Original subtitles

THE WITCH �1922 AB Svensk Filmindustri

A presentation from a cultural and historical point of view

in 7 chapters of moving pictures.

BENJAMIN CHRISTENSEN wrote the script and produced this film

between the years of 1919 and 1921.

For the photography I am grateful to Mr. Johan Ankerstjerne

and to Mr. Richard Louw for the art direction.

My main sources are mentioned in the theatre's playbill.

Let us look into the history of mysticism and try to explain

the mysterious chapter known as the Witch.

The belief in sorcery and witchcraft

is probably as old as mankind.

When primitive man is confronted with something incomprehensible,

the explanation is always sorcery and evil spirits.

In Persia, the imaginary creatures depicted in the following picture

were thus believed to be the cause of diseases.

The English scientist Rawlinson and French scientist Maspero

show us pictures of evil spirits, believed to have resided

amongst the first civilizations.

The belief in evil spirits, sorcery and witchcraft

is the result of na�ve notions about the mystery of the universe.

Here we see how the Egyptians perceived the shape of the world

(according to Maspero).

The ancient Egyptians believed that high mountains

surrounded land and water on all sides.

The sky was made of steel and supported by strong pillars

that stood on the high mountains.

The stars, like lamps, hung from the sky on ropes.

According to the beliefs of other ancient civilizations,

the sky was vaulted and the earth shaped into terraces.

The evil spirits of ancient times changed in the medieval folklore

to devils, sneaking around and tempting children.

The devils lived in the earth's core.

In the latter part of the Middle Ages the earth was considered

to be a stationary sphere in the middle of the universe.

Above the earth and its waters -

- the medieval man first imagined a layer of air -

- then a layer of fire -

- and outside the fire were the planets, moving celestial bodies.

Each planet was attached to its transparent, movable sphere.

And outside the planetary spheres

were the fixed stars arranged in a sky of their own.

Above it all, in the tenth crystal sphere,

sits the Almighty surrounded by nine choirs of angels...

...and He is the One keeping the spheres revolving.

Deep down in the earth's core lies Hell,

where those tempted by the Devil shall suffer forever.

In the upper part of the following picture

(from the French historian Lacroix)

the devils are stuffing the damned into large pots.

A sinner is thrown straight into the fire

burning under one of the cauldrons.

A devil pours the nasty sulfur oozing

from a horn down a man's throat.

Two monsters torment some of the damned with their sharp teeth.

I have found a strange old mechanical presentation of Hell,

which offers a good understanding of the beliefs in the Middle Ages.

Observe the eagerness with which the devils

tend to the fire under the cauldrons!

During the Middle Ages, devils and Hell

were considered real and constantly feared.

Witches were thought to have signed an unlawful pact

with the Devil, and therefore they were burned at the stake.

The floating figure is a devil coming to get the witch

by lifting her up into the air.

This picture of a pyre as well as the following one

are from "German Life in the Past in Pictures."

In this image a witch is milking an ax handle.

In the following image a witch has bewitched a man's shoe.

Witches usually meet in councils.

And after the gathering they might, for instance,

sneak into a barn and bewitch a cow.

The small angular symbol, noticeable under the drawing,

was usually carved into the barn door as protection against witches.

In this old na�ve drawing, a sorcerer and a witch

are casting spells, setting a village on fire.

Witches were believed to curse people with diseases

with the help of sorcerer's powder and magic potions.

Notice how the sick person is laying naked in bed.

That was habitual in the past.

It was a general belief that the witch was naked when, at night,

during the so-called Witch Sabbath,

she danced with the devils.

Women who wanted to participate in the "Sabbath"

sneaked away to the sorcerer...

...where they could have their backs smeared with "witch ointment".

The witchcraft of the ointment would allow them

to fly through the air.

The French doctors Bourneville and Teinturier

gave me the following pictures of the Witch Sabbath...

...a secret satanic rite to which

thousands of women asserted their participation.

At the Sabbath witches and sorcerers

first desecrate the Church's holy cross.

Satan gives all the participants devils' names.

And a ceremonial banquet is held.

The Sabbath food was often prepared

from corpses from the gallows.

