Puss in Boots
About Puss in Boots
Jörgen Steenfeld inherits Steensgaard, mortgaged past rescue, and takes on his old friend Karl Konstantin Kattrup, just sent down from the university and nicknamed Mästerkatten, as manager. Countess Markdanner wants Jörgen for her daughter Rose, but he loves the orphan Helga Anthon, called Pips, and Kattrup falls for Rose. Kindly chief creditor von Schinkel tells Jörgen to marry Rose; the engagement keeps land speculator Kristen Bögedal at bay, and Jörgen parts from Pips. In despair she falls from a tree and is badly hurt. Von Schinkel, who takes her in, recognizes his youthful love, her grandmother, in her face, and later adopts her. Bögedal forces a foreclosure sale and tries to buy the estate. Kattrup outbids him on von Schinkel's behalf, the chamberlain gives Steensgaard to Pips and Jörgen, and Kattrup is free to go to Rose.
Cast & crew
More about Puss in Boots
John W. Brunius's first film as director, and Skandia's first large Swedish production. Sam Ask and Brunius adapted Palle Rosenkrantz's 1905 novel Markis'en af Carabas and the play Den bestøvlede Kat. Gösta Ekman had already played Kattrup on stage at Svenska teatern in Stockholm in 1915 and 1916. Gustaf Hallén was art director. Filmindustri AB Skandias Filmbyrå opened the five-reeler on November 11, 1918, at Victoria in Gothenburg, Scala in Malmö, and Sture in Stockholm.
Themes
Making
Brunius was hired as Skandia's lead director to raise the quality of the new company's films, a comparison aimed at Georg af Klercker's pictures for Hasselblad in Gothenburg. Hasselblad was one of the firms folded into Skandia in the spring of 1918. Most of the summer 1918 shoot used manor houses in southernmost Sweden.
Reviews
Svensk Filmografi notes that Skandia's first big feature drew almost nothing but praise, especially for the manor views. Aftonbladet wrote that direction, actors, and natural scenery formed "an exquisite whole," free of cheap effect-hunting.
Look
Gustav A. Gustafson and Carl Gustaf Florin shot the manor exteriors. The film opens on a widening iris as Ekman pops, laughing, out of a haystack beside Pips.
Preservation
The Swedish Film Database lists a cinematheque screening on August 18, 1976, and a showing on Fårö on June 10, 1993. A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Gösta Ekman is Kattrup, Mary Johnson is Pips, and Carlo Keil-Möller is Jörgen. Brunius plays Count Markdanner; Märtha Lindlöf is the countess and Anna Carlsten is Rose.
- Theater actor Gustaf "Frippe" Fredrikson, then in his eighties, made his only screen appearance as chamberlain Emil von Schinkel.
- Sam Ask, who co-wrote the script, plays the speculator Kristen Bögedal. Karl Gerhard plays von Schinkel's valet Johansen.
- Censors passed 2,241 meters on November 6, 1918 (certificate 20435), with no age limit. The Swedish Film Database times that print at 109 minutes at 18 frames per second.
- French, Danish, and Finnish release titles included Le Chat botté, Den bestøvlede kat, and Saapasjalkainen kissa.
- The Swedish Film Institute's script holding is an 84-page shooting script plus an eight-page list of settings.
Scenes
- An iris opens on Gösta Ekman laughing in a haystack, with Mary Johnson's Pips beside him.
- Pips falls from a tree; von Schinkel, caring for her, recognizes her grandmother.
- At the forced sale Kattrup outbids Bögedal, then reveals he is bidding for von Schinkel.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-msterkatten-i-stvlar)
