1345 Victor Sjöström’s Hollywood Masterworks

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#1 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:34 pm

Having established himself as Sweden’s leading silent-era director, Victor Sjöström was beckoned to America, where he brought daring dramatic intensity, searing expressionistic visuals, and a profound feeling for landscape and the often overwhelming power of the natural world to the three landmarks of early Hollywood cinema gathered here. Built around indelible, startlingly modern performances from Lon Chaney (He Who Gets Slapped) and Lillian Gish (The Scarlet Letter, The Wind), these darkly atmospheric tales of madness, sexual repression, moral hypocrisy, self-annihilation, and human redemption share a vision of the world as ruled by chaos and struggle.

He Who Gets Slapped
A riot of sadomasochistic strangeness and warped self-abasement, this outré psychological shocker features a haunting performance from Lon Chaney—at once wrenchingly vulnerable and deeply frightening—as a brilliant scientist who, after he’s betrayed by both his wife and his benefactor, undergoes a twisted transformation into a circus clown who delights audiences by perversely reenacting his humiliation onstage. But behind the painted-on grin, a furious anger is brewing . . . Adapting Leonid Andreyev’s celebrated play, director Victor Sjöström makes the source material eminently cinematic, deploying delirious symbolist imagery to convey the torment of a shattered man.

The Scarlet Letter
A passion project for star (and uncredited producer) Lillian Gish, this starkly powerful film—written by trailblazing screenwriter Frances Marion—remains the definitive film adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel. A radiant Gish conveys both the untamed free spirit and defiant strength of Hester Prynne, who must withstand the devastating judgment of her strict Puritan village when she becomes pregnant by the town’s reverend (Lars Hanson). Contrasting the light-filled lyricism of the natural world with the austere shadows of the Puritan community, director Victor Sjöström vividly underscores the story’s central clash between free will and social repression.

The Wind
For his towering final achievement of the silent era, director Victor Sjöström harnessed the full power of visual storytelling to unleash a maelstrom of psychosexual frenzy. Lillian Gish delivers her last and perhaps greatest silent performance as Letty, a young woman from Virginia who arrives in a desolate Texas town where she finds herself beset by lecherous men, jealous women, and a relentlessly howling desert wind that seems to carry an almost mythic portent. Reaching heights of expressionist horror in an unforgettable windstorm climax, Sjöström’s film conjures a fragile human world that is powerless against the unstoppable forces of nature.

New 2K digital restoration of He Who Gets Slapped, with a new score composed and performed by Matti Bye
New 2K digital restoration of The Scarlet Letter, with score
New 4K digital restoration of The Wind (1928 theatrical-release version), preserved and digitally restored by the Museum of Modern Art, with original soundtrack
New 2K digital restoration of The Wind (1983 variable-frame-rate version), with a score by Carl Davis
New audio commentary on He Who Gets Slapped featuring critic Kenneth Turan
New video essay on director Victor Sjöström’s work in Hollywood
New interview with critic Farran Smith Nehme on actor Lillian Gish
Archival introduction to The Wind by Gish
New interview with film historian George Feltenstein on the scores for The Wind
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Pamela Hutchinson

#2 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:35 pm

The Wind, my God, it’s only been decades of promises and asking

TMDaines · #3 Post by **TMDaines** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:39 pm

Now that's what we're talking about.

Drucker · #4 Post by **Drucker** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:40 pm

Holy shit.

FrauBlucher · #5 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:42 pm

Interesting that Flicker Alley released HE WHO GETS SLAPPED a little over a year ago

Drucker · #6 Post by **Drucker** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:47 pm

Feels like a similar treatment as we got for Tod Browning, which makes me optimistic a King Vidor set that includes The Crowd is likely.

#7 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:49 pm

Nah wish for Greed next!

FrauBlucher · #8 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:53 pm

Perhaps a threesome for Von Stroheim

dwk · #9 Post by **dwk** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:55 pm

Drucker wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:47 pm Feels like a similar treatment as we got for Tod Browning, which makes me optimistic a King Vidor set that includes The Crowd is likely.

I am 99% sure that Criterion did license The Crowd from WB, but I was not sure if the Flicker release would cause them to cancel it. This erases that doubt, I am now certain that Criterion will go ahead woth their release.

pistolwink · #10 Post by **pistolwink** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 4:59 pm

"these darkly atmospheric tales of madness, sexual repression, moral hypocrisy, self-annihilation, and human redemption share a vision of the world as ruled by chaos and struggle"

Did Acquarello write this? Terrible purple prose. But great movies!

#11 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:00 pm

Having now seen a few, I want a set of all the surviving King Vidor & Eleanor Boardman collaborations!

