Klostret i Sendomir (1920)

In the Swedish silent film Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (1920), two weary travellers come upon a monastery. While staying the night, they learn of its mysterious founding. Director Victor Sjöström adapted an 1828 short story by Franz Grillparzer for this historical melodrama. Stars were Tora Teje, Renée Björling, Richard Lund and Tore Svennberg.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/2. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/3. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Renée Björling and Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/4. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Renée Björling.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/6. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Richard Lund.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/7. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Tora Teje, Richard Lund, and Renée Björling in Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920)

The sad story of a strange, old monk

The main part of Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) is told in a flashback by a monk to two visiting noblemen on their way to Warsaw in the 17th century. The two noblemen arrive at the monastery of Sendomir (Sandomierz) and ask for passing the night. They are served by a very humble and somewhat strange old monk. When they ask about the monastery's history, the monk becomes very upset, yet he begins to tell about the events that led to the monastery's arrival. Near the place where the monastery now stands, once stood a large and magnificent castle, where the mighty Count Starschensky (Tore Svennberg) lived happily with his rather saddened, younger wife Elga (Tora Teje), her child and their servants.

One day, the Count's staff receives reports that unknown persons sometimes get access to the castle via a certain gate. The administrator informs the Count of his findings, and the Count detects that the key to the corresponding porch is missing. When the Count returns next time, he notices that an officer (Richard Lund) is secretly let in through the gate by the Countess's maid-in-law (Renée Björling).

The chambermaid detects after a while that the Count is on his way back, summoned by his servants. The lover succeeds in escaping and the Count cannot induce the chambermaid to give his name. Elga spells her fierce anger, but remains very cold and succeeds in letting him believe that it is just her maid getting these secret visits. The Count takes relief from this false interpretation of the course of events. Shortly thereafter, he realises he has been fooled. Tucked away in a box, he recognises a picture of a cousin to his wife, Oginsky, who has become his wife's lover. The Count is shocked by the suspicion that Oginsky may be the father of the daughter (Gun Robertson) he considered as his own.

With the administrator's help, the Count sets a trap and captures Oginsky. He forces her wife to get up at night and leads her to the captive Oginsky who confesses having made love to the Countess and being the father of her child. The lover can escape through a window. The countess prays for her life and, on her husband's request (testing her), she is even prepared to kill her 'untimely' child by her own hands, just to save her skin. This takes the count as the definitive proof of her unworthiness to live. He drives his knife into her. That same night, the castle burns to the ground, and a poor local wife gets the little girl with a promise of money for her education.

The monk concludes his story by telling that the count left the estate and his belongings to the monastery which he was able to institute after his crime. The guests ask the monk what happened to the count himself and get the answer that he became an insignificant and impoverished brother in his own monastery. They discover that the monk is Starschensky himself. Though critics admitted that Klostret i Sendomir was a melodramatic story, they emphasised that the melodrama was embedded within artistic consistency and authenticity. The wonderful cinematography was lauded as well as the impressive studio resources that could create this 17th century ambiance. Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje's performances were also admired


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/8. Photo: publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/9. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Tore Svennberg.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/10. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/11. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tore Svennberg, Richard Lund and Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/12. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Richard Lund, Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/13. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Tore Svennberg.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/14. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/15. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje.

Sources: Svenskfilmdatabas.se, Wikipedia (English and Swedish), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 31 July 2024.

Erotikon (1920)

One of the highlights of the Scandinavian silent cinema is the Swedish film Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (1920) directed by Mauritz Stiller for Svensk Filmindustri. Erotikon surely pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on the screen in 1920. The stars of this comedy-drama of sexual intrigue are Karin Molander, Anders de Wahl, Lars Hanson, and Tora Teje.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/1. Photo: publicity still for Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920) with Karin Molander.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/2. Anders de Wahl and Karin Molander in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/3. Anders de Wahl and Karin Molander in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/5. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).

