Ingeborg Holm

Brilliant, it may not be all that complex but it hits every note it goes for perfectly both emotionally and narratively. The performances are wonderful, and particular credit goes to the use of the baby, it raises the emotional impact of every scene she's in without being overdone. The ridiculous inhumanity depicted in it, all done in the name of pity, is frustrating to watch and sadly still relevant. Wonderfully executed.

A mostly-gloomy expose of society's view of poverty. The main character becomes destitute through her husband's death and must rely on the public assistance board, which is shown here as not the most empathetic of institutions. Yet the technical aspects -- the theatrical blocking without camera movement, the lack of need for intertitles, the relatable characters -- are all so impressive for the early days of cinema.

It has a nice sense of restraint, especially for its era, with a fine performance by Hilda Borgstrom and a well-paced story. Nothing about the movie sucks. It just takes a little something extra for me to get involved with a silent film... some sort of avant-garde twist or dazzling technique or some thrilling action. Yeah, it's a good plot with a sympathetic protagonist, but my heart just wasn't in it. I can't imagine anyone besides a Sjostrom scholar watching this more than once.

"There's little danger of words trumping images." - Fernando F. Croce

Early example of the social issue picture is solid but not spectacular. It impacted Swedish laws, I couldn't find a scored version or the 96 minute version, so the one I saw was the 73 minute completely silent one. This probably hurt it slightly, but it still works pretty well.

A gem. The depiction of poverty here is effective through the convincing female lead. So many of the scenes here are hitting the right notes at the right time and that with the camera being physically distant for the whole duration.