It has taken Kino several years to make THE OUTLAW AND HIS WIFE available on DVD (the VHS version first appeared in 1989) but it has been worth the wait. Although it is essentially the same source material (the Swedish Film Institute’s 1986 restoration) as the video, the picture is marginally sharper in detail and the contemporary modernistic score by Torbjorn Iwan Lindquist sounds a lot cleaner.
The 1918 film directed by and starring Victor Sjostrom (Seastrom in the U.S.) is a landmark not only of Swedish cinema but of world cinema as well. It tells the story of an ill fated couple forced to flee into the mountains to survive and of the tragedy that ultimately befalls them. Joining Sjostrom is actress Edith Estrahof who matches him for strength of performance and who would later become his wife (they fell in love with each other during the making of the film although both were already married). The use of natural locations, particularly the Scandinavian mountains and waterfalls, was outstanding and had already become a trademark of Sjostrom’s Swedish films. He would eventually come to Hollywood where another outdoor drama THE WIND with Lillian Gish (1928) would become his American masterpiece.
Also on the disc is a 1981 documentary on Sjostrom and his films which is informative but rather dry although it contains an interview with Ingmar Bergman who was heavily influenced by Sjostrom and who repaid the debt by giving him the principal role in WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957). Kino released this jointly with the Sjostrom double bill A MAN THERE WAS/INGEBORG HOLM which is an even more important DVD.
The Capsule Critic 