All witches had to show the Devil their respect by kissing his behind.

After a merry dance with the devils,

the witches fly home at the first crow of the cock.

These scenes are often found on famous Witch Sabbath pictures

from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

To be continued.

THE WITCH Chapter 2.

We go now to the underground home of a sorceress

in the year of the Lord 1488.

"Tonight the stars shine favorably over the gallows' hill."

"Ugh, what a stench!

The thief's body has been hanging too long on the gallows."

"When such a thief's finger is too dried out,

it can no longer lend the brew any healing power."

"Hurry and open up, Karna, so that the passers-by won't see me."

"Karna, can you perchance get me a love potion

that has power over a pious man of the church?"

"Here, young maiden, take a potion of cat feces

and dove hearts, boiled in the moonlight."

"A drop of this in a man's drink will soften his heart at once."

"Karna, can I have an even stronger potion?"

"If the maiden wishes to drive the man out of his wits for love..."

"...I have a potion boiled in May

from a young and playful male sparrow."

"Hold your coin, maiden! First smell my ointment!"

"This salve is good,

should you wish to travel to Brocken, one night."

"Secretly smear this salve on

and the pious monk might directly come to your chamber."

"You will fly together high up in the night

and he will bestow upon you many hungry kisses."

"Listen Brother, I wonder... shouldn't we pray

before we embark in such a bold enterprise?"

"Oh Holy Mother, forgive us

for cutting open a person's dead body with a knife!"

"It is not from untimely curiosity that we so badly sin..."

"...but so that the cause of many terrible diseases

might be revealed to us."

"Help! Hurry!

The peace of the cemetery has been desecrated by two witches."

Such were the Middle Ages, when witchcraft and the Devil's work

were sought everywhere.

And that is why unusual things were believed to be true.

"Damned woman! You shall not lie here

and bewitch the legs of honest people."

"You watch out!

Now your filthy mouth shall remain open for eternity."

So it happens with witchcraft as with the Devil;

people's belief in him was so strong that he became real.

The Devil is everywhere and takes all shapes.

He shows himself as a nightmare, a raging demon,

a seducer, a lover, and a knight.

The devils' companion can be young and beautiful,

but she is more often old, poor and miserable.

Is it from the eternal fright of the pyre that you get drunk

every night, you poor old woman of the Middle Ages?

When the evening bell tolls in the night

and all fires in town are covered with ashes,

the Devil fetches Apelone for his adventures.

High up in the air is Apelone's dream castle,

and there the Devil will fulfill all her secret wishes.

To be continued

THE WITCH Chapter 3.

In "Rites and Rights in the German Past" by Franz Heinemann,

we can observe pictures of inquisition judges at work.

A woman suspected of witchcraft is thrown into the water

to find out whether she is guilty or not.

In "History of Customs", Edward Fuchs shows us

how the accused is tied up.

Two executioners use oars to move the accused

in the water where she has no support.

If she floats, she will be pulled up and burned.

If she sinks, the judges thank God for her innocence.

I will now illustrate a trial for witchcraft from beginning to end

taking place at the time when the Pope sent

traveling inquisition priests out to Germany.

"Oh, my husband could not have been struck by dizziness

so suddenly, unless a sorceress had bewitched him!"

"Be comforted Anna, wife of the Printer,

the power of lead will soon reveal it."

"Oh, you powerful Saturn, allow this lead

to show if Jesper the Printer is bewitched."

"It is written here in the shape of lead

that his dizziness is atrocious witchcraft."

"Oh Peter, look, where is the evil sorceress?"

"You might see that witch, before you wish to..."

"...before I wish to."

"Jesus' Holy Cross and Wounds!

I did not hear you come, Maria the Weaver!"

"Oh, maiden, please have mercy on me,

a poor woman who has to go begging from door to door!"

"Are you hungry, Maria? If so, sit down."

"Here, eat now, if you can, in the name of Jesus."

"Watch out, little sister, watch out. That woman has evil eyes."

"The youngest servant of the inquisition

may not exchange words with a strange maiden."

"How wonderful!

It felt like fire when the young maiden took my arm."

