Carl Theodor Dreyer

[kinjitsu]

Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968)



The first creating impulse for a film comes from the
writer whose work is the actual foundation for the film.
But from the moment the poetic foundation is laid, it is
the director's task to give the film its style. The many
artistic details are born through his initiative. It ought
to be his feelings and moods that color the film and that
awaken corresponding feelings and moods in the
spectator's mind. Through the style he infuses the work
with a soul, and that is what makes it art. It is for him to
give the film a face, namely his own. *


Filmography

Præsidenten / The President (1919) DFI (R2)

Prästänkan / The Parson's Widow (1920) Image (R1)

Blade af Satans Bog / Leaves from Satan's Book (1921) DFI (R2) Image (R1)

Die Gezeichneten / Love One Another (1922)

Der var engang / Once Upon a Time (1922) DFI (R2)

Michael / Michael / Chained (1924) Kino (R1) MoC (R2)

Du skal ære din hustru / Master of the House (1925) mk2 (R2)

Glomdalsbruden / The Bride of Glomdal (1926)

La passion de Jeanne d'Arc / The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) Criterion (R1)

Vampyr - der traum des Allan Grey (1932) Image (R1) mk2 (R2) MoC (R2) Network (R2)

L'Esclave blanc (1936) (uncredited)

Mødrehjælpen / Good Mothers (1942)

Vredens dag / Day of Wrath (1943) Criterion (R1) mk2 (R2)

Två människor / Two People (1945)

Vandet paa Landet / Water from the Land (1946)

Kampen mod kræften / The Struggle Against Cancer (1947)

Landsbykirken / The Danish Village Church (1947)

De nåede færgen / They Caught the Ferry (1948) Image (R1)

Thorvaldsen (1949) Image (R1)

Storstrømsbroen / The Storstrom Bridge (1950)

Et Slot i et slot / The Castle Within the Castle (1955)

Ordet (1955) Criterion (R1) mk2 (R2)

Gertrud (1964) Criterion (R1) mk2 (R2)


Forum Dissusions

Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier (Criterion)

Day of Wrath (Criterion)

Gertrud (Criterion)

Michael (MoC)

Ordet (Criterion)

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Criterion)

Vampyr (Criterion)

Vampyr (MoC)

Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932)


Internet Resources

About Carl Th. Dreyer's My Metier - Torben Skjødt Jensen (Criterion essay)

Audio interview with Carl Th. Dreyer (1965)

Bewitched - Mark Le Fanu (Sight & Sound, 2003)

Carl Dreyer - A short film by Jonas Mekas (1965)

carlthdreyer.dk

Carl Dreyer - Masters of Cinema

Carl Theodor Dreyer - Acquarello (Senses of Cinema, 2002)

The Conquerors - An Interview with Torben Skjødt Jensen - Ulrich Breuning (Criterion)

Figuring Out Day of Wrath - Jonathan Rosenbaum (Criterion essay)

Gertrud - Phillip Lopate (Criterion essay)

The Incarnate Transcendence of Ordet - Thomas Beltzer (Senses of Cinema, 2003)

Ordet - Chris Fujiwara (Criterion essay)

A Parable for Critics: A discussion of Day of Wrath - Ray Carney (Speaking the Language of Desire: The Films of Carl Dreyer)

La passion de Jeanne d'Arc - Michael Koller (Senses of Cinema, 2000)

The Passion of Joan of Arc - Andre Bazin (Radio-Cinema, 1952)

Realized Mysticism - Carl Theodor Dreyer (Danish Film Institute)

Thoughts on My Metier - Carl Theodor Dreyer (Dreyer in Double Reflection, Donald Skoller, editor) *

The Tyrannical Dane - Paul Moor (Theatre Arts Magazine, 1951)

Watch with mother - Jonathan Rosenbaum (The Guardian, 2003)


Publications

Carl Theodore Dreyer - Jytte Jensen, editor (Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1989)

The Cinema of Carl Dreyer - Tom Milne (A. S. Barnes, 1971)

Contemporary Art and Carl Th. Dreyer - J. Jensen, L. Crone & L. Movin, editors (Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, 1999)

Dreyer in Double Reflection - Carl Theodor Dreyer / Donald Skoller, editor (Dutton, 1973)

