The Avenger
About The Avenger
Student Georg Vide will not marry Ester when she becomes pregnant, because she is Jewish and he is Christian. Her father curses her and puts her out. Georg passes his exam, turns her away again, and gets engaged to a woman his parents accept. Ester dies in childbirth. Her cousin Jacob Kahn, who had wanted to marry her, raises the boy Josef. At the altar Georg sees Ester and the child in place of the Virgin on the altarpiece, and the wedding stops. Twenty years later Jacob is a moneylender. Josef writes Jacob's name on a note Georg has left behind, draws the money, and sends it unsigned to Emma von Sterner, whom he loves. Georg and Emma learn that Josef is Georg and Ester's son. Jacob will not let him go until Georg says, "My son is mine."
Cast & crew
More about The Avenger
Mauritz Stiller directed. Martin Jørgensen and Louis Levy wrote the script. Hugo Edlund photographed it. The Swedish title is Hämnaren, a drama in three acts. It opened on 6 September 1915 at Slottsbiografen in Uppsala. On 21 July 1915 the censor cut 13 meters in act three, the revolver business around the young man, the girl's portrait, and a struggle for the gun, taking the film from 1,011 meters to 998.
Themes
Making
In 2002 Helmut Regel identified a tinted nitrate with German titles in the Deutsche Kinemathek store at Koblenz. Jon Wengström of the Swedish Film Institute had heard of it at the Berlin festival that year. Restorer Inga Adolfsson struck a new negative, and the film was shown again at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, 28 June–5 July 2003.
Look
Hugo Edlund shot the Lidingö studio scenes and exteriors at Johannes Church, the Nordic Museum, Katarinavägen, and Restaurant Foresta.
Preservation
Long treated as lost. In 2002 the Deutsche Kinemathek found a tinted nitrate in Koblenz. The Swedish Film Institute made a new negative and a print with reconstructed color and Swedish titles. That restoration premiered at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna in 2003.
Notes
- Wilhelm Hansson plays Georg, later a prison chaplain. Edith Erastoff plays Ester. Edmond Hansen plays her father. John Ekman plays Jacob Kahn. Richard Lund plays Josef.
- Karin Molander plays Emma von Sterner. William Larsson plays her father, the estate owner. Gustaf Callmén and Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson play Georg's parents. Emmy Elffors plays the fiancée.
- The Swedish Film Institute calls the restored print the oldest surviving Stiller film.
- Until the nitrate was found, the only known images were copyright frames Gösta Werner had seen at the Library of Congress.
- No Swedish title list survived. The institute rebuilt the titles from a manuscript, an English list, and a German list, because the German print did not match the Swedish cut.
Scenes
- Ester's father curses her and shuts her out of the house.
- At the altar Georg sees Ester and the baby where the Virgin should be, and the wedding ends.
- Josef signs Jacob's name to the note and sends the money to Emma.
- Georg faces Jacob and says his son is his.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-hmnaren-aka-the-avenger)
Quotes
Min son är min!