"Young maiden, you know quite well

that what you're accusing this woman of, endangers her life?"

"Swear by the cross that you are not deadly enemies!"

"Let's go, young men, before her feet are lifted

so that the evil witch won't turn us all into mice."

"Now you can have a scalding death, just what you deserve,

you damned mistress of the Devil!"

To be continued

THE WITCH Chapter 4.

Two "honest" matrons will change the accused in jail,

so that she will not wear hidden witch powder.

"Maria the Weaver was just taken here accused of witchcraft."

"Master, look carefully,

there might be witch powder hidden in the sorceress' hair."

The suspect's nights are now dictated by the inquisition judges.

Two honorable men try amiably to persuade her to confess.

If she stubbornly denies her charges,

they will use a kind of mental torture.

"Woman, see here the seven holy words of Jesus crucified,

written on consecrated parchment."

"I will hang them around her neck,

so that the Devil will no longer help her to be silent."

"Does she see this length of consecrated wax as Corpus Christi?"

The accused is taken backwards into the torture chamber,

so as not to bewitch the judge when entering.

"For the last time I ask: does she want to confess

her witchcraft and her misdeeds?"

"Let her suffering begin so that we might put

an end to the harshness of her heart."

"Oh, you learned men!

How do you expect me to confess to that which is not true?"

"Well, Rasmus the Executioner! Let now the evil witch's body sting."

"Let her catch her breath, Rasmus the Executioner, and loosen

the screw a little at a time, as she confesses her sins."

"Oh, learned men! I confess that

I've given birth to many children fathered by the Devil."

"And when I gave birth, Karna and all her coven helped me."

"If I am spared the pain, I will confess

that Trina has smeared me with witch ointment."

"Oh yes, learned men, miserable me has flown through the night air

to Brocken on Trina's broom."

"And the Devil's grandmother was there with all her witchcraft."

"And many a woman, who had not accomplished enough evil deeds,

was treated miserably by the Devil."

"And masses spat upon all that is holy."

"And a meal of toads and unchristened children

was cooked by Karna."

"Listen, Maria the Weaver, did you also see

how the Devil put his mark on the witches' foreheads?"

"Oh, learned men, I saw the witches

kiss the evil one on his behind."

"And Anna's mother, the wife of the Printer,

who wished me a scalding death -"

"- that damned woman, I saw her kissing the evil one

so tenderly... and Sissel, her servant, that old fool, was also there."

"And Elsa, who kicked me some time ago,

she shall also burn at the stake."

"She passed Martin the Writer's door

one moonlit night with her sister."

"And they cast a spell on Martin the Writer

with the water they threw against his door."

"And it was the very same night that death took Martin the Writer."

"And now I will tell you everything about the witches,

who yell after me in the street where I live."

To be continued

THE WITCH Chapter 5.

In this way begins the endless turn of the wheels

during the witchcraft era. Each witch gives ten others away.

The town wardens busy themselves.

If you oppose the capture of a witch, you must be a witch yourself.

The destiny of young Anna, wife of the Printer, is sealed.

So now only two people are left in Jesper the Printer's haunted house.

During the witchcraft era it was dangerous to be old and ugly,

but it was not safe to be young and pretty either.

"Brother, help me. My thoughts are sinful."

"Bare your body, Brother!"

"I'll whip your sinful body and your poor soul, into faith healing."

"Oh Brother, why did you stop the beating of the scourge?

Now my soul will surely be damned."

"Father Henrik, Brother John is spellbound."

"A witch appears in his cell to tempt him."

"And she has grabbed him by the wrist."

"Stand up, Brother, Father Henrik is coming."

"Brother, you have not given the maiden away

for a witch, have you?"

"You know the punishment for those

who refuse to witness against a witch?"

And so they fetch you too, young maiden,

giving you their unfailing test.

"In the name of the Holy Trinity, if you are not a witch,

you will now shed tears!"

"See for yourself - you cannot shed tears,

as you are allied with the evil one."

We assume now that the young woman resists;

that no threat and no pain can persuade her to confess.

I have tried to find out how the excellent inquisition judges

behaved in such circumstances.

