Cinema
Sons of the Soil
Saga Borgarættarinnar
Gunnar Sommerfeldt · 1920
Synopsis
At Borg, Örlygur is the most powerful man in his parish, and his son Ormarr is expected to succeed him. Ormarr saves a certain Páll and his daughter Rúna, whom his father takes in under his roof, then leaves to study music in Copenhagen, where he falls in love with Alma, the daughter of the banker Vivild. Meanwhile his brother Ketill seduces Rúna and establishes himself at the estate. The second part, twenty years later, follows the next generation and a wandering preacher, Gæst the One-Eyed.
Context
A Nordisk Film production, the film was shot in 1919 after Gunnar Gunnarsson's first novel, with Danish and Icelandic actors, at Reykholt in Borgarfjörður, at Keldur in Rangárvellir and in a Reykjavík studio. The painter Guðmundur Thorsteinsson, known as Muggur, plays Ormarr, the director plays Ketill, and the novelist appears as a doctor. The two parts were released in Copenhagen on 27 August and 7 September 1920, to a reserved critical reception, then in Iceland in January 1921, where the success was immediate. For the centenary, the Icelandic archives and the Danish Film Institute prepared a digital restoration of it, accompanied by a score by Þórður Magnússon.
Who it is for
A silent film in two parts, nearly three hours long; the restored version has been presented as a film with live music in Iceland and Italy.
Prizes and reception
Shown in some fifteen countries on its release, it remained on the programme of the Nýja Bíó in Reykjavík until around 1970.
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