The Films of Carl-Theodor Dreyer - David Bordwell (University of California Press, 1981)

Four Screenplays - Carl Theodor Dreyer (Indiana University Press, 1970)

Jesus: A Great Filmmaker's Final Masterwork - Carl Theodor Dreyer (Dial Press, 1972)

My Only Great Passion: The Life and Films of Carl Th.Dreyer - Jean and Dale D. Drum (Scarecrow Press, 2000)

Speaking the Language of Desire: The Films of Carl Dreyer - Ray Carney (Cambridge University Press, 1989)

Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer - Paul Schrader (Da Capo Press, 1988)

Vampyr - David Rudkin (BFI, 2006)
_____________________________

[Scharphedin2]

Thanks for posting this thread, Kinjitsu.

For real Dreyer completionists, the DFI has also released Blade af Satans Bog in a very good restoration including an alternate ending, as well as an "extra reel" of material.

And, earlier today, our fellow forum member Knappen brought the wonderful news that the Norwegian Film Institute has released Glomdalsbruden on DVD. I am sure he will post caps and comments in the screen captures thread.

[denti alligator]

the Norwegian Film Institute has released Glomdalsbruden on DVD.

Where can this be purchased?

[Knappen]

Sorry. I think my friend at the Norwegian Film Institute may have given me some seriously bad information. He told me only yesterday that he had Glomdalsbruden waiting for me at his office, but I suspect that he has in fact been confusing titles. What is probably waiting for me is Brudeferden i Hardanger (1926 - same year!!!):

I'll make a phone call tomorrow to make sure. The titles are rather like as you can see from the translation too.

Actually, the NFI made a restoration of Dreyer's film some years ago, and I do have a bad boot of a vhs with English intertitles stemming from them.

Edit: Yeah. It was Brudeferden i Hardanger.

[bollibasher]

DFI announces new online Dreyer resource

CARL THEODOR DREYER WEBSITE

The Danish Film Institute is realising a long-held dream of a public Carl Theodor Dreyer website.

The DFI’s Carl Theodor Dreyer Archive features a unique collection of working papers, original scripts and research materials for several of the famous Danish director’s unrealised films, including Jesus of Nazareth, Maria Stuart and Medea (filmed posthumously by Lars von Trier in 1988 for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, DR). In addition are personal letters, photographs, film awards, a large collection of clippings, plus a book and article collection.

This collection will now be catalogued and published online, affording film scholars and the public alike access to previously unknown facets of Dreyer’s work and glimpses into his working method, as Dreyer’s personal files lay bare the extensive research and other efforts he poured into his films.

Dreyer is arguably the most important Danish filmmaker of all time. His films remain in demand around the world, and considering the global interest in Dreyer and his films, the DFI expects the new website to attract wide attention, especially among institutions and international circles of film scholars, as it optimises future research opportunities. At the same time, the new website will give a wide public the chance to look over the shoulder of the classic Danish cinema artist.

Dreyer’s output as a director comes to fourteen features, plus eight shorts and documentaries. In 1959, he published a book, “Om filmen”, later translated into English as “Dreyer in Double Reflection: Carl Dreyer’s Writings on Film”.

Published in: FILM62, page 28, February 2008

[tryavna]

Dreyer is arguably the most important Danish filmmaker of all time.

Why is that "arguably" in there, I wonder?

[miless]

Dreyer is arguably the most important Danish filmmaker of all time.

Why is that "arguably" in there, I wonder?

because of that asshole Von Trier.

[Tommaso]

Oh my god, and I thought it was just Danish politeness...

[ltfontaine]

If Numero 2 has not sold the copy of Letters About the Jesus Film he was advertising in the DVD trades section of this forum, somebody ought to snap it up. This is one of the great books about cinema, especially for admirers of Dreyer, and a transfixing account of creative obsession. It is extremely scarce and should be be added to the list of Dreyer books above.

[HerrSchreck]

After going thru the materials on the CC Vampyr, my affection for this man-- which had very little headroom to begin with-- has escalated to absolute maximum.

Listening to his audio interview (in incredibly articulate English, no less!), and the doc by Jörgen Roos, I am absolutely taken by the quiet personality of this wonderful, totally alone man completely absorbed in an art that he found himself hardly able to practice.

