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Benjamin Christensen
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Benjamin Christensen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈpɛnjamin ˈkʁɛsdn̩sn̩]); (28 September 1879 – 2 April 1959) was a Danish film director, screenwriter and an actor, both in film and on the stage. As a director, he was best known for his 1922 film Häxan (aka Witchcraft Through the Ages). His most memorable and acclaimed acting performance was in the film Michael (1924), where he played Claude Zoret, the male lover of the film's title character in a landmark gay film.
Key Information
Biography
[edit]Benjamin Christensen was born in Viborg, Denmark as the youngest of the twelve children.[1] He initially studied medicine, but got interested in acting and began studies at the Det Kongelige Teater (Royal Danish Theatre) in Copenhagen in 1901. Christensen's professional acting career began in Aarhus in 1907, but soon abandoned the stage in order to become a wine salesman.
In 1911, Christensen made his debut as a film actor. All of his pre-directorial efforts were lost, including Scenens børn (1913), the only motion picture directed by eminent Norwegian playwright and stage director Bjørn Bjørnson.
In 1913, Christensen assumed control of the small, Hellborg-based production company for which he worked, and reorganized it as Dansk-Biograf Kompagnie, making a directorial debut with Det hemmelighedsfulde X (The Mysterious X, 1914), a spy melodrama, with camerawork, cutting, and art direction that was considered revolutionary for the period. Christensen himself played the main role, as in his second film, Hævnens nat (Blind Justice, 1916), portraying a man wrongly accused of murder. Despite the success of his first two films, Christensen did not find acceptance within the Danish film industry, and after Blind Justice, he returned to the stage.
Between 1918 and 1921, Christensen researched the history of necromancy as background for his next and greatest film, Häxan (The Witches, or Witchcraft Through the Ages, 1922). Christensen appeared in the film in the role of Satan.[2] A plotless panorama of the history of witchcraft, Häxan utilized visual nudity, gore, and shock value on a level that remains unusual for a silent film.
Despite heavy criticism from censor boards, Häxan was an international success. Based on the response to Häxan, Christensen received an invitation from UFA to direct in Germany. He made two films for them, though his most memorable work in Germany was as an actor in the key supporting role of the painter Claude Zoret in his fellow countryman Carl Theodor Dreyer's film Michael (1924). This would prove Christensen's last film appearance as an actor.
In 1924, MGM swept through the talent pool at UFA and picked up, among others, Christensen, who departed so quickly that he may not have completed his second feature, Die Frau mit dem schlechten Ruf (The Woman of Ill-Repute, 1925). The film was not released until the end of 1925, by which time Christensen had already disowned the film. Christensen got off a good start with the Norma Shearer vehicle The Devil's Circus (1926), a commercial success. But the Lon Chaney picture Mockery (1927) which followed was a scandalous failure critically, even though it still generated a modest profit.
When work stalled in 1927 on MGM's troubled, three-years-long production of The Mysterious Island (1929), Christensen was let go. He moved to Warner Brothers, where he made four films. The first was The Hawk's Nest (1928), a crime drama starring Milton Sills. The remaining three constitute a horror trilogy and were co-written with Cornell Woolrich: The Haunted House (1928), Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) and House of Horror (1929). By this time, Christensen had had enough of Hollywood experience and, although House of Horror was a hit, after it wrapped up, he went back to Denmark.
Afterward, Christensen returned once again to stage direction and did not make another film for a decade. Breaking his silence, for the Nordisk Company, he wrote and directed Skilsmissens børn (Children of Divorce, 1939), a social melodrama about generation gap. It was a surprise hit, and Christensen seemed back on track again. He followed it with Barnet (The Child, 1940) – a film about abortion – and Gå med mig hjem (Come Home with Me, 1941) which reunited him with actress Bodil Ipsen, who had appeared alongside him in the Bjørnson film and was a director herself.
However, Damen med de lyse Handsker (The Lady with the Light Gloves, 1942) was a spy thriller that proved an unmitigated disaster on the level of Mockery, and Christensen found himself out of the film business for good. Afterward, he assumed management of a movie theater in a suburb of Copenhagen and lived out the rest of his 79 years in obscurity.
Legacy
[edit]Häxan is Christensen's best-known film. Long circulating in the 16mm market, it was re-edited into a shorter version in 1967 by a British film maker Antony Balch with an added jazz score and narration by William S. Burroughs. As such, the film became a counter-culture favorite. A version restored to its original length and in superior picture quality was released by the Criterion Collection in 2001. The Mysterious X was first revived at MOMA in 1966 and has become his second-best known film. It was combined with Blind Justice and released on a DVD by the Danish Film Institute in 2004.[citation needed]
For the remainder of Christensen's output, the losses were heavy and it has long been difficult to see. Based on what exists, some critics have concluded that all of Christensen's American films were artistic failures. Of the German films, only the first one – Seine Frau, die Unbekannte (His Wife, The Unknown, 1923) – has survived, and of his Warner Brothers films, only a poor Italian print of Seven Footprints to Satan has surfaced, although sound discs exist of House of Horror. Critical opinions about The Devil's Circus seem divided; Mockery was one of the most sought after of all lost films until it was finally located in the 1970s. However, many who have seen it have stated that it is easily the worst of Lon Chaney's MGM features. The Nordisk films remain little seen outside Denmark.
In 1999, the Museum of Modern Art, and later the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, held the first retrospective screening of Christensen's work under the rubric Benjamin Christensen: An International Dane. Of Christensen, Carl Theodor Dreyer once described him as "a man who knew exactly what he wanted and who pursued his goal with uncompromising stubbornness." After many decades of relative obscurity, Christensen is now considered one of the best Danish silent film directors in history.[citation needed]
Partial filmography
[edit]- The Mysterious X (1914)
- Blind Justice (1916)
- Häxan (1922) aka Witchcraft Through the Ages
- Seine Frau, die Unbekannte (1923)
- The Woman Who Did (1925)
- The Devil's Circus (1926)
- Mockery (1927)
- The Hawk's Nest (1928)
- The Haunted House (1928)
- Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
- House of Horror (1929)
- The Mysterious Island (1929) partial sound
- Children of Divorce (1939)
- The Child (1940)
- Come Home with Me (1941)
- Lady with the Light Gloves (1942)
References
[edit]- ^ Stevenson, Jack (2006). Witchcraft Through the Ages: The Story of Häxan, the World's Strangest Film, and the Man Who Made It. Guildford: FAB Press. p. 7. ISBN 1903254426.
- ^ Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 20. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.
Sources
[edit]- Kendrick, James (13 October 2003). "A witches' brew of fact, fiction and spectacle". Kinoeye 3 (11).
Further reading
[edit]- Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible by Richard Baxstrom and Todd Meyers, 2015, Fordham University Press – about Christensen's 1922 film Haxan (The Witch)
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benjamin Christensen.
- Benjamin Christensen at IMDb
- Benjamin Christensen at Film Reference
- Benjamin Christensen at Allmovie
Benjamin Christensen
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Early Life and Education
Family Background and Childhood in Denmark
Benjamin Christensen was born on 28 September 1879 in Viborg, Denmark.[5][6][1] He was the youngest of twelve children in a prosperous family whose financial resources supported advanced education for its members.[2] Details of Christensen's childhood in the provincial town of Viborg remain sparse in historical records, with primary accounts focusing on the family's socioeconomic stability rather than personal anecdotes or daily life.[2] This background provided the foundation for his later access to university studies in medicine in Copenhagen, though he ultimately abandoned that path for artistic pursuits.[2][1]Medical Training and Shift to Performing Arts
Christensen, born into a prosperous family in Viborg, Denmark, on September 28, 1879, enrolled in medical studies at the University of Copenhagen, leveraging his family's resources to pursue a conventional professional path.[2][3] However, he discontinued his medical education without completing a degree, redirecting his ambitions toward the performing arts amid an emerging interest in stage performance.[7][8] In place of medicine, Christensen sought training in vocal performance, entering the opera program at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen around 1901 and making his professional debut as an opera singer in 1902.[2][8] This pivot reflected a deliberate rejection of scientific rigor for expressive artistry, though his operatic career proved short-lived due to persistent vocal strain and changes in his voice, prompting a further adaptation within the theater world.[3][2] By leveraging his prior enrollment at the Royal Theatre's dramatic school, Christensen transitioned to acting training, honing skills in dramatic interpretation and stagecraft that marked his full immersion into performing arts.[7] This shift, occurring in the early 1900s, positioned him for professional stage engagements, including roles at Aarhus Theatre starting in 1907, though intermittent pursuits like wine sales temporarily interrupted his theatrical trajectory.[2] The move from empirical medical pursuits to the subjective demands of performance underscored Christensen's early pattern of bold career reinvention, prioritizing creative autonomy over established vocational stability.[8]Entry into Entertainment
Theater Career and Acting Debut
Christensen entered the dramatic school of the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen in 1901, marking his initial foray into performing arts after pursuing medical education.[7] He debuted professionally as an opera singer in 1902, performing at the Royal Theatre, but soon faced persistent vocal strain that curtailed this path.[5][2] Transitioning to straight acting, Christensen secured employment with the Royal Danish Theatre, where he honed his skills in dramatic roles.[2] His stage work encompassed a range of theatrical productions, building a reputation as a capable performer in Denmark's premier venue before he ventured into film.[9] This period of theater involvement, spanning the mid-1900s, provided foundational experience in characterization and performance that later distinguished his cinematic endeavors.[10] By 1911, Christensen's acting pursuits extended to early silent films, though his theater background remained the core of his pre-directorial career, emphasizing live interpretation over scripted visuals.[1] Specific debut roles in theater remain sparsely documented, but his affiliation with the Royal Danish Theatre underscores a commitment to classical and contemporary Danish stagecraft during this formative phase.[11]Initial Involvement in Silent Film as Actor
