye also harks back to his stage experience by appearing in separate acts--with introductions by Gunnar Bjornstrand. The film is available in two video versions: subtitled and dubbed. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

After exploring his disillusionment with religion in his previous films, Ingmar Bergman adopted a humanistic approach for this classic study in isolationism. Legendary Scandinavian director Victor Sjöström stars as Isak Borg, an aging medical professor who reassesses his life while journeying to his former university to receive an honorary degree. Borg travels with his estranged daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) and revisits many of the landmarks of his past, conjuring up memories of his family and of his onetime sweetheart Sara (Bibi Andersson). Returning to the present, he meets a teenage girl who resembles the long-departed Sara. She hitches a ride with the professor and Marianne, as do a ceaselessly bickering married couple. These new characters eventually become intertwined with Borg's hazy flashbacks and fantasies, as the old man recalls the disappointments and disillusionments that have left him cold and guilt-ridden, attributes emphasized when he encounters his equally cold and resentful son. Bookending Borg's odyssey of self-discovery are a series of symbolic images at the beginning of the film (a clock without hands, a man without a face) and a hauntingly beautiful finale, in which professor is beckoned back to the "perfect" world he left behind so many years earlier. This classic art movie remains one of Bergman's most accessible films and one of the most influential European art movies of its generation. Its intense focus on one man's thoughts, regrets, and memories set the tone for innumerable psychological character studies in its wake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cited by many as the most "personal" effort of Swedish filmmaker Arne Sucksdorff, The Great Adventure is also one of his few films to tie together its magnificent images with a dramatic narrative. "Adventure" means "life" to Sucksdorff, and that life is experienced by a group of Swedish farm children, two of whom are played by the director's own sons. The kids save a wild otter from a hunter, then attempt to tame the animal. When spring comes, the children realize without remorse that the otter will be happier roaming free in the wilderness. That is all there is to The Great Adventure (Det stora aventyret), but it was so gorgeously photographed and sublimely assembled that it earned the "superior technique" award at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released in America as The Road to Heaven, Himlaspelet is regarded as not only one of director Alf Sjoberg's finest films, but as one of the most impressive achievements of the Swedish cinema. Described by one observer as a Scandanavian Pilgrim's Progress, the story deftly combines nationalism, religious spiritualism and entertainment value in equal portions. The film's framework involves a naïve farm lad who seeks justice from Above after his father is burned as a witch. When he feels that God has failed him, he hardens into a flint-hearted idolator of material gains. After a lifetime of greed and treachery, the now-aged protagonist is given one last chance at redemption-not by God, but by Satan! As the elderly farmer digs through his past misdeeds, Biblical images parade across the screen, all of them eminently appropriate to the situation at hand. It is abundantly clear throughout that Himlaspelet was a source of inspiration for scores of future Swedish filmmakers-notably Ingmar Bergman, whose own The Seventh Seal owes a great deal to the tone and texture of the Sjoberg classic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Whalers (original title: Valfangare) is a filmed record of the final whaling expedition in the Arctic before the outbreak of WW2. Only partly a documentary, the film is able to accommodate a dramatic throughline, concerning the redemption of wastrelly millionaire's son Allan Blom (Allan Bohlin). Pressed into service on the expedition, Allan shows he's a true son of Scandanavia through his courageous actions on the high seas, and even wins the hand of heroine Sonja (Tutta Rolf) in the bargain. While the whaling scenes are both exciting and exhillarating, the sequence in which a whale carcass is stripped and gutted may not appeal to everyone in the audience. Originally filmed in 1939 in Swedish and Norwegian, The Whalers was helpfully fitted out with English subtitles for its 1942 American run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide