A Man There Was (1917) on Netflix
On a small Norwegian island under British blockade, Terje Vigen rows to Denmark to bring food home to his wife and daughter, and a British ship intercepts his boat.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.3/102,628 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
Terje Vigen, a sailor, suffers the loss of his family through the inflexibility of another man. Years later, when his enemy's family finds itself dependent on his benevolence, Terje must decide whether to avenge himself.
Cast
- Bergliot Husbergas Terje Vigens hustru
- August Falckas Den engelske lorden
- Herman Lantzas En av Terjes kamrater (uncredited)
Show all 19 cast
- Julius Hälsigas Engelsk officer i fängelset (uncredited)
- Fritz Strömas Vitskäggig gammal gubbe (uncredited)
- Nanny Sjöblomas Mor med son i knäet (uncredited)
- Hans Sjöblomas En liten pojke (uncredited)
- Gunnar Norbergas Self (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Man There Was (1917)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ibsen's poem, the film's source, drew on the real Norwegian pilot Svend Hanssen Haaø, who rowed to Denmark through the British blockade in 1807–14 to smuggle food back to Grimstad, was captured as many as four times, and whose crew members were imprisoned in England.
- Victor Sjöström long refused to film Ibsen, doubting the poet's style could suit the era's comedies and thrillers, despite Charles Magnusson of Svenska Biograph wanting it; a sentimental trip through Värmland, where his nanny spoke of his mother's courage, changed his mind.
- With a budget of SEK 60,000, A Man There Was was the most expensive Swedish film made up to that point, part of a shift in Swedish cinema toward fewer films with more funding.
- A Man There Was is considered the start of the golden age of Swedish silent film, which ended after Gösta Berlings Saga in 1925, though films such as Ingeborg Holm (1913) are often assigned to that era too.