Christensen entered silent film as an actor in the early 1910s, following his theater experience, debuting in the Danish production Skæbnebæltet (The Belt of Destiny), directed by Svend Rindom.[12] In this 1912 film, released with a premiere on November 13, 1913, he portrayed a main character named Ravaud, a blind organist entangled in a dramatic narrative inspired by Italian painter Alberto Balestrieri's works, marking his initial screen appearance amid Denmark's burgeoning cinema industry.[13] [2] That same year, Christensen took on the role of Big Claus in Lille Klaus og store Klaus (Little Claus and Big Claus), an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale produced by Dania Bio Film, where he had begun his film acting career.[2] This role showcased his versatility in literary adaptations, contributing to his growing reputation in Copenhagen's film circles, as noted in contemporary press like Riget on May 8, 1913, which highlighted his theatrical background as an asset to the medium.[2] These early acting efforts were limited, with Christensen appearing in only a handful of productions before transitioning to writing and directing, and most pre-1914 Danish films featuring him, including Scenens børn (Children of the Stage) in 1913, are now lost to history due to the era's preservation challenges.[2] His performances in these shorts and features established him as a prominent figure in Danish silent cinema by 1913, leveraging his stage-honed presence to explore dramatic and character-driven roles in an industry dominated by quick production and theatrical crossovers.[5] This phase bridged his performing arts background to filmmaking, with acting credits paving the way for his multifaceted involvement, though specific box office or critical reception details for these initial roles remain scarce given the ephemeral nature of early Danish film documentation.[2]Danish Directorial Career
Debut Films and Detective Genre Experiments (1910s)
Christensen's directorial debut, Det hemmelighedsfulde X (Sealed Orders, 1914), marked his entry into Danish cinema as a multifaceted auteur, handling direction, screenplay, and the lead role of Lieutenant van Hauen, a naval officer entrusted with classified war plans on the eve of conflict.[14] The plot revolves around espionage intrigue, including mistaken identities, a kidnapped wife suspected as a foreign agent, and double-crosses, blending elements of spy thriller with detective-like unraveling of deception amid wartime tension.[15] Produced by the Nordisk Film Kompagni, the 90-minute feature innovated through dynamic camera techniques, such as tracking shots and location filming at sea and in urban settings, which heightened suspense and realism in a genre then dominated by static staging.[11] Its success established Christensen as a key figure in Denmark's golden age of silent film, demonstrating his ability to fuse narrative complexity with visual experimentation in the nascent detective-adjacent spy melodrama.[14] Building on this, Christensen's second film, Hævnens Nat (Blind Justice or Night of Revenge, 1916), further explored thriller conventions with psychological depth, again starring himself as Strong Henry, a mentally impaired laborer framed for murder by a scheming millionaire.[16] The story unfolds on New Year's Eve, depicting the protagonist's prison escape, vengeful pursuit, and quest for exoneration, incorporating motifs of wrongful accusation and moral ambiguity akin to detective narratives probing guilt and evidence.[14] Clocking in at 106 minutes, it featured advanced atmospheric lighting, surrealistic framing, and expressionistic shadows to evoke inner turmoil, pushing genre boundaries beyond plot-driven detection toward proto-noir introspection.[11] Though wartime restrictions limited distribution, the film's technical boldness— including improvised effects for chases and confrontations—signaled Christensen's ongoing experiments in suspense, influencing later Danish thrillers despite modest box-office returns.[14] These 1910s works positioned Christensen as an innovator in Denmark's detective and spy genres, prioritizing causal plot mechanics rooted in human error and institutional failure over supernatural tropes, with verifiable production details underscoring his hands-on approach amid Nordisk's industrial output.[17] While not purely procedural detective stories, they anticipated modern espionage cinema through layered betrayals and forensic-like resolutions, earning acclaim for narrative rigor despite the era's technical constraints.[18]Rise with Psychological Dramas
Christensen directed Hævnens Nat (known internationally as Blind Justice), released on October 23, 1916, which represented a departure from his earlier spy and crime narratives toward deeper psychological inquiry into revenge, justice, and human motivation.[19] In the film, Christensen also starred as the protagonist, a man blinded in an accident and driven by a quest for retribution against those who wronged him, exploring the inner turmoil and moral ambiguities of its characters with innovative techniques such as meta-narrative framing—beginning with Christensen portraying himself directing a set model to blur lines between reality and fiction.[3] This approach delved into psychological backgrounds, providing audiences with insights into personal histories and emotional states that influenced actions, distinguishing it from contemporaneous Danish cinema's more straightforward melodramas.[20] The film's sophisticated blend of thriller elements and character-driven introspection earned acclaim for its atmospheric tension and surrealistic camerawork, positioning Christensen as a pioneering figure in psychological drama within Denmark's silent era.[21] Despite the economic strains of World War I limiting box office success in Denmark, Blind Justice contributed to Christensen's reputation as the period's leading director, building on his prior works like Det hemmelighedsfulde X (1914) and solidifying his command of thematic depth and visual experimentation.[14] Produced by Dansk Biografkompagni, the film showcased Christensen's multifaceted role as writer, director, and lead actor, emphasizing causal links between trauma and behavior in a manner that foreshadowed his later explorations of hysteria and delusion.[2] Critics noted its advanced psychological melodrama, which elevated Danish filmmaking by integrating personal vendettas with broader questions of perception and culpability, helping Christensen gain recognition amid the industry's post-war decline.[19] This work marked a pivotal ascent, transitioning him from genre experimenter to auteur focused on the macabre and mental states, though commercial constraints delayed further immediate productions until the early 1920s.[14]Häxan: Landmark Production
Conception, Research Claims, and Filmmaking Innovations
Christensen conceived Häxan after discovering a copy of the 15th-century witch-hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum in a Berlin bookshop around 1919, which inspired him to explore the psychological underpinnings of witchcraft persecutions.[22] Drawing on his medical background, he aimed to portray historical witch trials as manifestations of hysteria and mental disorders rather than supernatural events, extending the analysis to critique contemporary psychiatric practices as insufficiently humane.[3] The film was developed as a "cultural history lecture in moving pictures," blending scholarly exposition with dramatized vignettes to argue that many accused witches suffered from psychological abnormalities misattributed to demonic influence.[3] Over two years, from 1919 to 1921, Christensen conducted research by studying historical texts, including church records, manuals, and illustrations of witchcraft trials, which he claimed provided the factual foundation for the film's depictions of medieval and early modern European persecutions.[3] The production, backed by Svensk Filmindustri with a substantial budget for the era, was filmed primarily in Denmark between 1921 and 1922, allowing Christensen full artistic control to recreate events drawn from sources like the Malleus Maleficarum.[23] However, while grounded in such documents, the film overstated the scale of executions, suggesting millions of victims in line with sensational contemporary estimates, whereas empirical historical records indicate approximately 40,000 to 60,000 executions across Europe from the 15th to 18th centuries, predominantly women subjected to coerced confessions via torture.[24] This inflation aligns with Christensen's dramaturgical intent to underscore the hysteria of the era but deviates from narrower verified trial data concentrated in regions like the Holy Roman Empire.[17] In terms of filmmaking, Häxan innovated by pioneering a quasi-documentary horror essay format, interspersing didactic intertitles with authentic historical illustrations and staged reenactments to mimic a scholarly lecture, a structure that broke from conventional narrative cinema.[23] Christensen employed early special effects techniques, including stop-motion animation for demonic transformations, superimposed irises for supernatural visions, and a rotating carousel mechanism to simulate witches flying on broomsticks, enhancing the film's hallucinatory quality without relying on crude matte work common in silent-era fantasy.[23] The production featured elaborate medieval sets, period-accurate costumes, and graphic simulations of torture and nudity—unprecedented in their explicitness for 1922—which provoked censorship but advanced cinematic realism in depicting bodily and psychological horror.[17] Christensen's multifaceted role as director, writer, producer, and actor (portraying Satan) further exemplified the film's experimental ethos, influencing later genres like found-footage horror through its fusion of factual pretense and visceral fiction.[3]Narrative Structure, Visual Style, and Thematic Content
Häxan adopts an episodic narrative structure divided into seven chapters, merging pseudo-documentary exposition with dramatized historical vignettes to trace witchcraft beliefs across eras. The film opens with a lecture-style prologue featuring static illustrations and intertitles narrated by Christensen, detailing ancient cosmologies, demonic hierarchies, and early superstitions from sources like the Malleus Maleficarum.[3] Subsequent chapters shift to reenactments, depicting pagan rituals in antiquity, medieval accusations against vulnerable women, and the brutal inquisitions of the 15th–17th centuries, before concluding with 20th-century case studies linking historical witch panics to modern psychological conditions like hysteria.[23] This hybrid format eschews conventional linear plotting for a thematic progression that alternates between objective "facts" and subjective hallucinations, underscoring the film's intent to dissect superstition through visual demonstration rather than strict chronology. Visually, Häxan employs innovative techniques for its era, including abundant close-ups to capture distorted faces and grotesque details, which were then unconventional and intensified psychological intimacy.[25] Christensen utilized chiaroscuro lighting and deep shadows to evoke medieval woodcuts, practical effects such as miniatures for flying witches and demonic hordes, and elaborate prosthetics for monstrous transformations, with the director himself portraying Satan in heavy makeup.[2] Select sequences incorporate hand-tinted color, primarily yellow tones in infernal scenes, to heighten surrealism and distinguish visionary episodes from "historical" recreations, blending silent film's monochromatic realism with expressionistic flair.[3] Thematically, the film posits witchcraft persecutions as products of ignorance, religious fanaticism, and undiagnosed mental afflictions, particularly hysteria in women, which Christensen attributes to physiological factors like uterine issues and repressed sexuality rather than supernatural forces.[3] It critiques ecclesiastical inquisitions for exploiting fears of the devil to enforce dogma, illustrating how torture-induced confessions fueled cycles of accusation and execution, often targeting the elderly, poor, or socially marginal.[23] By drawing parallels to contemporary neuroses, Häxan advocates a rationalist perspective, framing historical superstitions as manifestations of the "oldest madness"—belief in evil spirits—and urging scientific inquiry over medieval credulity.[2]Immediate Reception, Bans, and Box Office Performance
