Cinema
For Her Sake
För hennes skull
Paul Merzbach · 1930
Synopsis
In Stockholm, a young couple lives on credit: Sigvard Löfgren, a travelling salesman, and his wife Isabella, a secretary at an agency looking for artists for a revue. From the morning on, the creditors ring at the door. Gunnar Lanner, son of a furrier, comes to the agency to demand from Isabella the instalments on a fur; she takes him for a candidate, he is made to sing before the director, who finds the story so funny that he wants to turn it into an act. Gunnar goes on stage in his own role, and Isabella, whose husband is often away travelling, grows closer to him.
Context
It is the first Swedish talking film shot and recorded entirely in Sweden; a film made in France for Paramount had been released two weeks earlier, but it is usually set aside because of its foreign origin. The director, who came from Germany like some of the sound technicians, shot a German version at the same time. The screenplay, written with Ragnar Allberg and Bengt Idestam-Almquist, claims to draw on Gösta Ekman's memoirs without following their story. The photography is by Julius Jaenzon, the sets by the painter Isaac Grünewald, the music by Jules Sylvain, who had been composing for Swedish cinema since the beginning of the talkies and whose song “Åh, Isabell” was a success.
Who it is for
About one hundred minutes, in Swedish. A light comedy with songs; the best of it is the final revue number.
Prizes and reception
It owes its place in history to being shot entirely in Sweden; the critics of the time, indulgent toward the final revue, saw it above all as a first attempt.
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