Obsessed with the sexual life of bugs

Erotikon is a Swedish romantic comedy film directed in 1920 by Mauritz Stiller, starring Tora Teje, Karin Molander, Anders de Wahl, and Lars Hanson. The screenplay by Stiller, Gustaf Molander, and Arthur Nordén was based on the 1917 play A kék róka by the Hungarian author Ferenc Herczeg.

It was one of the most expensive Swedish films of the silent era. Miguel Pendás at Silent Film: "A 1919 merger that resulted in Svensk Filmindustri meant that the company now distributed and exhibited films as well as produced them. The critical and financial success of Victor Sjöström’s Terje Vigen (1917) led to a change in policy. Studio head Charles Magnusson decided to make fewer films, each with stronger production values and bigger budgets. He also wanted films with more international appeal. Stiller was presented with an unprecedentedly large budget for Erotikon. He used it wisely."

Erotikon revolves around the romantic entanglements of five stock characters from a drawing-room comedy. First, there is the clueless husband, entomology professor Leo Charpentier (Anders de Wahl), who is obsessed with the sexual life of bugs. His niece Marthe (Karin Molander), the flirtatious ingenue, is secretly in love with her uncle.

The professor's restless wife Irene (Tora Teje) is courted by two suitors. Irene loves Baron Felix (Vilhelm Bryde), a womanising aviator (the pretentious flyboy). Her husband's best friend, the handsome sculptor Preben Wells (Lars Hanson), loves Irene, and actually, she likes this Bohemian artist too. Charpentier doesn't oppose his wife's flirts as he likes somebody else too... IMDb: "Stiller obviously delights in teasing his audience with each scandalous plot twist and every salacious leer, and the result is a deliciously subversive comedy that was very much ahead of its time."

Alide Liddel at IMDb: "Erotikon has been called a precursor to Lubitsch, with its part-satiric, part-romantic look at the upper classes, the games they play, the roles they assume. Like Lubitsch, Stiller uses the techniques of farce, where the geometry of the plot and the manipulation of space leads to complications, misunderstandings, provocations, and accidents. The use of the Charpentier hallway, for instance, with its angular spaces; and the emphasis on fetishised detail (Irene's gloves and feet; the 'striptease' in front of the sculptor when she removes her coat) are all to be found in Lubitsch." Erotikon premiered in Sweden on 8 November 1920. It became a commercial success and was sold to 45 markets abroad.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/6. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/7. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/8. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/9. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/10. Tora Teje in Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).

Sources: Miguel Pendás (San Francisco Silent Film Festival), Alide Liddel (IMDb - page now defunct), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 31 July 2024.

Tora Teje

Swedish stage actress Tora Teje (1893-1970) starred in several classics of the Scandinavian silent cinema.


Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 113. Photo: Hovatelier Jaeger. Tora Teje in the play 'Rödakorssystern' (Red Cross Sister) by Gustaf Collijn. The play premiered on 14 March 1919 at the Svenska Teatern. Director was Gunnar Klintberg and her co-star was Gösta Ekman.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, No. 1097/6. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 321. Photo: Hovatelier Jaeger, 1922.

Kleptomaniac

Tora Teje was the stage name of Tora Adelhejt Sylwander-Johansson. She was born in the St. Mary Magdalene parish in the Södermalm quarter of Stockholm, Sweden in 1893.

Tora studied at Dramatens elevskola, the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm, from 1908 to 1911.

During her whole career - apart from the years 1913-1922, she was engaged at Dramaten, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, where she played many leading roles.

She played the title roles of Jean Racine's 'Phaedra' and Euripides' 'Medea', Indra's daughter in August Strindberg's 'Ett drömspel' (A Dream Play), Nina Leeds in Eugene O'Neill's 'Strange Interlude' and Christine Mannon in O’Neill’s 'Mourning Becomes Elektra'.