I'd seen most of the materials out there, own the CC set w My Metier and the Gertrud footage, plus Joan of Arc, Master of the House, Mikael, Glomdalsbruden, Once Upon a Time, Parson's Widow with all the shorts, the 2 dvd's of Satans Book, etc etc.. But there is something about the man's personality that comes across only thru an extending seeing of his face and hearing of his voice.. his absolute purity and devotion to his medium, his halting, small voice and overwhelming seriousness. His moist liquid eyes, incredibly sad face, his encyclopedic articulations of his ideas and sense of incredible vocation... the utter completeness and brilliance of his fully-thought thru aesthetic, spoken with a total depth and sincerity which without doubt left him Totally Alone in 97% of the rooms he traversed in his life. His was the kindest, most inocuous, non-poseur, unsexual, utterly sincere dedication to art.. competely unconcerned with "personality" or "appearance". He lived and breathed his art in a fashion so complete that he almost had no place in the world of art, as few artists are that genuinely pure-- and one thing that most artists & producers of Soceity, of the public poseur type don't like to be around, is the One And A Million Real Thing.

The pained quiet perseverance of Dreyer in his utter aloneness after Joan, breaking down and getting back up again, quietly writing, waiting for the next act of kindness opening his way.. it's most moving, albeit sad. The man was practically a fucking saint. Looking at his aching, scarlet face and watering eyes in the Roos doc was unexpectedly moving.

To his memory. Truly one of the purest artists in the cinema or any medium.

[MichaelB]

There's going to be a big feature on Vampyr by Casper Tybjerg in the next Sight & Sound, alongside a short beginners-guide to the rest of Dreyer's work by yours truly. I didn't have much space, but I made sure I namechecked the BFI, MoC, Criterion and Danish Film Institute DVDs to encourage the curious to explore further.

One thing that's worth adding to Schreck's encomium is that Dreyer said that he really wasn't especially bothered about the Malick-like gaps between his last few films - there were other things he could get on with (journalism, cinema management, the last of which gave him financial security), and if he had to wait a decade before he could make another film on his own terms, then that's how long he'd wait.

[HerrSchreck]

That's what I love so much about the man. His public inocuousness and lack of negative expression vs the forces that locked him out of his craft for decades at a time-- the reason I find this so moving is because I don't believe for a moment his statement that he was "okay" with being sidelined.

From practically his first film, Leaves From Satans Book (most claim Praesidenten was the first) we see Dreyer extremely attached to the medium -- and process of-- filmmaking, with a determination not only to see his films made but have them made entirely according to his vision... there is a memo stream that survives today which evidences Dreyer contending with the producers over the style and substance of the film and led to his termination, if memory serves, with Nordisk.

The failure of The Passion of Joan of Arc, and his treatment by the producers (Le societe' de...) led to the first period of "exile" which he fought tooth and nail and even resulted in a lwasuit vs the company (which he won). The loss of both negs of this film by fire were absolutely devastating to him.

The failure of Vampyr-- his return (finally) to filmmaking-- and the dissolution of his company were absolutely agonizing for him and in fact led to a nervous breakdown which led to a period of self-institutionalization. He was extremely disillusioned and it was a period of total crisis.

I think his assignment to head the theater group later in life cushioned the blows that he'd gone thru again and again (and probably grown a bit more accustomed to), but I would take any statement that he took his "exile" in easy stride with a pound of salt. Fact is, with -- as far as he knew -- his masterpiece Joan lost forever, his films booed and hissed (Getrud and Vampyr), exile after exile-- he must have felt like the most unlucky of film directors. A man cannot be so fully and completely (and proudly, as he mentions in his radio interview) consumed by art, and be so completely locked out of practicing it, and be unaffected. The fact that he jumped at any opportunity to film any little project made available to him... traffic safety shorts, bio-shorts devoted to other artists, poignantly infusing these mundane pieces (that would be no-brainers in most industrial filmmaker's hands) with high art flourishes, trying to extract the same sense of artistic seriousness and accomplishment from them as he did from his features, speaks volumes about his unsatisfied need, his yearning to make features. Features that must have seemed gone forever for him.

