Leaves From Satan's Book (1919)

Satan attempts to win God's favor but is doomed to cheerless participation in dark episodes of human history: the temptation of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French revolution, and the Russo-Finnish war of 1918.

Dull and over-reaching

This is one of those quintessential anti-recommendations for people interested in silent cinema, since it displays a lot of the old stereotypes about things such as overacting, a boring storyline, and a camera that isn't very fluid. Though it was shot in 1919 (and released in 1921), it already appears like a relic from a decade earlier. Another problem is how chatty it is; there are some silents with a lot of intertitles that do work, but this sure isn't one of them. The appeal of the silent drama is that it's supposed to show, not tell, the audience. And for a film from 1919/1921, it's incredibly long. I've seen quite a few silents over the usual maximum length of 80 or 90 minutes that held me captivated throughout, but this one was so dull to begin with that the excess length only hindered it.

The plot itself is interesting and did have potential, what with the novel idea of Satan not wanting to be a bad guy and wanting people to do good instead of evil, so that he'll have a thousand years of respite if his latest victim doesn't succumb to temptation. It could be that the episodic structure bogs it down even more--just as we're getting to know these characters and getting into the storyline, we change eras and get introduced to a new set of characters (played by the same actors) and a new plot. If this film was inspired by 'Intolerance,' then that hardly puts me in a hurry to see that film (in addition to the fact that I don't like D.W. Griffith anyway), which is even longer than this one! I also dislike films that are overly preachy and moralistic, making the whole thing into some sort of overwrought morality play instead of just telling a good story without hitting the viewer over the head with some heavy message.

The first story is about the Crucifixion. Besides the fact that as a non-Christian and a historian I have a lot of issues with the things being presented as fact, it just moves slowly, the least interesting of the 4 tales. And since this tale has already been told so many times before, it just seems predictable, not bringing anything new to this familiar story. The second story is about the Spanish Inquisition, which has a lot of images that were probably considered rather graphic for the time, such as the priest flaggelating himself while fantasising about Isabel, his forbidden love interest, beneath a cross. Probably the best section is the third, taking place during the French Revolution. There seems to be more character and plot development in this one. It's also the time period that interests me most of the 4 represented. The final segment is a modern story, taking place during the 1918 revolution in Finland, when the nation won their independence and threw off the yoke of Russian/Soviet rule. This one is also better-developed than the earlier tales, but since this isn't a period of history that most people outside of Scandinavia are familiar with (unfortunately), it probably isn't going to mean anything to the average viewer. One feels relief not only for the fact that Satan finally got his thousand years of respite but also for the fact that it's finally over!

The film is worth watching for its historical merit, but other than that, it's far from an ideal first silent, and far from an ideal first film to see if one is interested in the works of Carl Theodor Dreyer. He directed far better films than this, ones that are actually interesting and faster-paced, such as 'The Parson's Widow' and his famous 'The Passion of Joan of Arc.' This isn't exactly going to be a film that most people will want to watch over and over again, or to put in the player to kill some time when bored. November 7, 2006

Leaves From Satan's Book

Motion pictures were in their infancy in the first decade of the 20th century. Movie theaters hadn't yet replaced nickelodeons, the average `movie' lasted less than 15 minutes, and the people who appeared on-screen were called `posers.' Not all that surprising since the machines - the motion picture camera and the movie projector - were the marvels to wonder at. For a brief while there people didn't act in movies, they `posed.'

That little factoid was buried deep in the back of my gee-whiz file until I watched Carl Theodor Dreyer's LEAVES FROM SATAN'S BOOK (1921), a movie made well after the term `movie actor' had become widely accepted and vaguely respectable. An episodic morality tale, LEAVES tells four 30-some minute long stories of Satan's evil work here on Earth. In the first he comes disguised as a religious leader who prompts Judas to betray Christ. In the next story he's a Spanish Grand Inquisitor leading a Catholic priest to commit deeds that will cause him to forfeit his soul. Next he is Citizen Erneste coaxing Citizen Joseph to cooperate in the execution of Saint Marie Antoinette. And so on. The fourth, current for the day (there was a Finnish Civil War in 1918 following the Russian Revolution), finds Satan gigged out like Rasputin looking for a Finnish quisling willing to betray the cause.

It struck me while watching the first episode that the actors in this one were more posed stage props that recreated humans. There's a scene from the Last Supper that is framed and dressed almost exactly like the famous da Vinci painting. The actors don't really move much, or change facial expressions. Rather they slowly move from one pose to another. Add to that the great number of title and inter-title cards, this is an incredibly talky movie for a silent, and not only does nothing much happens, but it takes almost forever for it not to.

This static and penetrating approach worked wonderfully in 1928 when Dreyer directed his masterpiece, `The Passion of Joan of Arc.' Here it simply makes thick porridge of an already wearisome subject. LEAVES FROM SATAN'S BOOK may possibly satisfy fans of silent movies, or those fans of Dreyer's `Passion of Joan of Arc' who want to watch one of his earlier films. If you're simply looking for a change-of-pace, entertaining movie, I wouldn't recommend this one at all.
September 24, 2005

Towering film!

