Häxan (1922)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Benjamin Christensen

Writer:

Benjamin Christensen (writer)

Release Date:

27 May 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Benjamin Christensens stora film.

Plot:

A documentary about the history of witchcraft, told in a variety of styles, from illustrated slideshow...

Plot Keywords:

Witchcraft | Semi Documentary | Inquisition | Misogyny | Surrealism

Cast

Maren Pedersen	...	Heksen / The Witch
Clara Pontoppidan	...	Nonne / Nun
Elith Pio	...	Heksedommer / Witch Judge (The Young Monk)
Oscar Stribolt	...	Graabroder / Doctor (The Fat Monk)
Tora Teje	...	En hysterisk kvinde / Modern Hysteric (The Kelptomaniac)
John Andersen	...	Chief Inquisitor (as Johs Andersen)
Benjamin Christensen	...	Djævlen / The Devil
Poul Reumert	...	Juveler / Jeweler
Karen Winther	...	Anna
Kate Fabian	...	Gammel jomfru / Old Maid
Else Vermehren	...	Nonne / Nun
Astrid Holm	...	Anna
Johannes Andersen	...	Heksedommer / Witch Judge
Gerda Madsen	...	Nonne / Nun
Aage Hertel	...	Heksedommer / Witch Judge
Ib Schønberg	...	Heksedommer / Witch Judge
Emmy Schønfeld	...	Marie, the Seamstress (as Emmy Schönfeld)
Frederik Christensen	...	Borger / Citizen (as Frederick Christensen)
Ella La Cour	...	Troldkvinde / Magician (as Ella la Cour)
Elisabeth Christensen	...	En ældre bondekone / Older Farm Lady (as Elizabeth Christensen)
Henry Seemann	...	Borger / Citizen
Alice O'Fredericks	...	Nonne / Nun
Knud Rassow	...	Anatomen
William S. Burroughs	...	Narrator (1968 re-release) (voice) (as William Burroughs)
Ellen Rassow	...	En tjenestepige / Maid
Holst Jørgensen	...	Ole Kighul
H.C. Nielsen	...	Juveler assistent / Jeweler's Assistant
Albrecht Schmidt	...	Nervelæge / Neurologist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Karina Bell	...	Nun (uncredited)
Karen Caspersen	...	Unidentified (uncredited)
Holger Pedersen	...	Unidentified (uncredited)

Directed by
Benjamin Christensen

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Benjamin Christensen		writer

Original Music by
Matti Bye		(restored version: 2006)
Launy Grøndahl
Daniel Humair		(1968)
Emil Reesen		(1941)

Cinematography by
Johan Ankerstjerne

Film Editing by
Edla Hansen

Art Direction by
Richard Louw

Set Decoration by
Richard Louw

Art Department
L. Mathiesen	....	art department assistant
Helge Norél	....	art department assistant

Camera and Electrical Department
Rudolf Frederiksen	....	assistant camera

Music Department
Daniel Humair	....	musician: percussion (1968 re-release)
Bernard Lubat	....	musician: piano organ (1968 re-release)
Guy Pederson	....	musician: double bass (1968 re-release) (as Guy Petersen)
Jean-Luc Ponty	....	musician: violin (1968 re-release)
Michel Portal	....	musician: flute (1968 re-release)

Other crew
Antony Balch	....	re-release producer (1968 sound re-release)
Paul Brewer	....	unspecified assistant (1968 release)
Norman Glass	....	unspecified assistant (1968 re-release)
Alice O'Fredericks	....	script girl

Production Companies

• Aljosha Production Company
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Distributors

• Universum Film (UFA) (1924) (Germany) (theatrical)
• BijouFlix Releasing
• Continental Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (video)
• Grapevine Video (USA) (VHS)
• Hollywood's Attic (VHS)
• International Telefilm Enterprises (1974) (Canada) (theatrical)
• International Telefilm Enterprises (1974) (Canada) (16 mm)
• Janus Films
• Kino International
• New York Film Annex (video)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (USA) (VHS)
• Versus Entertainment (2008) (Spain) (DVD)
• Vidimax Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Western Video (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• American International Video Search Inc.  video
• Newsreel and Dubbing Services  sound recorded at (1968 re-release)
• Studios Europasonor  music recorded at (1968 re-release)
• The Rank Organization, Film Processing Division  titles (1968 re-release)

Also Known As:

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (USA) (DVD box title)
Heksen (Denmark)
The Witches (USA)
Witchcraft Through the Ages (International: English title) (short version)
Czarownice (Poland) [pl]
Die Hexe (Germany) [de]
Häxan - A Feitiçaria Através dos Tempos (Brazil) [pt]
Hexen (Germany) [de]
I mageia mesa apo tous aiones (Greece) [el]
La brujería a través de los tiempos (Spain) [es]
La sorcellerie à travers les ages (France) [fr]
La stregoneria attraverso i secoli (Italy) [it]
Noita (Finland) [fi]
O Haxan (Norway) [no]

Runtime:

Sweden:87 min | USA:77 min (1968 re-release) | 104 min (DVD version)

Country:

Denmark | Sweden

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Silent

Certification:

UK:15 (1994) | UK:X (1968) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Company:

Aljosha Production Company

Trivia:

Director Benjamin Christensen originally planned to write the script with the help of historical experts, but that plan fell through after he discovered that most of the experts he had in mind were against the making of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: The same witches fly past the screen several times. At certain points, the same witch appears on screen twice at the same time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Goat Sucker (2005) (V)

Modern Witchcraft: Haxan, a triumph as documentary and drama

It is still hard to imagine that this film was produced in the early-1920s! Haxan also illustrates the vitality of Swedish film at this time--and what a time. We can bemoan the quality of commercial film-making today, but it should be understood that the period after WWI was unique in the history of the medium, as quite a lot had yet to be done. Watch this film, and you will see the source (along with Murnau's seminal, "Nosferatu" of the same year)of a LOT of contemporary horror imagery. Most of our popular-images of witches, demons and horror-film monstrosity comes from this era, and Haxan is surely a great-contributor to this reservoir.

Of-note, I think Ken Russell must have seen this film before making his magnum-opus, "The Devils" (1971). Incidents of sexual-hysteria in Convents/nunneries are well-documented in Christensen's film (and scholarly-writings), and the connection between it and "outbreaks" of "posession" and "witchery" are solid. And yes, that's a Freudian-analysis, because he wasn't always "wrong." While we may have to strain to understand this hysteria that infected communities, we should observe that so-called witches are regularly murdered in Africa, India and Asia-in-general. It is a feature of most primitive, peasant-societies.

This is still an excellent introduction to the history of witchcraft-persecution in the West, and extremely watchable. The Criterion edition is superb, you can do no better as it contains the Anthony Balch/William S. Burroughs cut of the film with the Burroughs-narration. Also, the image-quality of the 1922-cut is astounding, and must come from the camera-negative, a real treat. 1920s film-technology, we find, was very-good in the right-hands. One can even watch a film like this--or other equally-pristine films--and see that this was not so long-ago. In many-respects, we have changed very-little since the 1920s in America! With "Satanic panics," "recovered-memories," "alien-abductions" and other social-panics, we can see the roots of such reactions (and iconography) surfacing even today. A must-have for Halloween-parties!