Gustaf Wasa, Part One
About Gustaf Wasa, Part One
In 1518 the Danes are in Sweden. Sten Sture the Younger calls the country to resist, and the word reaches the farm of Mats Ersson at Svärdsjö in Dalarna. The hired man Tobias sees no point in fighting. The old man of the farm tells a childhood memory of foreign troops and says he will not die until the Dane is gone. The Dalecarlians turn out. At Brännkyrka, outside Stockholm, the Swedes win, and Gustaf Eriksson Wasa carries the national banner in the fight. Afterward Christian II stays in the Stockholm archipelago and arranges a meeting with Sten Sture at Österhaninge church, then does not come. In Stockholm, Sten Sture's wife Kristina Gyllenstierna holds the city and then has to give it up. In May 1520 Wasa lands and finds the people unwilling to fight.
Cast & crew
More about Gustaf Wasa, Part One
John W. Brunius directed. Ivar Johansson wrote the screenplay. A script by Henning Ohlson was not used. Allan Egnell was art director. Wasa Film released the picture in Sweden on 5 March 1928. English Wikipedia notes that the two parts opened a week apart. Gunnar Malmström arranged the music played at the silent premiere.
Themes
Background
The story runs from the 1518 fight at Brännkyrka to Wasa's landing in May 1520, before his election as king. The film splits that chronicle into two features released a week apart.
Making
Brunius made the film through Wasa Film AB, not through Svensk Filmindustri. The 1959–60 censorship card for the joined feature lists 2,950 meters.
Look
Hugo Edlund and Karl Andersson shot the Dalarna farm scenes and the Brännkyrka battle.
Music
Gunnar Malmström arranged the music used at the silent premiere. The 1960 joined version has spoken narration by Åke Ohberg.
Preservation
English Wikipedia says prints of Gustaf Wasa still exist. The Swedish Film Institute holds the 1960 assembly of both parts.
Notes
- The Swedish title of this half is Gustaf Wasa/del I : En bildkrönika.
- Gösta Ekman plays Gustaf Eriksson Wasa. Edvin Adolphson plays Christian II. Hugo Björne plays Sten Sture the Younger.
- Hjalmar Selander plays the old man at Svärdsjö, John Ericsson his son Mats Ersson, and Estery Ericsson mother Brita.
- Hugo Edlund and Karl Andersson photographed it.
- English Wikipedia calls it the first film of the actress Signhild Björkman.
- A 1960 version joined both parts, with Jan Molander editing and Åke Ohberg as narrator, and Rapidfilm distributed that cut.
Scenes
- The old man at Svärdsjö tells what foreign soldiers did when he was a child, and the Dalecarlians leave the farms.
- Wasa carries the Swedish banner through the fight at Brännkyrka.
- Christian II sets a meeting at Österhaninge church and does not appear.
- In May 1520 Wasa comes ashore to a country that will not fight.
Also available
- Internet Archive (gustaf-wasa-part-one_1928)
