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Carl Dreyer |
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Director / Screenwriter /
Producer / Editor |
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1889 - 1968 |
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Born February 3,
Copenhagen, Denmark |
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Key
Production Country: Denmark |
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Key Genres:
Drama, Psychological Drama, Religious Drama |
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Key
Collaborators:
Rudolph Maté
(Cinematographer), Maurice
Schutz (Leading Player), Mathilde Nielsen (Leading Character Player),
George Schneevoigt (Cinematographer), Edith Schlussel (Editor), Poul Schierbeck (Composer),
Erik Aaes (Production Designer), Hermann Warm (Production Designer) |
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Highly
Recommended: The
Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)*, Ordet (1955)* |
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Recommended:
Master of the House (1925), Vampyr
(1932)*, Day of Wrath (1943)*, Two People (1945), Gertrud (1964)* |
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Worth a Look: The
Parson's Widow (1920), Michael (1924) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section. |
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Links: [
Amazon
] [
IMDB ] [
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ]
[
Film Reference ]
[
Masters of Cinema: Carl
Dreyer ] [
André Bazin on "The Passion of Joan of Arc" ] [
Strictly
Film School's Carl Dreyer Page ] [
Bright
Lights Film Journal Article ] [
Derek Malcolm's Century of Films ] [
kamera
Article ]
[
Corruption & Transcendence: The Films of Carl Dreyer ] [
Moving Image Source Article (2008) ] |
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Books: [
Speaking
the Language of Desire: The Films of Carl Dreyer ] [
My
Only Great Passion ] [
The Films of Carl-Theodor Dreyer ] [
Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer ] |
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"Dreyer's
pared-down style takes him beyond surface realism to something
more mysterious and abstract: sounds or shadows (as in the truly
eerie Vampyr) evoke the presence of unseen beings,
landscape and architecture are invested, by lighting, design and
composition, with supernatural force. Paradoxically, by
rejecting anything superfluous to his purposes, this undisputed
master of the cinema created some of its richest, most affecting
and wondrously beautiful studies of the human condition." -
Geoff
Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999)
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"Dreyer's
work is always based on the beauty of the image, which in turn
is a record of the luminous conviction and independence of human
beings. His films are devoted principally to human emotions, and
if they seem relatively subdued, then that may be a proper
reason for calling in Danishness. But simplicity and purity of
style do not argue against intensity, Dreyer's greatness is in
the way that he makes a tranquil picture of overwhelming
feelings. His art, and his intelligence, make passion orderly
without ever cheating on it." -
David
Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002)
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"Carl
Theodor Dreyer is the greatest filmmaker in the Danish cinema,
where he was always a solitary personality. But he is also among
the few international directors who turned films into an art and
made them a new means of expression for the artistic genius." -
Ib
Monty (The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia, 1998)
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"Man as a social animal is generally the subject of Dreyer's
greatest films, which are some of the beacons of the cinema. The
director is an antecedent of Bergman through the depiction of
human love, anxiety, and spirituality." -
William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978) |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director
that we haven't seen include Leaves Out of the Book of Satan (1921),
Good Mothers (1942), and They Caught the Ferry (1948). |
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8- |
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"Dreyer
continues to be admired for his visual style, which, despite
surface dissimilarities, is recognized as having a basic
internal unity and consistency, but the thematic coherence
of his work-around issues of the unequal struggle of women
and the innocent against repression and social intolerance,
the inescapability of fate and death, the power of evil in
earthly life-is less widely appreciated."
-
The Oxford History of World Cinema |
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●
Top 250 Directors |
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●
100 Essential Directors (Pop
Matters) |
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●
Survey
of Filmmakers: Top 25 Directors (2005 poll by The Film Journal) |
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●
Chris Fujiwara's Top 10 Directors |
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●
Kent Jones' Top 10 Directors |
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David Sterritt's Top 10 Directors |
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●
501 Movie Directors: A
Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers |
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See Also |
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●
Michelangelo Antonioni |
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Ingmar
Bergman |
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Robert
Bresson |
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Jean Epstein |
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D.W. Griffith |
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Michael Haneke |
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F.W.
Murnau |
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Yasujiro
Ozu |
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Jacques
Rivette |
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Victor
Sjöström |
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Andrei
Tarkovsky |
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Lars von Trier |
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Carl Dreyer's Favourites |
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Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Sergei Eisenstein,
The Birth of a Nation (1915)D.W.
Griffith,
Brief Encounter (1945)
David Lean,
The Gold Rush (1925)
Charles Chaplin,
Henry V (1944)
Laurence Olivier,
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Archie Mayo,
Port of Shadows (1938)
Marcel Carné,
Rome, Open City (1945)
Roberto Rossellini,
The Treasure of Arne (1919)
Mauritz Stiller,
Under the Roofs of Paris (1930)
René Clair.
Source: Cinematheque Belgique (1952) |
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