Born in Helsinki in 1883 as Moshe Stiller and died in Stockholm in 1928, Mauritz Stiller became with Victor Sjöström one of the two leaders of the golden age of Swedish silent cinema. His elegant, witty comedies of manners such as Erotikon (1920) influenced Lubitsch, and he made lyrical adaptations of Selma Lagerlöf, including The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924), in which he discovered the young Greta Garbo. He took Garbo with him to Hollywood, but was dismissed from his American films, and returned to Sweden shortly before his death at 45.
Filmography
- Thomas Graal's Best Film (1917)
- Sir Arne's Treasure (1919)
- Erotikon (1920)
- Gunnar Hede's Saga (1923)
- The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924)
- The Temptress (1926)
- Hotel Imperial (1927)