And I see in front of me some scenes, which I do not find

pictured too darkly here, on the white screen.

"Wake up, young maiden! I bring you great happiness."

"See, young maiden, I give you your freedom -

- if you would just show me a small favor in return."

"Why do you taunt me, monk?

What favor can a poor creature like me show you?"

"Teach me the beautiful art of making thunder with this water!"

"If you do not want to take my word, young maiden,

stand up and look out at the jail court."

"Did the guards leave?"

"Yes, they went far away, maiden. The keys are now in my hand

and I can secretly take you out through the town gates tonight."

"And I swear eternal silence to you, maiden,

about all you will reveal about witchcraft with thunder."

"Do you remember, maiden, that Jesper, the Printer's child,

is all alone in the world, without relatives besides you?"

"Oh, Father Henrik, see the tears of the young maiden.

Look, she cries, hence she cannot be a sorceress."

"Silly boy! Don't you know that witches secretly smear themselves

with spittle, so that we might believe it to be tears?"

"Here, maiden, see the child who will miserably perish

as a dishonorable, rejected witch's offspring without you."

"Stand here and listen to all the maiden's words,

so that later you may bear witness against her."

"And will you secretly open the jail gates

for the child and me, if I speak?"

"Then I will tell you that once a traveling stone cutter told me..."

"...that when witches call for thunder,

they put their hands in the water..."

"You hardened witch! Before the sun is down tomorrow,

you will burn alive at the stake."

"And then they will burn you too, maiden,

"as edification for man, as sweet scent for God."

And one pyre after another burns in the town square,

until the judges will one day move on to the next town.

The witch madness, like a spiritual plague,

ravages wherever these judges go.

In the arc of a few centuries, over 8 million women,

men and children were burned as witches.

To be continued

THE WITCH Chapter 6.

There are witch confessions that are totally insane.

Many women, for instance, confess that - transformed into cats -

they soiled the altar during the night, while two devils

in the shape of animals stood guard at the church door.

But there are also confessions,

which might very well be close to the truth,

namely during the times when superstition ruled.

Many women were burned because they confessed that

they bewitched a marriage bed by "tying knots!"

For each knot a pregnancy is destroyed.

And the happiness of a whole house could be ruined

with witch hair and metal crosses.

Many women have probably really used such magic tricks

and believed in their destructive effects.

But, if we should judge from the confessions,

we must take a closer look at the props in the torture chamber.

You and I would also be driven to confess mysterious talents

with the help of such tools. Isn't that so?

The French doctor Paul Regnard

describes the way this collar was used.

The collar was tightened with the help of four taut ropes.

The wrists and ankles of the accused

were tied to two iron rods screwed to the floor.

When a fire bowl was put under the poor victim -

- his movements were so violent

that the spikes of the collar entered his neck.

Doctor Regnard shows another picture, which speaks for itself.

It is simply called "After the interrogation."

The "painful interrogation" preferably began

with a "lighter" torture: the thumbscrew, for example.

One of my actresses insisted on trying the thumbscrew

when we shot these pictures.

I will not reveal the terrible confessions I forced

from the young lady in less than a minute.

In the convents during the Middle Ages, fear of the Devil

escalated into an almost hopeless despair.

The pious gave themselves up to many a regrettable self-punishment.

Often a single nun was seized, and suddenly

thereafter the whole convent was overtaken by insanity -

- a mysterious, contagious insanity.

In writings that have survived to this day,

these unhappy women wrote down with touching simplicity

how the Devil penetrated the convent.

"Get thee behind me, Satan!"

"May all good saints stand by me!

Sister Cecilia is conniving with the evil one."

How these religious women must have suffered,

before their nerves abandoned them and insanity broke out?

In their biographies, this desperate cry is always found:

The devil forced us into it!

"Oh, Holy Mother, the evil has a terrible power!"

"Look, now he forces me into doing what I want the least."

"Burn me at the stake, pious fathers!

Can't you see what the Devil forces me to do?"

"Take me! Don't you see him?

The evil one stands over there and threatens me."

To be continued

THE WITCH Chapter 7.

We pass over the Devil's actual possessions

(speaking in tongues and convulsions)

and come to present times.