Häxan premiered in Copenhagen on November 7, 1922, receiving a mixed response from critics who praised its innovative blend of documentary and dramatized elements but decried its sensational depictions of nudity, torture, and demonic rituals as excessive.[26] In Sweden, where it was produced by Svensk Filmindustri, initial screenings elicited admiration for Christensen's technical achievements, including detailed sets and makeup, yet provoked discomfort over its unflinching portrayal of historical superstitions equated to modern hysteria.[4] The film's provocative content led to widespread censorship and outright bans internationally. It was prohibited in the United States due to concerns over obscenity, remaining unavailable until a heavily edited version screened in 1929.[27] In countries including Germany and France, authorities demanded cuts to scenes of witchcraft inquisitions and erotic undertones, while Finland and other nations imposed similar restrictions or delays.[23] A 1923 Variety review captured the era's unease, calling it "wonderful" yet "absolutely unfit for public exhibition."[23] As the most expensive Scandinavian silent film to date, Häxan's ambitious budget exceeded 2 million Swedish kronor, but bans and excisions curtailed its distribution, preventing recoupment of costs and plunging Svensk Filmindustri into financial distress.[22] Christensen's reputation suffered as a result, with the studio blaming the project's overambition and controversy for the shortfall, though limited box office data from restricted markets underscored its commercial underperformance relative to production scale.[8] Despite this, selective European releases generated some revenue, highlighting a divide between artistic acclaim and public accessibility.[26]International Career and Hollywood Period
Relocation to Germany and Early Foreign Works
Following the international acclaim and controversy surrounding Häxan in 1922, Christensen received an offer from Universum Film AG (UFA), Germany's leading studio, to direct productions there, prompting his relocation to Berlin in 1923.[17][1] His primary early foreign work was Seine Frau, die Unbekannte (His Wife, the Unknown), a 1923 silent comedy-drama produced by Erich Pommer for Decla-Bioscop under UFA.[17][28] The film starred Willy Fritsch as a World War I veteran blinded in battle who marries his nurse (Lil Dagover) only to regain his vision through surgery, revealing her undisclosed criminal history as a thief; the narrative shifts from melodrama to farce as he schemes to protect her secret.[17][29] Christensen wrote, directed, and handled some cinematography, employing subtle expressionist elements in staging but prioritizing accessible entertainment over the experimentalism of his Danish period.[17] Released on December 7, 1923, the 82-minute feature received modest attention in Germany but did little to elevate his profile beyond Häxan's shadow, marking a transitional effort amid his pursuit of broader European opportunities.[30][1]American Productions: Challenges and Outputs (1926-1927)
Christensen arrived in Hollywood in 1926, signing a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to direct films amid the studio's expansion into prestige productions. His debut American project, The Devil's Circus (1926), was a melodrama centered on a circus performer's tragic rise and fall, starring Norma Shearer as the equestrienne Mary Burton and Charles P. Hickey as her father, a clown driven to despair. Filmed with elaborate circus sequences that showcased Christensen's proficiency in dynamic crowd scenes and atmospheric lighting inherited from his Danish work, the film premiered on November 14, 1926, and achieved commercial success, grossing positively at the box office due to its emotional intensity and Shearer's star appeal.[31][32] Despite this initial triumph, Christensen encountered mounting challenges in adapting to Hollywood's rigid studio system, which prioritized swift production schedules and audience-pleasing formulas over the experimentalism of his European oeuvre. Language barriers as a non-native English speaker compounded issues in script conferences and on-set communication, though silent film's visual emphasis mitigated some hurdles. His second MGM effort, Mockery (1927), exemplified these tensions: a stark drama set amid the Russian Revolution, it featured Lon Chaney as the intellectually impaired peasant Sergei, who rescues and obsessively protects aristocrat Countess Tatiana (Barbara Bedford) during famine and Bolshevik upheaval. Production spanned from May 19 to June 27, 1927, with Christensen co-writing the screenplay to infuse psychological depth, yet the film's grim tone and unconventional peasant-hero narrative alienated preview audiences accustomed to escapist fare.[2][33] Mockery's release on August 6, 1927, drew tepid critical response and underwhelming box office returns, with reviewers noting its uneven pacing and failure to capitalize on Chaney's makeup artistry for broader appeal. MGM executives, focused on profitability amid the late-silent era's uncertainties, viewed the film's shortcomings as emblematic of Christensen's misalignment with commercial imperatives, prompting his departure from the studio by late 1927. This episode underscored broader difficulties for European auteurs in Hollywood, where creative autonomy often yielded to producer oversight and market testing, limiting Christensen's output to these two features during the period.[34][35]Return to Scandinavia and Declining Opportunities
