News full text
“Sir Arne’s Treasure” in Wrocław’s Opera
An exceptional performance had taken place in Wroclaw Opera this evening. A 1919 Swedish silent film by Maurilz Stiler called “Sir Arne’s Treasure” was screened. However the event was extraordinary thanks to Leszek Możdżer, a film music composer and jazz musician who played music live to accompany the film.
The film is high point of Swedish silent cinema. The film is placed in 16th Centaury, when Scottish mercenaries were hired by a king of Sweden. The story itself is an adaptation of Swedish Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof.
The film opens with the mercenaries’ leader escaping king’s prison, where they were kept. They escape to the ice-bound coast, awaiting a ship to take them home to Scotland, on the way massacring the home of a pastor Sir Arne, who was in possession of silver coins chest looted from Swedish monasteries. While waiting for a better weather to make the sea trip home, one of Scots falls in love with a sole survivor of the massacre Elsahill. The film climaxes, when the girl, who also fell in love with the Scot, reveals his real identity. She has to decide if she wants to take revenge on her family killers or if she wants to follow her heart.
The whole performance was beautifully underlined by live music. The audience could not say that it was played live and was improvised by Możdżer, who looked at the screen and played the music that fitted perfectly into the film
