Luffar-Petter

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Movie
Original title Luffar-Petter
Country of production Sweden
original language Swedish
Publishing year 1922
length approx. 37 (others: approx. 75) minutes
Rod
Director Erik A. Petschler
script Erik A. Petschler
production Erik A. Petschler for Petschler-Film / Fribergs Filmbyrå
camera Oscar Norberg
occupation

Luffar-Petter (translated: Peter the Vagabond ) is a Swedish slapstick comedy with Greta Garbo in her first film role. She still plays under her maiden name Greta Gustafsson. The film, directed by Erik A. Petschler, premiered on December 26, 1922 in Stockholm . The film was never shown commercially in Germany and was not shown on television.

action

The film has no plot in the usual sense. It is a collection of individual scenes that, in the style of Mack Sennett , combine wild chases, bathing beauties and crude comedy. The film begins with a scene that shows the regimental commander's three daughters doing morning exercises. One of the daughters is Greta. The girls do a lot of nonsense and annoy their teacher. In the next shot, the girls are on a boat driving to an island in the archipelago where they want to camp. You put up your tent, chopping wood and catching a fish.

In the meantime, Max August Petterson has deserted the army because of an unfortunate love affair. He also comes to the island and watches the girls from the bushes. Some other mix-ups follow, and in the end the girls all play a breeze together.

background

Greta Garbo had an early desire to become an actress. In order to support her family financially, however, she initially took a job as a saleswoman in the upscale Stockholm department store PUB . She appeared in several of the house's commercials and was occasionally employed as a mannequin for hats and other fashion accessories. In the summer of 1922, the director Erik A. Petschler, the Swedish Mack Sennett as the press called him, came to the hat department of PUB, accompanied by the then famous actresses Tyra Ryman and Gucken Cederborg. Greta Garbo, who was still called Greta Gustafsson at the time, recognized the two actresses and asked them about a role in one of Petschler's films. In the end, she got the director's phone number and called him personally later that day. In 1930, in the course of her last major and personal interview, which Garbo conducted with reporter Ake Sundborg for the renowned film magazine Photoplay , the actress stated:

"To this day, I think it was the boldest thing I have ever done."

After a personal meeting, Petschler gave the young woman a small role as a bathing beauty in his new production. The director initially wanted to wait to start shooting until Greta Garbo could take a vacation. However, Garbo was determined to take the chance. She resigned at PUB and wrote as a reason for leaving:

"Entry into the film business."

The film was to remain Garbo's only comedy until Ninotschka , and it wasn't until her last film, The Woman with Two Faces , that she appeared again in a bathing suit. Shortly after the filming, which took place in Djürgarden and Dalarö as well as Norrtälje near Stockholm and only cost 15,000 Swedish kronor, Greta Garbo passed the entrance exam for the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm.

Reviews

Greta Garbo received her first film reviews for her appearance.

Swing magazine wrote under a photo of Greta Gustafsson:

“[The film] may not be able to compete with foreign role models when it comes to weird situations and technical finesse; but although American bathing beauties are perhaps more beautiful and delicate, our Swedish ones have more freshness and charm […] Greta Gustafsson […] could very well become a Swedish film star. The reason - their Anglo-Saxon appearance. "

Another magazine said ambiguously:

“Miss Gustafsson had the dubious pleasure of playing a bathing beauty for Mr. Eric A. Petschler, so we have no idea what she is capable of. [...] We hope that we will have the opportunity to mention [them] again. "

Web links

Literature and sources used

Footnotes

  1. ↑ (Interview with Ake Sundberg for Photoplay , April 1930, quoted in Barry Paris, Garbo , p. 59)
  2. ↑ quoted in Barry Paris, Garbo , p. 61)
  3. ↑ quoted in Barry Paris, Garbo , p. 61)