Following his unsuccessful Hollywood ventures, Christensen returned to Denmark in the late 1920s or early 1930s, where professional opportunities in filmmaking had significantly diminished compared to his pre-war prominence.[36] By 1937, he had taken on the role of manager at the Paladsteatret cinema in Copenhagen, a position he held for the remainder of his career, reflecting a shift from creative direction to operational management amid scarce directing prospects.[37] In 1939, Nordisk Film Kompagni hired Christensen for a brief resurgence, during which he directed four sound-era films between 1939 and 1942. The first three addressed contemporary social issues: Skilsmissens børn (Children of Divorce, 1939) examined the impacts of marital breakdown on families; a follow-up tackled juvenile delinquency; and another focused on alcoholism's societal toll, aligning with Danish cinema's growing emphasis on problem films.[2][36] These works, while drawing on his earlier psychological depth, struggled to achieve commercial or critical acclaim in the evolving sound film landscape, hampered by Christensen's outdated silent-era techniques and the industry's preference for lighter entertainment.[2] His final film, Damen med de lyse handsker (The Lady with Pale Gloves, 1942), a spy thriller attempting to revive his early espionage successes like Det hemmelighedsfulde X (1914), proved a commercial disaster, underscoring his inability to adapt to wartime audience tastes and production constraints under German occupation.[2] With no further directing assignments forthcoming, Christensen's opportunities waned permanently; he reverted to cinema management, operating the Paladsteatret until his death in 1959, as the Danish film industry favored younger talents and more conventional narratives over his once-innovative but now marginalized style.[36][37]Personal Life
Marriages, Family, and Financial Struggles
Christensen married his first wife, Ellen Arctander, in 1904.[1] He wed Sigrid Stahl as his second wife in 1922, coinciding with the production of Häxan.[1] His third marriage was to Kamma Winther in 1927, during his Hollywood tenure.[1] Born in 1879 as the youngest of twelve children to a prosperous family in Viborg, Denmark, Christensen benefited from early financial stability that enabled his university studies in medicine before shifting to the arts.[2] Specific details on his own children remain limited in available records, though he is noted as having fathered offspring whose identities were not publicly detailed.[38] Financial pressures mounted after the commercial failure of Häxan in 1922, prompting relocations to Germany and then the United States in search of opportunities.[2] The advent of sound films and the Great Depression exacerbated career instability in the 1930s, limiting his output upon returning to Denmark in 1935.[2] By 1942, following the flop of his final feature Lady with the Light Gloves, Christensen abandoned directing to manage a modest suburban cinema in Rødovre, Copenhagen, entering a phase of relative isolation sustained until his death in 1959.[1][2]Scandals Involving Forgery and Identity Fabrication
Christensen frequently fabricated aspects of his personal history, including exaggerating his medical education and inventing experiences to bolster his reputation as an expert on the occult and psychology. Although he briefly attended medical school in Copenhagen around 1901 before dropping out to pursue acting and singing, he later promoted himself as a trained physician who had conducted original research into historical witchcraft for Häxan (1922), claims that lacked substantiation and served to lend pseudo-scientific credibility to the film's sensational depictions.[1][21] These fabrications extended to his family life and early career, where he misrepresented marital status, children, and professional achievements to secure funding and collaborations, contributing to mistrust among colleagues during his international ventures. For example, upon relocating to Hollywood in 1926, Christensen presented a polished, invented narrative of prior successes and personal stability to studios like MGM, despite ongoing financial instability and unresolved debts from Denmark.[17] Such identity reinventions, bordering on pseudologia fantastica—a pattern of compulsive, elaborate lying—undermined his credibility and fueled personal scandals, including disputes over unpaid loans tied to false representations of his assets and background.[39] No formal charges of document forgery were filed against him, but the cumulative effect of these deceptions isolated him professionally, as evidenced by failed contracts and repatriation amid revelations of inconsistencies in his self-reported biography.[36]Later Years and Death
Final Directorial Efforts and Retirement
