Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru

This film was Victor Sjöströms international break-through and it's not hard to understand why. It wasn't the first time Sjöström had used the wild and unpredictable nature as an illustrator or commentator, but this time the scenery and the acting was in the same level of quality. A wonderful piece of art.

It's hard to imagine, but only a few years before this film debuted, most films were only a few minutes long. And, full-length films really were a pretty new thing. So, to see a long, complex and cinematic film like "You and I" shows just how far the industry had grown. Victor Sjöström plays a man who is on the run from the law. Years earlier, he'd been sent to prison for stealing a sheep to feed his family and he'd eventually broken out of a tiny make-shift prison in Iceland. The film picks up when he's on the run in the interior of the country--looking for work and hoping no one recognizes him. In the process, a woman takes him in to work on her farm and eventually the two fall in love....at about the time the law shows up to claim him. The two run off together and live in the inhospitable wilds for the next 17 years (yikes). Exactly what happens is something you'll just need to see for yourself--but it does have some nice surprises.

The film is well worth seeing mostly for the nice acting and cinematography. Interestingly, in addition to starring in the film, Sjöström directed and co-wrote this film--and the look of the film can clearly be attributed to him. I also appreciate how he was able to recreate the look of Iceland nicely by apparently filming in the middle of no where AND in pretty inhospitable weather. A very good film--and it has some nice things to say about crime and punishment.

On my continued journey through silent film from the early 20th century, this is my favorrite one yet. I found the changing colors much less distracting, and at points even felt like the colors added to the tone of the scene. I particularly enjoyed the costumes in this film, and found the plot much easier to follow than other films of this category. I enjoyed seeing a strong female character, unlike in 'A Man There Was'. There are both laughs and cries throughout this film, and the ending I thought was beautiful. The title cards consisted of more dialogue than I'd seen in previous films, which helped to make the plot more understandable.

The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) directed by Victor Sjöström is yet another impressive production in early cinema history.

The story revolves around a stranger who comes to work at a widow's (Halla's) farm. Halla and the stranger fall in love, but when he is revealed as Eyvind, an escaped thief forced into crime by his family's starvation, they flee and become two of the many outlaws of Iceland's mountains.

Victor Sjöström's early films are impressive in their own right. In The Outlaw and his Wife, he almost uses nature as a character, pressuring the humans of the film to the very brink of - and beyond - their moral values. This works effectively in driving a more abstract point of the film; what is one willing to do in order to ensure one's own safety and survival, and yet further abstract; what is good and evil as philosophical constructs?

It is similarly highly recommended for film buffs and those interested in cinema history just like Sjöström's earlier film Terje Vigen (1917), although The Outlaw and his Wife is not as contemporary as Terje Vigen. Lacking a score and being twice as long, it does not feel as focused although it definitely is more epic in its scale and production.

Berg-Ejvind Och Hans Hustru / The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) : Brief Review -

A tragic love story of an Icelandic outlaw with a groundbreaking filming process. The first thing you should know about The Outlaw and His Wife is that it's a groundbreaking film when it comes to cinematography and the shooting process. It was groundbreaking for its portrayal of wild nature, as it was shot in two sessions in the spring and late summer. We modern audiences and critics talk about Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" (2014) for its long filming process that took 12 years or something, but how many of us ever discuss old treasures like this? We should, and I am doing my part today. Victor Sjöström's silent romantic tragedy has everything that makes for a good watch. The storyline is exactly what any romantic melodrama will have. It has emotion and that love factor working as the USPs throughout the narrative. At one point, I thought it was trying to be philosophical, but then everything went as planned, and believe me, I was hoping it would behave like a film made 104 years ago. A stranger comes to work at widow Halla's farm. She falls in love and he shares her feelings, but their happiness is cut short by God or destiny, whatever you call it, as his haunting past strikes with new challenges. Halla learns about Eyvind's past and yet decides to follow him for life. What challenges she had to face in the marriage and how they both tackled them is all that you get to see in The Outlaw and His Wife. Victor Sjöström's film seems like an extremely expressionist film, as Victor Sjöström and Edith Erastoff both give such exorbitant expressions. Also, we can't forget the fact that the cinema of 1918 was like this, even if it was changing rapidly in the West. Nevertheless, the greatest Swedish director of its time makes sure that your time is worth spending on something. Love story and love tragedy lovers should definitely see this to know the true meaning of love.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.