Leaves from Satan's Book1920
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
The premise
The power of Satan is highlighted in four historical tales: the betrayal and subsequent arrest of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette, and the Finnish War of Independence in 1918.
Horror Vault's take
Carl Th. Dreyer's ambitious silent anthology traces the influence of Satan across four pivotal moments in human history, from the betrayal of Christ to the fires of revolution. Each episode casts the Devil as an active participant in mankind's darkest hours, manipulating the weak and punishing the faithful. Drawing on the episodic structure of D.W. Griffith's Intolerance, the film is less a horror spectacle than a brooding meditation on how evil weaves itself into the fabric of civilization. It remains a striking early work from one of cinema's most austere and spiritually serious directors.
Content: Depictions Of Execution, Religious Persecution, Period Violence, Themes Of Torture And Suffering
Cast
Helge Nissen
Satan / The Grand Inquisitor / Erneste / Ivan
Halvard Hoff
Jesus (first sequence)
Jacob Texiere
Judas (first sequence) (as Jacob Texière)
Hallander Helleman
Don Gomez de Castro (second sequence)
Ebon Strandin
Isabel - Castro's Daughter (second sequence)
Johannes Meyer
Don Fernandez (second sequence)
Nalle Halden
The Majordomo (second sequence)
Tenna Kraft
Marie Antoinette (third sequence)
Viggo Wiehe
Count de Chambord (third sequence)
Emma Wiehe
The Countess of Chambord (third sequence)
Jeanne Tramcourt
Lady Genevive de Chambord (third sequence)
Hugo Bruun
Count Manuel (third sequence)
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