In the cinema, Tora Teje had her breakthrough with the romantic comedy Erotikon (1920) by Mauritz Stiller. It is based on the 1917 play 'A kék róka' by Ferenc Herczeg. The story deals with a professor (Anders de Wahl) who is obsessed with the sexual life of bugs but doesn’t notice his wife (Teje) is courted by two men. One of the two (Lars Hanson) is – unjustly - jealous of the other. The film became a commercial success and was sold to 45 markets abroad.

Two years later, Teje played a kleptomaniac, indicated as ‘Modern Hysteric’, in Benjamin Christensen's Häxan/Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922). Häxan is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch-hunts. The film was made as a documentary but contains dramatized sequences that are comparable to horror films.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Beginning in a deceptively sedate fashion with a series of woodcuts and engravings (a technique later adopted by RKO producer Val Lewton), the film then shifts into gear with a progression of dramatic vignettes, illustrating the awesome power of witchcraft in the Middle Ages. So powerful are some of these images that even some modern viewers will avert their eyes from the screen."

With Christensen's meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and the lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor. Although it won acclaim in Denmark and Sweden, the film was banned in the United States and heavily censored in other countries for what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/2. Photo: Svenska Biografteatren AB. Tora Teje in Karin Ingmarsdotter/God/s Way/Karin Daughter of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1920), starring. It is the second part in Sjöström's large-scale adaption of Selma Lagerlöf's novel 'Jerusalem', following Sons of Ingmar from the year before, and depicting chapters three and four from the novel.


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/4. Photo: Svenska Biografteatren AB. Tora Teje and Tor Weiden in Karin Ingmarsdotter/God/s Way/Karin Daughter of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/7. Photo: Tora Teje in Karin Ingmarsdotter (Victor Sjöström, 1920).

Oh God, we had fun!

Previously, Victor Sjöström had directed her in two films, Karin Ingmarsdotter/Karin, Daughter of Ingmar (1920) and the Gothic drama Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (1920).

Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (1920) is the second part in Sjöström's large-scale adaption of Selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem, following Ingmarssönerna/Sons of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1919), and depicting chapter three and four from the novel. Teje played the title role as the daughter of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström). The critical reception of the film was unenthusiastic and Sjöström decided to not film any more parts. Eventually, the suite was finished by Gustaf Molander in 1926.

Klostret i Sendomir, based on a story by Franz Grillparzer, deals with a 17th-century monk (Tore Svennberg) who tells two visitors about a mighty count who discovers that his unfaithful wife has a longstanding affair with her own cousin and that even his daughter is not his own. He had to use all his resources to build the monastery where they are now staying. At the end of the film, it is revealed that the monk is in fact the count himself.

Teje also acted in Familjens traditioner/Family Traditions (Rune Carlsten, 1920) with Gösta Ekman and Mary Johnson.

She had the lead in Norrtullsligan/The Nurtull Gang (Per Lindberg, 1923) about low-paid female clerks who go on strike, and acted in 33.333 (Gustav Molander, 1924) with Einar Hanson as the winner of a lottery ticket.

Her last silent performances were as Marguerite Gauthier in Damen med kameliorna/The Lady with the Camelias (Olof Molander, 1925), based on Alexandre Dumas fils’ famous play and with Uno Henning as Armand Duval, and as Signe Rosenkrans in the August Strindberg adaptation Giftas/Getting Married (Olof Molander, 1926), again with Henning.

After years on stage Teje returned one time to the screen in 1939, acting opposite Victor Sjöström in Gubben kommer/The Old Man is Coming, based on Gösta Gustaf-Janson’s 'Gud, vad vi haft roligt!' (Oh God, we had fun!), tells about himself and about his mother.

Tora Teje died in 1970 in Stockholm. She was 77.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/6. Photo: Tora Teje and Richard Lund in Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/8. Photo: Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje in Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/14. Photo: Tora Teje in Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia (Swedish and English), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 24 August 2021.