Master of the House

1925 Drama 107 minutes Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

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About Master of the House

Viktor Frandsen (Johannes Meyer), a precision mechanic embittered after losing his business, bullies his wife Ida (Astrid Holm) and their three children and treats the housework as nothing. His old nanny, Mads (Mathilde Nielsen), defends Ida. When Ida's mother, Alvilda Kryger (Clara Schønfeld), visits, Viktor is rude and orders her and Mads out or the marriage is over. The two women send Ida away to rest. Kryger then makes Viktor do Ida's work. Ida, with the chores gone, feels how miserable she has been and breaks down. Viktor comes to want her back. When she returns, her mother shows him a newspaper notice for an optometrist's shop and gives him a check to buy it.

Cast & crew

More about Master of the House

Carl Th. Dreyer directed, edited, and designed the sets, and wrote the screenplay with Svend Rindom from Rindom's play Tyrannens fald, published in 1919. Palladium produced it. The Danish Film Institute measures the negative at 2,430 meters. The Danish premiere was 5 October 1925 at the Palads in Copenhagen. It opened in Finland on 15 November 1926. The Danish title is Du skal ære din hustru.

Themes

  • A husband who will not see housework
  • The nanny and the mother-in-law take the house
  • A wife sent away until he wants her back
  • Viktor Frandsen
  • Ida Frandsen
  • Mads the nanny
  • Alvilda Kryger
  • housework
  • optometrist shop
  • Copenhagen
  • Palladium

Making

Almost the whole story stays inside the Frandsen rooms. Mads and Mrs. Kryger do not lecture Viktor. They leave him with the washing, the meals, and the children.

Look

George Schnéevoigt photographed the apartment, the stairs, and the kitchen, where the reversal is staged.

Preservation

Prints survive. The Danish Film Institute holds material, and a restored version was issued by Criterion.

Notes

  • Karin Nellemose, as the daughter Karen, made her film debut.
  • Johannes Nielsen plays the doctor. Petrine Sonne plays the laundress.
  • The Criterion Collection later issued it on Blu-ray and DVD.
  • A British and American release title is Thou Shalt Honour Thy Wife, a translation of the Danish commandment in the original title.

Scenes

  • Viktor tells Mrs. Kryger and Mads to be gone by the time he comes home.
  • With Ida away, he is put to the washing and the cooking.
  • Ida's mother hands him a check and a newspaper ad for an optician's shop.

Influenced by

  • Svend Rindom's play Tyrannens fald (1919)

Also available

  • Criterion Collection Blu-ray and DVD
  • Internet Archive (silent-master-of-the-house)

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