Friday, May 05, 2017

En kluven värld / A Divided World (The Nitrate Picture Show)


An ermine in winter coat in En kluven värld.

Arne Sucksdorff, Sweden 1948
Print source: Svenska Filminstitutet (Swedish Film Institute), Stockholm
Running time: 9 minutes
About the print: Donated to the Swedish Film Institute in 2003 by a private collector, the print is in wonderful condition, with only nine splices.
Shrinkage: 0.75%
About the film: Arguably the greatest by the Swedish master of shorts Arne Sucksdorff, A Divided World is a hauntingly beautiful, poetic depiction of animal hierarchy in a forest somewhere in Sweden on a winter night.
The Nitrate Picture Show, George Eastman Museum, Dryden Theatre, 5 May 2017

AA: Introduced by Magnus Rosborn (Svenska Filminstitutet). Arne Sucksdorff's masterpiece is a classic study of the struggle for existence in the nature in winter. An ermine gnaws at a bird but is chased away by a fox. A fox catches a rabbit. An owl (bubo) catches the rabbit. About this strikingly well made and beautifully lit movie Magnus told us that there are remarks that it may have been at least partly staged at a studio. There is a touch of the domesticated in some of the shots.

A heavily used and perhaps duped print.

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