The Emigrants • The New Land
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Synopsis
This monumental mid-nineteenth-century epic from Jan Troell charts, over the course of two films, a Swedish farming family’s voyage to America and their efforts to put down roots in this beautiful but forbidding new world. Movie legends Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann give remarkably authentic performances as Karl Oskar and Kristina, a couple who meet with one physical and emotional trial after another on their arduous journey. The precise, minute detail with which Troell depicts the couple’s story—which is also that of countless other people who sought better lives across the Atlantic—is a wonder to behold. Engrossing at every step of the way, the duo of The Emigrants and The New Land makes for perhaps the greatest screen drama about the settling of America.
Picture 7/10
In what will be a most welcome development for many, Criterion presents Jan Troell’s The Emigrants and its sequel The New Land on Blu-ray in their original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Each film features a 1080p/24hz high-definition presentation on their own dual-layer Blu-ray disc.
Both films have infamously been unavailable on DVD in North America, despite the numerous awards and Oscar nominations the films received. Why Warner Bros. never release the films is beyond me but thankfully they’ve seen fit to license the films to Criterion and finally, after only being available on VHS and LaserDisc in North America, the film (along with its sequel) comes to Blu-ray (there’s also a DVD edition being released).
Was the wait worth it? Yes but there is a tinge of disappointment. On the whole both films look good, delivering fairly strong definition and detail, whether within long shots or close-ups, and the restoration work is fairly thorough. Unfortunately, despite these being touted as a “new high-definition digital transfer[s]” created by Svensk Filmindustri (as the notes state) I suspect older masters are being used, possibly the onse created for the Swedish DVD release of both films. A majority of the time the image looks rather good: depth and textures are decent, and detail can be very impressive, colours look nicely saturated and rendered, and for the most part, it does have a filmic look. But how film grain is rendered is hit and miss: at times it can look pretty good but there are others where it’s noisy with macro-blocking evident, especially in darker scenes. In brighter scenes the issue isn’t as evident, though still there to an extent. Black levels are also a bit weak, and crushing is evident in places.
I assume Criterion has done their own work in touching up the image. In terms of dirt, debris, and marks, the image is really clean, with a few specs remaining. There are colour fluctuations at times throughout, and there can also be shifts or slight jitters in the frame. There’s an especially bad moment of the latter issue at around the 1:35:22 point of The New Land, where these jumps get really bad, the image jumping up and down. It could possibly be some side effect from filming that couldn’t be stabilized, though honestly it doesn’t look like it’s a natural occurrence and is possibly an error that occurred during scanning: it’s a really odd effect and it does pop up in other places, just not as bad as this moment. Other than this, though, on the whole the transfers are stable and clean.
This was the release I was looking forward to most this month so I’m a little disappointed. Despite the criticisms I may have I’m still generally pleased but I can’t deny it really could be quite a bit better.
The Emigrants • The New Land - Screen Captures
Audio 8/10
Both films sport lossless linear PCM 1.0 Swedish mono track. I was actually quite surprised by the tracks, which manage to deliver crisp audio with a decent level of range and fidelity, and there is a nice sense of depth and detail present in the background sound effects, whether it be insects or birds chirping, or a slight breeze. Music can be a little flat in places, but otherwise I was quite impressed with what is a surprisingly immersive monaural soundtrack.
Extras 7/10
Criterion releases The Emigrants and The New Land together in a two-disc set. Each film receives its own disc and each disc features a handful of supplements.
The first disc, sporting The Emigrants, opens with an introduction by theater and film critic John Simon. For 7-and-a-half-minutes Simon talks about The Emigrants and The New Land, Troell’s ability at presenting peasants and the lower class (comparing him to director Ermanno Olmi), and the film’s construction. He’s especially taken by how the film slowly reveals everything, which helps in captivating the viewer. It’s a fairly gushing introduction about Troell and his work overall, with Simon admitting if he was in charge (of the universe I assume) he would have Troell’s films shown every five years.
Criterion also includes the 2005 making-of documentary To Paint with Pictures, which looks to have been produced for another DVD edition. In terms of structure it’s a fairly standard DVD making-of documentary, complete with talking-heads and clips from the film, but its rich in content. Featuring interviews with Troell, actors Eddie Axberg and Liv Ullmann, composer Georg Oddner, and producer/co-writer Bengt Forslund, and covering both films, the documentary covers the adaptation process and the issues that came up with the author, Vilhelm Moberg, who could be very hotheaded at times, even managing to infuriate the usually calm and mellow Troell. It then moves on to the actual shoot, which called for some creative scouting since the budget didn’t allow them to shoot as much as they probably needed to in the States and also talk about its release and the edits that had to be made for the U.S. market to get a PG rating. There are a number of surprises here (John Ford had apparently wanted to make the film but Moberg wanted Troell after seeing Here is Your Life) and some moments of levity (when asked about the advantages of having Troell act as both director and cameraman Forslund jokes there was one less person to pay), which all help make this a better-than-average making-of. It runs a fairly brisk 57-minutes.
The disc then closes with the film’s Swedish trailer.
The second disc, which contains The New Land, features a couple of interviews, the first between Jan Troell and Peter Cowie. In this 36-minute interview, Troell does repeat quite a bit of information from the documentary on the first disc, To Paint with Pictures, talking about the adaptation, the blowout he had with author Vilhelm Moberg (though he expands on what Moberg’s issues were) and then the various decisions that went into the look of the film from using colour film to locations. He does also expand on working around budget constraints and how he wasn’t able to do the ox killing scene (which is also mentioned in the doc). He and Cowie also talk about specific scenes and sequences in the films, with more detail about the editing that went into the Robert/Arvid flash back that appears in The New Land. Some of the ground covered was familiar because it is in the previous documentary but when Troell and Cowie start talking about specifics it becomes a more engaging discussion.
Liv Ullmann next talks about her work in the films from the initial excitement in getting the role (a surprise to her since she is Norwegian) to going to the Oscars and being told she was definitely going to win (she learned afterwards that everyone in Hollywood just tells you that even if you don’t have a chance). She fondly recalls the experience, working with Troell and co-stars Max von Sydow and Monica Zetterlund, and also her own daughter. She’s quite proud of the role and the film and it shows, making the interview a very energetic and breezy 24-minutes.
The disc then closes with the theatrical trailer. The release's included insert features an essay by Terrence Rafferty, who covers both films.
The supplements as a whole feel pretty slim considering the large scale of both films, but the supplements altogether are worth going through, and it’s really just wonderful enough getting both films together finally.
Closing
There was a bit of disappointment that it looks like we’re getting what are probably older high-definition transfers but the image, on the whole, is still pleasing enough for both films. And the supplements may look light but I was rather surprised by the quality of the included documentary. But the most appealing aspect of this release is that we finally get both The Emigrants and The New Land together in North America, outside of the previous VHS and LaserDisc releases.
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