What do you think?
Rate this book
Witchcraft Through the Ages: The Story of Haxan, the World's Strangest Film, and the Man Who Made It
Using the original Danish source material, author Jack Stevenson places 'Haxan' within the context of Benjamin Christensen's wider career, and also within the context of the times, in the process presenting a picture of this film at the 'moment of impact'."
100 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2007
1 person is currently reading
126 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 27, 2008
Yet another absolutely incredible film. 1922, a film of such lushness it still holds up for me today as one of the richest film experiences I know of. As w/ the best of all silent movies, the visual world of this is developed in a truly fantastic way. Thank goodness that Jack Stevenson put together a whole bk on the subject.
September 7, 2025
Written by Jack Stevenson. (I don't know how to suggest/edit information on the book.)
In the first place a biography of director Benjamin Christensen, with more focus (of course) on Häxan. Interesting anecdotes about the production ("behind the scenes") and insight in the initial reception –it was a controversial film due to its "nudity", theme...!
Christensen was supposedly the first to do product placement, use (then unusual) special effects... and he may have invented the 'sound boom': "At the start of the sound era the microphone was firmly secured, forcing the actors to move themselves in relation to it rather than the other way around. I found that to be exceedingly impractical, so during a pause between two takes I sent a man out to find a long bamboo (fishing) pole. We hung the microphone up on the pole and I called over the comedian, Chester Conklin, and told him, 'now run around the studio, Ches', and just say some stuff and ignore the fact that you're being pursued by the microphone. And it worked, disproving the nonsense that the microphone must remain stationary... A week later the 'discovery' was being used in all the Hollywood studios." (Benjamin Christensen, 1952)
In the end he had nostalgia for silent cinema: "Silent films had many drawbacks but also advantages. Sound film is objective: everything is explained through dialogue and they need not engage one's sense of fantasy. Sound film completely lacks the illusion and poetry of silent cinema; one cannot dream and fantasize further about the adventure and the characters contained in the film. Here we've lost a bit of ground and that is one of the most important tasks sound film has before it, to recapture the lost ground." (Benjamin Christensen, 1941)
In the first place a biography of director Benjamin Christensen, with more focus (of course) on Häxan. Interesting anecdotes about the production ("behind the scenes") and insight in the initial reception –it was a controversial film due to its "nudity", theme...!
Christensen was supposedly the first to do product placement, use (then unusual) special effects... and he may have invented the 'sound boom': "At the start of the sound era the microphone was firmly secured, forcing the actors to move themselves in relation to it rather than the other way around. I found that to be exceedingly impractical, so during a pause between two takes I sent a man out to find a long bamboo (fishing) pole. We hung the microphone up on the pole and I called over the comedian, Chester Conklin, and told him, 'now run around the studio, Ches', and just say some stuff and ignore the fact that you're being pursued by the microphone. And it worked, disproving the nonsense that the microphone must remain stationary... A week later the 'discovery' was being used in all the Hollywood studios." (Benjamin Christensen, 1952)
In the end he had nostalgia for silent cinema: "Silent films had many drawbacks but also advantages. Sound film is objective: everything is explained through dialogue and they need not engage one's sense of fantasy. Sound film completely lacks the illusion and poetry of silent cinema; one cannot dream and fantasize further about the adventure and the characters contained in the film. Here we've lost a bit of ground and that is one of the most important tasks sound film has before it, to recapture the lost ground." (Benjamin Christensen, 1941)
December 11, 2016
Not a bad book by any stretch, but also not what I expected or was hoping for. As has already been stated, only a small subset of this book actually dealt with Haxan, which was my main draw.
Still, it was interesting to read about some of the innovations he had come up with and to get a glimpse of the period where silent films were making the transition to 'talkies'.
Still, it was interesting to read about some of the innovations he had come up with and to get a glimpse of the period where silent films were making the transition to 'talkies'.
June 16, 2016
A decent little book, but it's really more about Benjamin Christensen's career with a few chapters focusing on Haxan. I would like to have seen less quotes (there are 10 pages that just have a translated review - almost 10% of the book!) and more analysis. Since there are no other books about this movie I guess I'll take what I can get.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews