Forlag Nordisk Konst: 15 Scandinavian stars

Last week, EFSP did a post on Swedish postcards by Forlag Nordisk Konst with portraits of Hollywood stars. The sepia postcards of this Stockholm publisher are widely admired by postcard lovers. The Nordisk postcards give an interesting glimpse of the silent Sacaninavian cinema of which so many classics are lost. On 9 March 2018, we did a post with 15 sepia Nordisk postcards of these films of the 1910s and 1920s. Today, EFSP presents 15 Scandinavian stars of the silent era.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 844/ 11. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern AB. Victor Sjöström in Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru/The Outlaw and His Wife (Victor Sjöström, 1918). Caption: Out to seek the lost.

Victor Sjöström (1879-1960) was one of the most important Swedish film actors and directors, famous for his poetic and touching narratives, such as Ingeborg Holm (1913), Terje Vigen/A Man There Was (1916) - by then the most expensive Swedish film made - and Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage (1920), considered as one of the best Swedish silent films. From 1923 he worked in Hollywood under the name of Victor Seastrom, directing such films as He Who Gets Slapped (1924), featuring Lon Chaney, and The Wind (1928), starring Lilian Gish. He returned to Sweden at the advent of sound cinema and continued working there. Memorable is his last acting part in Smultronstället/Wild Strawberries (1957) by Ingmar Bergman.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 958/10. Harriet Bosse in Ingmarssönerna/Sons of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1919). Caption: And now the prison chaplain urges her to write to Ingmar.

Dark, exotic-looking, petite Harriet Bosse (1878-1961) was a Norwegian-Swedish singer and actor. She starred in several of the plays by her first husband, August Strindberg. She also appeared in a classic of the Swedish silent cinema, Victor Sjöström's Ingmarssönerna/Sons of Ingmar (1919).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 980. Photo: S.B. Films, Stockholm. Olaf Fønss in Lykkeper (Fritz Magnussen, 1920).

Olaf Fønss (1882-1949) was one of Denmark and Germany's biggest stars of the silent film era. He also worked as a film director, producer, and censor.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1021. Photo: A/S Nordisk Films, Kompagni, Copenhagen.

Svend Kornbeck (1869-1933) was a Danish stage and film actor. He debuted in film in 1913, and almost all of his parts were at the Danish Nordisk company, with directors such as August Blom, Holger-Madsen, and Robert Dinesen. He played e.g. the American David Dane in the Science-Fiction movie Himmelskibet/A Trip to Mars (Holger-Madsen, 1918). Memorable was his part as Christian Berg in Mauritz Stiller's Swedish silent drama The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1054. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern.

Mary Johnson (1896-1975) was a Swedish actress, who peaked in the Swedish cinema of the 1910s and early 1920s and also in German silent films of the later 1920s. Her most well-known parts were in Herr Arnes pengar (1919) and Geschlecht in Fesseln (1928).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1057. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.

Harriet Bosse (1878-1961) was a Norwegian-Swedish singer and actor. In 1919 Victor Sjöström directed Bosse in what was thought to be her breakthrough in cinema, and what still goes as a milestone in the Swedish naturalist cinema: Ingmarssönerna/Sons of Ingmar (1919).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no 1078/1. Richard Lund as Sir Archi(e) in Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).

Richard Lund (1885-1960) was a Swedish film and theatre actor, who had a prolific career with Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, and starred in such Swedish silent films as Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/10. Photo: Tora Teje in Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920).

Swedish stage actress Tora Teje (1893-1970) starred in several classics of the Scandinavian silent cinema. Teje had her breakthrough with the romantic comedy Erotikon (1920) by Mauritz Stiller. Two years later, Teje played a kleptomaniac, indicated as ‘Modern Hysteric’, in Benjamin Christensen's Häxan/Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922). Victor Sjöström directed her in two films, Karin Ingmarsdotter/Karin, Daughter of Ingmar (1920) and the Gothic drama Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (1920).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1095/8. Photo: Skandia Film. Jessie Wessel in Thora van Deken (John W. Brunius, 1920).

Swedisch actress Jessie Wessel (1894-1948) appeared in ten Swedish films of the 1920s. She worked with such directors as John W. Brunius and Rune Carlsten.


Swedish postcard by Forlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1096/1. Photo: Skandia Film. Gösta Ekman in the comedy Gyurkovicsarna/Lieutenant Tophat (John W. Brunius, 1920).

Gösta Ekman (1890–1938) was the first real star of the Swedish theater. His boyish good looks attracted both sexes, helping to create a massive cult following, and elevating him to the status of a living legend. Combined with a beautiful voice, and a powerful stage and screen presence, Ekman was able to captivate his audiences.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1100. After a portrait by Uno Falkengren.

Swedish actress Karin Molander (1889–1978) was a star of silent Scandinavian cinema. In the films of Mauritz Stiller, she became a symbol of the modern, young and emancipated women of the 1910s.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, no. 1190. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Renée Björling (1888-1975) was a Swedish film and stage actress, who peaked in Swedish silent film, but also played small parts in Ingmar Bergman's films.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1275. Photo: M. Benkow, Atelier Kronen, Stockholm.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, no. 1272. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Handsome and sophisticated Swedish actor Einar Hansson (1899-1927) became as Einar Hansen a popular Hollywood star of the silent film era. In 1927 he was ideally positioned to take over from the late Rudolph Valentino as Hollywood's ‘great screen lover’, but suddenly he died tragically after a freak car accident.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1286. Photo: Goodwin, 1924. Lars Hanson as Gösta Berling in Gösta Berlings saga/The Story of Gösta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1924).

Lars Hanson (1886-1965) was a highly successful Swedish film and stage actor mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film era.