The Tale of Gunnar Hede

Gunnar Hede is raised by a strict mother. What she wants is for her son to earn a standing that matches the family’s wealth. Gunnar’s interest is in his grandfather instead, a man who started out as a travelling fiddler and grew rich by driving a herd of wild reindeer south to market. Gunnar falls for a violinist working with a company of travelling performers. He gives up his fortune and joins them. Then he tries to make money by driving reindeer as his grandfather did; it goes badly and he loses his reason. He comes back to himself when the violinist returns with the performers. Mauritz Stiller’s Swedish film of 1923, a hundred and one minutes long, has survived only in part.