CSM126 · #12 Post by **CSM126** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:00 pm

Well, I blind bought Flicker Alley’s release of He Who Gets Slapped and absolutely loved the film so I’m interested in seeing the other two here. It does seem funny to see Slapped get reissued so soon even if it is public domain. Makes me wonder why Criterion didn’t get around to upgrading Nanook of the North after FA did their disc. I had assumed it was courtesy between boutiques but who knows.

#13 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:01 pm

FA's been sitting on an alleged repress of the Flaherty Blu-ray for at least a year now, maybe that never materialized because Criterion gave them a heads up that they'd be tackling it again

Drucker · #14 Post by **Drucker** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:02 pm

Well they released a lot of Fox films after the Disney acquisition, maybe they'll ramp up the WB-licensed films (assuming they are?) now that they are a part of Paramount.

#15 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:03 pm

Old timers of the forum: what unreleased film was the cause of more release speculation (not even via Criterion, just from any label) on here for last two decades-plus (especially in the early days of the forum when there were far more silent enthusiasts), the Wind or Greed? This feels like the end of an era

FrauBlucher · #16 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:06 pm

I think after CC released THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE there was hope and more speculation for THE WIND

#17 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:08 pm

The Wind was in one of the very first polls that WB sent out asking for what they should release on DVD. On DVD! That's how long the wait has been

denti alligator · #18 Post by **denti alligator** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:29 pm

domino harvey wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:03 pm Old timers of the forum: what unreleased film was the cause of more release speculation (not even via Criterion, just from any label) on here for last two decades-plus (especially in the early days of the forum when there were far more silent enthusiasts), the Wind or Greed? This feels like the end of an era

Let's close up shop. We're done. I believe it's been 23 years for me, and yes, from the very beginning this title was always mentioned as potentially joining the collection.

Drucker · #19 Post by **Drucker** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:39 pm

Not quite 23 years, but I was so excited to be able to watch The Wind and the other MGM silents on TCM when Mark Cousins' The Story of Film aired.

JSC · #20 Post by **JSC** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:39 pm

I think the last time I saw The Wind was probably thirty-five years ago on a heavy VHS tape
in a clamshell case from the local library.

denti alligator · #21 Post by **denti alligator** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:42 pm

Same. I'm not even mad I just bought the limited edition slipcase Blu-ray of HWGS from Flicker Alley.

#22 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 5:48 pm

To be fair, that slipcase is beautiful and looks better than Criterion's art

Stefan Andersson · Fri Nov 13, 2026 6:10 pm

Discussion re: The Wind, restoration and soundtrack:
https://nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=35725

Lowry_Sam · #24 Post by **Lowry_Sam** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 7:15 pm

This set surprises me and it doesn't. I saw the restoration of The Wind @ BAMPFAs Swedish Silent Cinema: Victor Sjöström & Mauritz Stiller series this past February. The retrospective included

Victor Sjöström:
Ingeborg Holm
The Outlaw & His Wife
The Phantom Carriage
A Man There Was
The Wind

Mauritz Stiller:
Erotikon
The Wings
Sir Arne's Treasure
Gösta Berling’s Saga (Parts 1 & 2)

Erotikon & Ingeborg Holm were 35 mm, the rest were digital restorations.

Jon Wengström presented a 90 minute lecture on Sjöstrom that included the shorts:

Tagning Mästerman
A Visit at Selma Lagerlöf’s
The Divine Woman (fragments)
Mortal Love (Stiller)

that I unfortunately missed because I was still working. I don't know if it was recorded, but it'd be a shame if it wasn't.

Flicker Alley's disc was encoded by FIM & includes 2 scores (Alloy Orchestra & Antonio Coppola). I am surprised that Criterion released this so soon after the FA release, I would have thought they might take longer & do a more expansive coverage of his career box. I would have expected a Lubitsch silents set before this. Criterion doesn't often provide multiple soundtracks to silents, which I like to have, but it is nice to see The Wind finally and I have yet to see The Scarlet Letter.

For those in the SF Bay area, BAMPFA is screening He Who Gets Slapped for free (first come basis) on Nov. 20 with live accompaniment by Berkeley Nu Jazz Collective.

Saturnome · #25 Post by **Saturnome** » Fri Nov 13, 2026 7:34 pm

Since this focus on Sjöström's Hollywood period, it would have been nice to include what survived of Confessions of a Queen and The Divine Woman and make this "complete" (I'm sure the supplements will mention briefly the lost movies).

But anyway, this thing is my #1 dream release of all time. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who 20 years ago used to frequent video game forums with a Victor Sjöström profile pic.

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