SE 1920, D John W. Brunius, B John W. Brunius, Sam Ask based on the novel Lille Rødhætte by Henrik Pontoppidan, C Hugo Edlund, P Filmindustri AB Skandia, Cast Pauline Brunius, Hugo Björne, Jessie Wessel, Gösta Ekman, Gösta Cederlund, Oscar Johanson, Print b/w, DCP from 35mm, 85 min, silent, swedish INT +engl. SUB, Svenska Filminstitutet

When Thora van Deken is called to the deathbed of her divorced husband, Squire Niels Engelstoft, she learns that he has bequeathed a substantial part of his estate to the foundation of a nursing home rather than to their daughter Esther. She pleads with him to revoke his will, but he dies before he can react. Thora takes the matter into her own hands: she steals the will and takes over the estate as Esther’s guardian, claiming that the will was burned in agreement with her late husband before he died. When nasty rumors spread, Thora stands firm, committed to maintaining control of the estate on behalf of her daughter at all costs. [...] Much of THORA VAN DEKEN’S strength undoubtedly rests on Pauline Brunius’s stunning performance in the title role, which is arguably the best of her film career. (Pauline Brunius, who also directed a few films on her own, had only a limited screen acting career and is today best known as a stage diva and the first female director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.) Interestingly, the film is consistently structured around Thora’s – and, in few scenes, her daughter’s – point of view. (Magnus Rosborn, Casper Tybjerg, Le Giornate Del Cinema Muto, 2017)