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Benjamin Christensen, Svensk Filmindustri, 1922: a Swedish-Danish essay film on witchcraft, part lecture, part dramatized Sabbath. Christensen had studied the Malleus Maleficarum. Grave-robbing, inquisition, possessed nuns, then a modern coda that treats the accused as psychiatric cases. Variety called it wonderful and unfit for public exhibition. It opened in four Swedish cities on the same day, unusual for the country then. About 105 minutes in the restoration. Christensen himself plays the Devil.
In two programmes
Not a story, a lecture with demons in it. Christensen reads the Malleus Maleficarum, stages a Sabbath, then ends in a modern clinic and says the accused were patients. He plays the Devil himself. Sweden let it open in four cities on one day; Variety called it unfit for exhibition.
The Supernatural and the Occult
A lecture with a Sabbath in it. Christensen reads the Malleus Maleficarum, stages the torture and the flying, and then ends in a clinic to say the witches were patients. He plays the Devil himself. Variety called it unfit. It opened anyway.
Cast & crew
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