I lifvets vår

I livets vår / Första älskarinnan / I vårens tid
Elämän keväänä / Elämän keväässä

FR/SE 1912. PC: Pathé Frères Filial. D: Paul Garbagni. SC: Abdon Hedman – based on the novel Första älskarinnan (1848) by the Swedish author August Blanche. DP: Julius Jaenzon. M for a cinema orchestra: Gustav Erbs (Röda Kvarn, Tukholma), Axel Broberg (Fenix, Tukholma). CAST: Victor Sjöström (Cyril Alm), Anna Norrie (Cyril's mother), Georg af Klercker (commercial counselor von Seydling), Selma Wiklund af Klercker (Gerda von Seydling, his daughter), Mauritz Stiller (lt von Plein), Astrid Engelbrecht (Sara Andersson, widow, Gerda's "substitute mother"), Victor Arfvidson (Brooms, a shady character). 1052 m / 17 fps/ 54 min
Restored: Cinemateket / Svenska Filminstitutet (2008) - based on the original negative at La Cinémathèque française - tinting based on original colour information.
E-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 10 Nov 2009.

Revisited one of the earliest Swedish feature films, for generations believed lost, last year miraculously restored from the original negative. For the aficionado of the golden age of the Swedish cinema, it's a treat with fine cinematography by Julius Jaenzon, the unique chance to see the three top directors Sjöström, Stiller and Klercker as actors in the same film before they become directors, and the only extended surviving sample of Stiller as an actor. - While the film is professionally made, it is not, however, particularly remarkable. - It is notable, though, that the acting is pretty restrained already.