Lagerlöf's romantic tale revolved around a priest, Gösta Berling (Lars Hanson), who is unhappy serving at the estate of Ekeby in the rural western Swedish county of Värmland. He is eventually defrocked and later takes up with several women before falling in love with an Italian noblewoman, Elizabeth Dohna (Garbo), and finding redemption. Also in the cast were Sven Scholander, Ellen Hartman-Cederström, Mona Mårtenson and Torsten Hammarén.
Stiller had first encountered the then-plump, 17-year-old Garbo (still using her birth name of Greta Gustafsson and a student at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Sweden) when she went to Svensk Filmindustri to make a screen test. His first words to her were "If you want this part, you'll have to lose at least 20 pounds." Despite being disappointed with her test, Stiller was impressed with her beauty and gave her the part. Garbo didn't lose all of the 20 pounds Stiller requested but she did slim down enough to satisfy the director. Mauritz Stiller was later asked why he had chosen such a raw actress for this role and responded by saying that "films, as well as stage productions, ought to be played by amateurs, if they can only do it. When an actor is really 'great,' he is always trying to simplify his means of expression. He is always trying to get back to the natural simplicity that was his when he knew nothing about the technique of acting. This is the most difficult thing of all."
Stiller became Garbo's Svengali, teaching her how to act, dress and think. One woman who was on the set during filming later told Life magazine, "As time went on we nicknamed them 'Beauty and the Beast'. [...] I can still see Stiller and that young girl - forever walking up and down, up and down, in the shade of a little grove just outside the studio. Stiller was always teaching and preaching, Greta solemnly listening and learning." Stiller also taught her about antiques when she accompanied him on his trips with set designer Vilhelm Bryde (a respected art dealer and architect) throughout Sweden looking for period furniture for the sets. Garbo would keep her passion for antique furniture throughout her life, eventually becoming a serious collector. Stiller consulted museum directors, collectors and antique shops to help decorate the 48 sets built at the studio in Stockholm. He wanted everything to be correct down to the flooring and paneling, which were ripped out of old homes. One bit of realism was not allowed however; Stiller had originally asked for real wolves for the sleigh ride scene in which Gösta and Elizabeth are chased over the ice but was talked out of it. Instead, he borrowed police dogs from the Stockholm Police, who had their tails weighted down with lead weights so they wouldn't wag, and posted men with guns to stand guard in case real wolves showed up.
The Saga of Gösta Berling would have a final running length of more than three hours and had to be released in two parts. Part one went into production from September to October 1923 and part two in December 1923, wrapping in February 1924. Location shooting was done in Sweden at Forsmark, Uppsala, Lidingö and Wira Bruk, Stockholms Iän. Part one was released on March 10, 1924 and part two on March 17, 1924 at the Röda Kvarn theater in Stockholm, and was met with enthusiasm by critics. Despite the warm reception, Stiller was unhappy with his own direction, finding it uneven in parts. Selma Lagerlöf was also displeased. Although she had reluctantly approved the final screenplay that had been adapted by Stiller and Ragnar Hyltén-Cavallius, she was so angered by the material changes made to her characters, especially Gösta Berling, that she wrote Stiller a letter forbidding him to film any of her books again.
The Saga of Gösta Berling would only air in its entire length in Sweden, Finland, Germany and Norway. In the rest of the world, the two parts were edited together into a much shorter version, eliminating plot points and character motivations, which left audiences confused. This is the version that would be released in the United States in 1928 after Greta Garbo had become a star in Hollywood. Over the years, the film has been restored several times, with the most recent version shown in February 2018. It is 16 minutes longer than the restoration done in the 1970s and is the closest to the original two-part version. It also includes the color tints and some of the text first seen on the original release prints.
For the newly renamed Greta Garbo, The Saga of Gösta Berling was important for two reasons: it gave her an important mentor in Mauritz Stiller and it brought her to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives in Berlin when the film was released in Germany in September 1924. This led to her and Stiller meeting MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. Shortly afterwards they both signed contracts with the studio and left for Hollywood in 1925. It would also bring the film's star, Lars Hanson, to the United States where he would work with Lillian Gish in two of her most acclaimed films, The Scarlet Letter (1926) and The Wind (1928), both directed by Swedish director Victor Sjöström (known as Victor Seastrom in the United States).
SOURCES:
Bainbridge, J. (1955). Greta's Haunted Path to Stardom. Life, 38(3).
Gomery, D., & Pafort-Overduin, C. (2011). Movie History: A Survey. New York, NY: Routledge.
Payne, R. (2002). The Great Garbo. New York: Cooper Square Press.
Petrie, G. (2002). Hollywood Destinies: European Directors in America, 1922-1931. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
The Saga of Gösta Berling. (1924, March 09). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014109/?ref_=ttexst_exst_tt
Sundholm, J. (2013). Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
Lorraine LoBianco
