Norwegian silent - The Growth of the Soil

[Erikht]

The film based on Knut Hamsun's nobel prise winning novel has been in Limbo for a long time - I have a copy from Grapevine myself. But it looks like it has been restored, with the Norwegian Broadcasting Company's orchestra playing the original score.

http://www.nfi.no/filmbutikken/tittel.html?id=15237

[Fiery Angel]

This film will be screening at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts in November as part of a series of Hamsun-based films.

[htdm]

Glad to see that the disc has English subtitles. (and French, Russian, Spanish and...tysk?)

[Erikht]

Glad to see that the disc has English subtitles. (and French, Russian, Spanish and...tysk?)

Tysk is German.

[Tommaso]

For those who can get it: arte TV will show "Markens Grode" on August 31, 23:30 - 01.05.

[HerrSchreck]

Does arte only show silents on a particular day of the week/time, or do they pop up regularly and without any set pattern (i e undistinguished from any other film programming) as part of their usual movie programming? Or do they do something like TCM did w Silent Sunday's?

[Tommaso]

They show silents on every last Monday of the month; so it's exactly one silent per month. And their programming tends to become more and more standard; in the last few months we only had replays of things like "Potemkin", "Der Golem", "L'Argent" and other films easily available in first-class editions. The last great transmission (i.e. a film not easily available) was "Die Gezeichneten", way back in February. So I naturally jumped at seeing the announcement for "Growth of the soil", and while I'm still glad about it - not knowing the film -, I'm again a bit disappointed that this is another film that now is easily available.

Really, the archives are full of unreleased silents, even arte's are. But when did they last show even something as well-known but unavailable like "The Student of Prague" (which I still only have as a VHS to DVD disc of a recording I made ten years ago)? Not to speak of Grune or Pick.

For the record: I recently read somewhere that Silent of the Month for September will be "Nosferatu"....

[HerrSchreck]

Thanks Tom. Wow.. I had no idea they dished it out in such slim pickin's.

I'd actually made an error over on that UFA thread and attributed a copy of Alraune that I have to arte, whereas in reality it came from another European channel that seems to be pretty good for silents and arthouse in general: Italy's RAI 2 ("RAIDUE").

Do you get that channel in Germany Tom? They were also the source for the copy of Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück that I've had for a couple years now. I also recall when on vacation in Rome, sitting in our hotel room waiting for some food to come up to us, we flicked on the TV and staring me right in the face viz RAIDUE was a B&W film that was so familiar it was driving me crazy while we were sitting there. Turned out, after it finally clicked, that it was Ermanno Olmi's La cotta -- The Crush -- that cute semi dry-run for has masterpiece Il Posto.

(Of course it makes perfect sense for Italian TV to be broadcasting Olmi)

Ah, Il Posto-- god I love that film.. and I owe my discovering it to CC. Films like that-- sheesh I miss those humbling days from CC!

[Tommaso]

Yes, I was wondering when and especially WHY I missed "Alraune" on arte...

It may be possible to get RAI 2 here if you're on digital satellite TV, but I'm not sure about this. I only have analogue cable, and so I'm restricted to German programmes mostly, apart from BBC World and - heavens - CNN.

Italian TV may be far more adventurous than German TV in general; when I was in Rome two years ago they showed "La signora senza camelie" at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Of course this may have had something to do with Antonioni having died just a few days before, but still: I can't imagine something like this happening in Germany if, say, Wenders or Herzog died.

And for sure, 'slim pickins' is the right word for arte and silents, or arte and rare films in general. But they are still BY FAR the best programme available here; I don't know when I last recorded a film of any kind off the two main state programmes, ARD and ZDF (and better don't even ask about the private channels). The problem isn't necessary that they only show uninteresting stuff, there are lots of good ole Hollywood classics all the time. But they are invariably shown in a German dub only, even though of course the technology for dual-language transmissions exists annd was far more often used in former times. I happily remember recording things like "Incredible Shrinking Man" or "Orphee" in dual-language format in the early 90s. But now: nada. At least arte shows most of its French films in both languages, and if it's a classic I haven't seen, I try to watch it in French even though I'd actually need subs for it.

