Maximilian Schmige

Life and Career of Victor Sjostrom & Mauritz Stiller Maximilian Schmige

This is a short research paper written during my film studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. I managed to unveal some new information previously left unwritten about these two important figures in film history. Modern film historians have attempted to compile a coherent and complete biography summary of Victor Sjostrom's life and career in Sweden and in America. The already-existing evidence about Sjostrom is incomplete and vague, and is based on secondary sources that present contradictory arguments. While little has been written about Sjostrom Swedish career in the English language collections, even less has been written about his career in Hollywood between 1923 and 1930. The incomplete research has led film historians to project assumptions in attempt to make the contradictory arguments fit. Unlike in Sweden, Victor Sjostrom remains a less remembered filmmaker in US film history. Sjostrom only spend a fairly short time in Hollywood, before eventually going back to Sweden for one reason or another. Still, in Hollywood he worked together with some of the most well known people people such as Lilian Gish and Greta Garbo, which ultimately must make him an important figure at his time.