Christensen's final directorial project was the 1942 Danish production Damen med de lyse handsker (Lady with the Light Gloves), a spy melodrama he also wrote, set against the backdrop of World War I intrigue involving an engineer carrying secret documents.[1] The film featured actors such as Lily Weiding and Hans-Henrik Krause, with Christensen employing a narrative of espionage and deception typical of wartime thrillers, though adapted to a historical context.[40] Produced amid Denmark's occupation during World War II, it represented Christensen's attempt to revive his career in sound-era cinema after a decade of limited opportunities.[2] Despite these efforts, Damen med de lyse handsker proved a resounding commercial failure, failing to resonate with audiences and critics who found its pacing and stylistic elements mismatched to contemporary tastes.[2] The project's lack of success underscored the challenges Christensen faced in transitioning from his silent film roots, where his innovative visual techniques had once thrived, to the evolving demands of post-silent narrative filmmaking.[1] No further directorial works followed, as the film's poor reception effectively ended his involvement in feature production.[41] Following this setback, Christensen retired from directing, withdrawing from the industry as his pre-war aesthetic was increasingly viewed as outdated in the post-World War II era, when realism and streamlined storytelling dominated Danish and international cinema.[41] He spent his remaining years outside of active filmmaking, with no documented attempts to return to the medium despite his earlier prominence. This retirement aligned with broader shifts in the Danish film sector, where older directors struggled against newer talents and technological advancements. Christensen lived until 1959 without resuming creative output in film.[1]Death and Immediate Aftermath
Benjamin Christensen died on 2 April 1959 in Frederiksberg, a district of Copenhagen, at the age of 79.[42][12] The cause of his death remains undisclosed in available records. He was cremated, with his ashes interred in a common grave at Søndermark Kirkegård in Frederiksberg.[12] Christensen's final years had been marked by seclusion and financial dependence on operating the small Rio Bio cinema in Rødovre, following his withdrawal from active filmmaking after 1942.[2] His death received minimal contemporary notice in Danish media or film circles, consistent with his diminished prominence and near-forgetfulness within the industry by the mid-20th century. No notable public tributes, family statements, or ceremonies followed, underscoring the lack of institutional recognition for his earlier contributions at the time.[2][41]Legacy and Influence
Technical and Genre Contributions to Cinema
Benjamin Christensen advanced cinema through innovative technical techniques and genre hybridization, most notably in Häxan (1922), where he merged pseudo-documentary exposition with sensational horror reenactments to explore witchcraft's historical and psychological dimensions.[2] This structure, divided into seven chapters blending factual inserts like woodcuts and artifacts with dramatized hallucinations, prefigured the documentary-horror hybrid form, expanding horror's scope beyond narrative fiction to include analytical discourse.[43] Christensen's approach drew from extensive research into 70 historical texts, grounding supernatural depictions in purported medieval realities while employing narrative freedom to integrate fact, fiction, and hallucination, influencing later surrealist documentaries.[2][44] Technically, Häxan showcased Christensen's mastery of early special effects, including double exposures, photographic tricks, and rotating miniature landscape models to simulate witches flying across skies, techniques that were among the most advanced available in 1922.[2][8] He further utilized backlighting for dramatic light-shadow contrasts and mechanical contraptions like a "mechanical altar of Hell" to evoke occult visions, blending live-action with models, paintings, and animation for hallucinatory sequences of demonic visitations and rituals.[2][45] In earlier works such as Sealed Orders (1914), Christensen refined lighting with contre-jour silhouettes and dynamic light shifts, challenging era-standard sunlight filming, while Blind Justice (1916) featured advanced camera movements, like pulling focus through a glass door to reveal silhouettes.[2] Christensen's genre innovations positioned Häxan as a foundational blueprint for horror cinema, particularly folk horror, by prioritizing psychological insight over heroic narratives and using explicit, sensual portrayals of medieval superstitions to critique institutional abuses.[23][45] Later, in Hollywood productions like Seven Footprints to Satan (1929), he fused horror with comedy, satirizing thriller tropes through staged perils in labyrinthine settings, demonstrating versatility in blending suspense with meta-commentary on filmmaking.[2] These contributions emphasized causal links between historical beliefs and human pathology, privileging empirical reenactment over mere spectacle.[23]Critical Reassessments: Achievements Versus Sensationalism
In recent decades, scholars and film historians have reevaluated Benjamin Christensen's oeuvre, particularly Häxan (1922), distinguishing its technical innovations and genre-blending from its reliance on shock value. Initially banned in the United States until a 1968 sound re-release due to depictions of nudity, torture, and implied sexuality, the film was often dismissed as exploitative pseudodocumentary rather than substantive historical inquiry.[23] Modern reassessments, however, credit Christensen with pioneering a hybrid form that anticipated cinéma vérité and horror documentaries, using meticulous period recreations and special effects—like wire-suspended levitation and grotesque makeup—to evoke medieval superstitions' visceral impact.[4] This formal ingenuity, achieved on a budget exceeding 2 million Danish kroner (equivalent to roughly $20 million today adjusted for inflation), underscores achievements in silent-era visual storytelling over mere titillation.