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Häxan (Criterion Collection)

 

  Written and Directed by Benjamin Christensen

Sweden 1922 / Horror / 104 min / Black & White / Dolby 5.0 / 1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio / NTSC /  Silence with Orchestral Score and intertitles in English

Benjamin Christensen, Clara Pontoppidan, Oscar Stribolt, Astrid Holm, Maren Pedersen

Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen's obsession with bizarre lighting effects reached its apotheosis with his 1920 masterpiece Witchcraft Through the Ages. Beginning in a deceptively sedate fashion with a series of woodcuts and engravings (a technique later adopted by RKO producer Val Lewton), the film then shifts into gear with a progression of dramatic vignettes, illustrating the awesome power of witchcraft in the Middle Ages. So powerful are some of these images that even some modern viewers will avert their eyes from the screen. Though obviously a work of pure imagination, the film occasionally takes on the dimensions of a documentary, a byproduct of the extensive research done by Christensen before embarking on the project (incidentally, the director himself can be seen in the film in a dual role as Satan and the Doctor) Also known as Haxan, Witchcraft Through the Ages marked a parting of the ways for Christensen and the Danish film industry; thereafter, he confined his activities to the German cinema, before answering Hollywood's call in 1928.

 
       


Bonus Features:

New digital, speed-corrected transfer of the Swedish Film Institute's tinted restoration / Music from the original Danish premiere, arranged by film music specialist Gillian Anderson and performed by the Czech Film Orchestra, presented in Dolby Digital 5.0 / Commentary by Danish silent film scholar Casper Tybjerg / Benjamin Christensen's introduction to the 1941 re-release / A short selection of outtakes / Bibliothèque Diabolique, a photographic exploration of Christensen's historical sources / Stills gallery / New English translation of intertitles / "Witchcraft Through the Ages [1968]: the 76-minute version of Häxan, narrated by William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring Jean-Luc Ponty