[Tommaso]

I watched my recording of the arte broadcast last night. Let me first say that this is a nice resto made from materials mostly in quite good shape, even though the film doesn't survive in complete form, which explains some rather gaping holes and confusion in the narrative near the end. Music is a new recording of the original 1921 orchestral score which sounds excellent and perfectly manages to underline the dramatic momentum of the film.

As to the film itself: I don't know the Hamsun novel, but the film gives the impression that it follows the novel and its epic story over two generations rather closely, perhaps too much so. There are many, many events crammed into the 96 min. running time, some of which I would have wished to linger on for some longer time. The film is basically realistic, even naturalistic and occasionally has some almost documentary quality to it. Impressive views of the Norwegian landscape, good acting and a real feeling for the hardships of the rural people of the time. What it lacks is some inventiveness, though. That the camera is mostly static shouldn't be too surprising for a 1921 film, but some shots seem slightly random and a bit too matter-of-fact, apart from a brief and very effective hallucinatory sequence near the end. It's very well made, but that the film remains engaging throughout has more to do with the story than with the pacing or the visuals, then.

Well worth seeing, and we should all be happy that the NFI has made it available in what looks like a very nice edition. Just don't expect a mindblowing experience a la Breistein's "Brudeferden i Hardanger". I also think Sjöström's "Outlaw and his wife" or Stiller's "Johan" (I'm naming these because they fall somewhat into the same genre) to be more engaging, but without these comparisons and taken on its own, there is much to enjoy in Sommerfeldt's film.

[Erikht]

The film follows the lines of the narrative in the novel, but is off course only cherry picking the mist important parts. The novel is far nore detailed, and has quite a few story lines that are not a part of the film.

[lubitsch]

The film follows the lines of the narrative in the novel, but is off course only cherry picking the mist important parts. The novel is far nore detailed, and has quite a few story lines that are not a part of the film.

I agree with Tommaso, there's no real attutude towards the material just a scene compilation. The film wanders slowly, observes the growth of the place into a community, but not even the dead child has any major emotional impact which isn't helped by the second clas direction. I was totally puzzled how after over two thirds the storyline shifted to a younger generation with characters we hardly get to know but which are pushed into dramatic situations. I guess it's really too much respect for the author and the novel resulting inj a crammed storyline wothout a clear angle though I frankly failed to see what the whole point of the story was.

[Erikht]

I think this was one of those films made for an audience that new the novel quite well. Also, Knut Hamsun got the Nobel Prize for the book in 1920, and the film was made in 1921, so it was probably a case of "touch thee not the master piece".

[Tommaso]

I agree with both of you, i.e. about the motivation of the film and why it was made in the first place (celebrating the fact that Hamsun won the Nobel Prize and then wanting to make some additional money, counting on the book's popularity), and the whole point of the story isn't really clear to me either. For me, the film worked nevertheless, because I got the impression that the 'point' was simply to depict the hardships and the special quality of the peasant life in itself. That's why I wrote that it almost had a documentary character in places. The question is simply whether that holds enough interest in itself for the film and whether one shouldn't perhaps read the book instead. The direction is perhaps not exactly second class, unless you only put the really big names of silent cinema in the first class category, but it is at least somewhat derivative and not always able to deliver the dramatic arcs that are needed for the story. I have an interest in the topics of the film, and that's why the film didn't really let me down. But if you don't care at all for the Norwegian landscape or rural life in general, well, I'm not sure how well the film would work for you. Still I prefer arte showing films like this over the umpteenth replay of "Nosferatu", like in this month...

[Erikht]

I don't disagree with any of you. It was not the best silent I have seen this year, by a far shot. I find it interresting first of all becauce I like silent cinema and I am Norwegian. The Norwegian cinema has very much been in the shadows of the Swdish and Danish national cinemas, and as such it is an interresting piece of film to me.

I can assure you that the "spirit" of the novel did mostly not penetrate to the film.