The majority of witches in the old days were poor women;

those who are taken in by pious organizations

and nursing homes nowadays.

One or more traits that might make an old woman noticeable

was enough to bring her to court during the witchcraft era.

Let us not believe that the Devil belongs solely to the past.

The lovely old woman, who plays the role of Maria the Weaver

in my film, once raised her tired face to me

during a pause in the shoot -

- and said: "The Devil is real.

I have seen him sitting at my bedside."

With the old woman's permission, I show here the prayer book

in which a woman (from 1921!)

thinks she can tell the Devil by sight.

The witch's insanity can be explained as a nervous exhaustion

that I will try to exemplify here.

I ask my viewer to understand that

in the following I let the same actress -

- portray many different patients of related nervous disorders.

I have personally known a very nervous young woman

who often walked in her sleep.

Why did she always enact the very same thing

she was most afraid she would do?

Like a witch forced by the devil, this woman -

- both when sleeping and awake -

gives way to a mysterious craving to strike matches.

Had this possession anything to do with her morbid fear of fire

after one broke out in her home?

She stated that she felt as if she were fighting

against an unknown force stronger than her own.

Isn't there something "witch-like" with this sleepwalker,

who moves through the slumbering household with her matches?

Doesn't she remind us of the nun, who walks through the chapel

with her knife, forced by the Devil?

This poor woman, also in a bewildered condition,

does during her sleep just what she fears the most.

These possessions - these somnambulistic, dazed conditions -

are consistent with the nervous diseases we call hysteria.

And there are still more connections between

the medieval witch and the modern hysterical person.

We remember for instance that

the witch received nightly visitations by the Devil.

Today it is not the Devil, but rather a famous actor,

a popular clergyman or a well-known doctor,

who disturbs the calm of the night.

The hysterical person will undoubtedly say that

these celebrities come to her through the wall or window.

Notice how consciously this unconscious woman holds

onto her bed. A person afflicted by hysteria always displays

some artificial mannerisms.

In the Middle Ages it was believed that during the Sabbath

the Devil put some invisible marks on the witch's body,

where all sensitivity vanished.

The executioner often found insensitive areas

on the back of the accused.

"I see clearly that you are a witch.

You do not even feel the master's instrument on your back."

Today, this strange insensitivity is considered a symptom of hysteria.

"No sir, I do not feel you touching my back at all."

"Yes, it is as I thought; your daughter is suffering from hysteria."

"From what you told me, I must strongly recommend

that we detain your daughter for the time being in my clinic."

"It would be a pity if your daughter

were to have an unpleasant exchange with the police."

Poor little hysterical witch!

In the Middle Ages you were in conflict with the church.

Now it is with the law.

"I ask you to step into my office."

"Or do you prefer that I call the police?"

"Your name? Do you have a card?"

"Your address? Do you have a telephone in your home?"

"Thank you, that's fine. You can leave. I will contact you later."

"If my family learns about this, I will be forcefully detained."

"I beg you to understand that I am an unhappy, sick person.

I do not know what I am doing."

"I have not been able to live with this persistent fear

during the war. I am a broken person."

"It is as if an unknown power

compels me to commit this terrible theft."

"Look here! I just stole this little, expensively bound Russian book."

"What shall I do with it? I do not know a word of Russian."

"My husband died in the war, and I have not been the same since..."

"I promise not to pursue this matter,

but I have to ask you never to visit my store again."

Centuries have passed and the Almighty of medieval times

no longer sits in his tenth sphere.

We no longer sit in church staring terrified

at the frescoes of the devils.

The witch no longer flies away on her broom over the rooftops.

But isn't superstition still rampant among us?

Is there an obvious difference

between the sorceress and her customer then and now?

We no longer burn our old and poor.

But do they not often suffer bitterly?

And the little woman, whom we call hysterical,

alone and unhappy, isn't she still a riddle for us?

Nowadays we detain the unhappy in a mental institution or -

- if she is wealthy - in a modern clinic.

And then we will console ourselves with the notion

that the mildly temperate shower of the clinic has replaced

the barbaric methods of medieval times.

THE END