No man can lose such a profound love, a total obsession, his sense of innate purpose, and remain unaffected. It seems to me that Carl Dreyer was just being a class act when asked in public about his lack of work. The fact is he was probably wounded to his very spine, and always was, when experiencing even a rejection of a specific film upon release. Never mind his filmmaking, en toto!

This sad, but ultimately sweet public disposition, clearly wounded but seeking to always, via an obsession as total & pure as childhood, steer the subject back to the art of filmmaking (rather than his own misfortune which he downplayed; this also allowed him to talk from a position within instead of without cinema.. minimizing his distance from the medium would make his re-entry seem more natural to prospective studios/producers) is what makes him such a poignant figure to me.

[Elmyr]

Until a few weeks ago I had never seen a film by Carl Dreyer. This is admittedly inexplicable given the amount of films I've watched over the past several years. Perhaps part of me felt like it was an obligation or maybe I was a little intimidated by the Danish master. Having finally seen Joan, Day of Wrath, Ordet, and Gertrud I'm actually glad I waited as long as I did. I don't think you necessarily need a large foundation of films to build on before you see one of Dreyer's, but it certainly helped me appreciate how layered and fluid each one is.

Apart from the commentary on Joan, I stayed away from the extra features. I just wanted the movies to stand on their own for a while, but after reading Schreck's last post I think I'm ready to learn more about the man himself (Dreyer, not Schreck - no offense).

I can't wait to see Vampyr...

[Ovader]

For anyone planning to visit Toronto between February 6 and March 14 Cinematheque Ontario is having a retrospective called FLESH AND SOUL: THE FILMS OF CARL THEODOR DREYER which will feature the rare screenings of Two People (Feb 21) and Love One Another (March 14).

[tojoed]

The Carl Theodor Dreyer website is currently a work in progress, but expected to be fully operational in February 2010.

[Tommaso]

Actually, it looks quite great and informative already! Filmography, biography, Vampyr script...I wonder what else they will come up with. Hopefully the full launch in 2010 will coincide with the DFI putting out the still missing Dreyer films on disc....

[HerrSchreck]

I'm dying to see what the hell was so damned (supposedly) terrible about Two People.

Has anybody on this site managed to see this film, or even know anyone who has?

[Greg Shantz]

I saw it at Cinematheque Ontario a few weeks ago and thought it was alright. It is a filmed play with only two characters: it is not uncinematic but not particularly great, either.

[HerrSchreck]

Did anything that you saw inform a beter understanding of what it was that caused Dreyer to so vehemently disown this film?

[Greg Shantz]

I have read he wasn't personally invested in the content and was dissatisfied with the casting. It seemed to be less of a personal project than his other films.

[Tommaso]

Arte's Silent of the Month:

Carl Theodor Dreyer: "Die Gezeichneten"

Monday, March 30, at 23.20 o'clock.

The newly restored version (2006).

Silent of the year, rather. I'll cross-post this in the Silent Film Thread, so that nobody misses it.

[HarryLong]

Anyone here know anything about a version of VAMPYR being touted as "enhanced" on Amazon? From some company called Public Domain Flicks ...

[RidgeShark]

Anyone here know anything about a version of VAMPYR being touted as "enhanced" on Amazon? From some company called Public Domain Flicks ...

It doesn't sound good. From the product description:

This film has been enhanced using a Video Enhancement Program that reduces noise and enhances video quality.
This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Without actually watching the disc, I'd guess that this "company" took a preexisting video source (Sinister Cinema, Image Entertainment, Criterion Collection, or something else), applied some video filters to it to remove any graininess (there are many useful and free Avisynth video filters that can do the job), and then got Amazon to help them sell their pirated DVD-R.

[Tolmides]

Public Domain Flicks are connected to Triad Productions, which sells an 'enhanced' M, along with other things. If you look at the Amazon review page for M, all the reviews are by reviewers who've only reviewed Triad products. The whole thing smelled like a rat to me, so I avoid anything I see from them, but I haven't bought any of their stuff.

[HarryLong]

Thanks. I admit I was suspicious, but I was hoping to be disabused of that. Guess not.
Interesting that the other title of theirs you mention just happens to be another Criterion title ...