At the age of 31, Carl Dryer undertakes the realization of this film, a kind of European answer to David Griffith's Intolerance . He chooses four examples of fanaticism that as you know have always characterized the history of the mankind. But on the contrary of the Californian film maker, Dryer limits to tell these tales one by one, without intending, in any moment, to break the continuity through the parallel set up. The play divides, therefore, in four perfectly differentiated parts. What it ties them is Satan's character, that rebirths in four distinct characters with the aim of provoking the temptation on the Earth and incite to men to the most perverse actions.
Dreyer would reveal, years after that: "Stiller and above all Sjöström are who truly invented the poetic effects in the cinema." . In this notable episode of sorcery, throughout the Spanish Inquisition, it adverts the suffering issue and the expiation, that is the germinal seed that Dreyer will explore with all his maturity in "The Passion of Joan of Arc."
September 1, 2005

Early Dreyer Is Interesting But Heavy Handed.

Carl Theodor Dreyer remains one of the world's most interesting filmmakers. He, Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller were the first to explore the Scandinavian psyche in the early days of silent film. He was the most introspective of the three as PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, DAY OF WRATH, and GERTRUD clearly demonstrate. Among the things that characterize Dreyer's cinematic style are languid pacing, interesting camerawork, and intense but relatively restrained performances from his actors. I was therefore surprised to find LEAVES FROM SATAN'S BOOK a great deal more melodramatic in execution than I would have thought. The premise is fascinating. God orders Satan to go about his evil ways and for every soul who yields to temptation 100 years are added to Satan's punishment but for every one who resists 1000 years are subtracted. Satan is therefore grieved when people give into him for he wishes to return to heaven but cannot. Patterned after D.W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE, LEAVES is set in 4 different historical periods although Dreyer tells each story in sequence rather than going back and forth the way Griffith does. Unfortunately the acting from almost everyone except for Helge Nissen's Satan is way too broad and helps to undercut the film's serious message. Dreyer's first real film THE PARSON'S WIDOW which was made the year before is much more restrained and it has comic elements. The movie also seems to have not been speed corrected in certain scenes especially the Finnish one at the end which also undermines its overall effect. The piano score by Philip Carli is a good one but a fuller score would have helped to distract one from the film's shortcomings. I think LEAVES FROM SATAN'S BOOK is a worthwhile film for its premise alone and deserves to be seen. I just wish that it had less of those traditional silent film defects such as over-the-top performances and speeded up sequences. If Dreyer was trying to copy Griffith's melodramatic style then it was a mistake for he hadn't Griffith's skill as a cinematic storyteller. If he wasn't then it was just a rare misfire from one of the great directors early in his career. Interesting historical note: D.W. Griffith directed THE SORROWS OF SATAN in 1926 which is based on the same source material but is a very different film and not necessarily a better one. April 15, 2005

The Scandinavian "Intolerance" by Denmark's D W Griffith

After D W Griffith made "Intolerance" in 1916, weaving together four main periods of history with a common theme, Denmark's leading director, Carl Theodor Dreyer, was inspired to make a similar dramatic film, and considering that "Leaves from Satan's Book" was only his second film, it was a splendid achievement. Unlike "Intolerance", Dreyer tells each historic episode from beginning to end, probably making it less confusing and easier watching for many viewers. Dreyer's common theme is betrayal, and the focus is on Satan who has been doomed to mislead mankind into evil doings, and who takes the form of a person in each historic period in order to accomplish his work. For instance, in the first story set in the last days of Christ, Satan appears in the guise of a Pharisee who tempts and misleads Judas into his infamous act of betrayal, and then continues to play pivotal roles in misleading mere mortals into acts of betrayal throughout history: the second setting being Spain during the Inquisition, then the French Revolution and finally a little-known (to most of us, anyway) conflict in Communist Russian-occupied Finland of 1918, which was no doubt close to the hearts of many Scandinavians at the time this film was made in the years 1918-1920.

The stories are interesting and different in each episode, and there is an interesting slant on Satan himself who actually doesn't want to do what he's doing, which is a nice change from the stereotype of the completely wicked villain with no depth or character. And like this angle, there is quite a bit of story to take in with more intertitles than usual, but worth a bit of effort because the stories flow well with good photography, and together they make a poignant theme of betrayal which is at the root of many dark periods of our history. The sets are beautifully done with care and a bit of artistic flair. For example, one scene of Jesus and his Disciples looks very much like famous classical paintings of the Last Supper, and throughout the film sets and characters were well chosen to fit our image of these historic people and places. It has an overall artistic feel to it, as well as serving a moral message based on mankind's history - much like Griffith's "Intolerance", and even has an exciting climax at the end like "Intolerance", only not on such a big scale. Nevertheless, this is surely a film Danes can be very proud of, and now the rest of the world can once again enjoy another one of Dreyer's fine works. The picture quality is overall very good, though at times some images are a bit too light, which often occurs with old films. Although it only has piano accompaniment, Philip Carli did a very good job doing the musical setting for this unusual and impressive film.
April 8, 2005

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