[46] Critics argue that sensationalism permeates Christensen's approach, as Häxan's graphic reenactments of inquisitorial tortures and demonic rituals prioritize lurid spectacle—filmed with evident relish—over empirical fidelity to sources like the Malleus Maleficarum.[4] Christensen's admitted personal fascination with the occult, including his own experiments with séances, infused the work with subjective bias, leading to inaccuracies such as anachronistic Freudian interpretations of witchcraft as hysteria projected onto the film's finale linking medieval delusions to modern psychiatry.[3] Yet, this very fusion of education and entertainment has been reassessed as a deliberate critique of institutionalized irrationality, influencing later works like Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General (1968) and earning cult status for its unflinching causal exploration of persecution's psychological roots.[23] Beyond Häxan, reassessments of Christensen's broader career highlight underappreciated achievements in narrative economy and atmospheric tension, as in Hævnens nat (1916), where innovative camera movements through confined spaces enhanced psychological dread without gratuitous excess.[47] However, his American ventures (1926–1927), yielding films like The Haunted House that prioritized commercial gimmicks over depth, exemplify how sensationalism—exploiting haunted attraction tropes—undermined sustained critical acclaim, contributing to his repatriation and career stagnation.[17] Contemporary evaluations, drawing from archival reviews, affirm that while Christensen's flair for the macabre yielded enduring stylistic legacies in Nordic cinema, persistent overemphasis on provocation often eclipsed rigorous storytelling, rendering his legacy a cautionary balance of visionary risk and histrionic overreach.[48]Enduring Controversies on Historical Accuracy and Ethical Depictions
Häxan (1922), Christensen's most prominent work, has sustained debates over its historical fidelity due to its hybrid structure blending archival footage, scholarly narration, and staged dramatizations of medieval witchcraft persecutions. While drawing from authentic sources like ecclesiastical records and texts such as the Malleus Maleficarum, the film incorporates supernatural spectacles—including levitating witches and demonic apparitions—that deviate from verifiable events, prioritizing visual impact over strict chronology or evidence-based reconstruction. Critics contend this approach risks conflating folklore with history, as reenactments amplify hysterical confessions under torture without sufficient contextual caveats on their coerced nature.[3][43] Ethical concerns arise from the film's unflinching depictions of inquisitorial tortures, such as iron maidens and limb-stretching devices, rendered with makeup and prosthetics to simulate raw agony, which some scholars argue verges on voyeuristic exploitation of historical trauma for cinematic thrill. Nudity in sabbath scenes and suggestions of erotic devil worship prompted immediate backlash, resulting in excisions across Europe and a U.S. ban until 1968, where officials deemed the content obscene and likely to corrupt viewers. Christensen's portrayal of elderly women as grotesque perpetrators, contrasted with modern psychiatric analogies, has drawn modern critique for pathologizing female agency in ways that echo rather than interrogate patriarchal biases in witch-hunt narratives.[27][4] These issues persist in reassessments, with proponents viewing Häxan's provocations as a deliberate critique of superstition's persistence into the 20th century, evidenced by its concluding links to contemporary "hysteria" treatments, while detractors highlight how the film's enduring popularity as horror entertainment may distort public understanding of the estimated 40,000–60,000 executions during European witch hunts, overshadowing empirical analyses of socioeconomic drivers like property disputes and religious fervor. No comparable controversies dominate Christensen's other films, such as The Mysterious X (1914), which faced personal scandals but not systemic historical or ethical indictments.[23][3]Filmography
Directed Feature Films
Benjamin Christensen directed a series of feature films from 1914 to 1942, transitioning between Danish, Swedish, German, and American productions, often exploring themes of mystery, the supernatural, and social drama. His works include early silent thrillers, the influential horror documentary Häxan, Hollywood adventures, and later Danish family-oriented stories.[1]| Year | Original Title | English Title | Country/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | Det hemmelighedsfulde X | The Mysterious X | Denmark; early mystery thriller starring Christensen.[49] [1] |
| 1916 | Hævnens nat | Night of Revenge / Blind Justice | Denmark; revenge drama.[1] [6] |
| 1922 | Häxan | Witchcraft Through the Ages | Sweden/Denmark; semi-documentary on witchcraft and hysteria, featuring graphic depictions and Christensen as the Devil.[50] [1] |
| 1923 | Seine Frau, die Unbekannte | His Mysterious Adventure | Germany; mystery film.[1] |
| 1926 | The Devil's Circus | The Devil's Circus | USA; circus-themed drama starring Joan Crawford.[1] |
| 1927 | Mockery | Mockery | USA; post-Russian Revolution drama with Lon Chaney.[1] [6] |
| 1929 | Seven Footprints to Satan | Seven Footprints to Satan | USA; mystery adventure based on novel.[1] [6] |
| 1939 | Skilsmissens børn | Children of Divorce | Denmark; family drama on divorce impacts.[1] [51] |
| 1940 | Barnet | The Child | Denmark; social drama.[1] [51] |
| 1941 | Gå med mig hjem | Come Home with Me | Denmark; romantic drama.[1] [51] |
| 1942 | Damen med de lyse handsker | Lady with the Light Gloves | Denmark; mystery or drama.[1] [51] |