When this film was released in the US in the 1920s, they chopped out half the movie. At 183 minutes, I could certainly see why. Now this isn't because I hate long films. If the material merits it (such as GONE WITH THE WIND), then I adore long and complex films. But if the story could easily be told in 90 minutes, then no matter how high the quality is of the film, the overall effort can't help but falter. This film easily could have earned an 8 or 9 had it just been tightened up and some of the more irrelevant moments been excised.
Gösta Berling is a young man who was a minister but is defrocked due to his drinking and ill-advised refusal to accept responsibility for this (he blamed the parishioners). Despite this, he does work throughout the film to do the right thing and be a decent person--in an apparent effort to atone for his mistakes. However, much like the story "Lord Jim", he cannot accept that he is a good person or deserves respect. Throughout the film, many women are attracted to him (including a young Greta Garbo who looks little like her later Hollywood persona). However, feeling unworthy, time and again, Gösta leaves the relationships or the women reject him when they find out about his past. There is far, far more about the film than this--so many plot points that I just won't bother to go any deeper (lest my review be 1000s of words long--which IMDb won't allow).
The bottom line is that this long-winded film is very well made for 1924 and deserves your attention if you consider yourself a big fan of silent films. However, if you have a DVD like mine that slightly speeds up the film yet doesn't go too fast, you may think about using this feature!! It's just not worth the three hours plus you'd need to devote to the Kino Video version.
Gösta Berling is a young man who was a minister but is defrocked due to his drinking and ill-advised refusal to accept responsibility for this (he blamed the parishioners). Despite this, he does work throughout the film to do the right thing and be a decent person--in an apparent effort to atone for his mistakes. However, much like the story "Lord Jim", he cannot accept that he is a good person or deserves respect. Throughout the film, many women are attracted to him (including a young Greta Garbo who looks little like her later Hollywood persona). However, feeling unworthy, time and again, Gösta leaves the relationships or the women reject him when they find out about his past. There is far, far more about the film than this--so many plot points that I just won't bother to go any deeper (lest my review be 1000s of words long--which IMDb won't allow).
The bottom line is that this long-winded film is very well made for 1924 and deserves your attention if you consider yourself a big fan of silent films. However, if you have a DVD like mine that slightly speeds up the film yet doesn't go too fast, you may think about using this feature!! It's just not worth the three hours plus you'd need to devote to the Kino Video version.