This delightful comedy belies Sjostrom’s reputation as a humourless director and proves that he could match his great contemporary Mauritz Stiller in his lightness of touch. His Lordship’s Last Will opens on a decaying mansion ruled over by a wistful old aristocrat who observes the vanity of the human race with a degree of self-mockery. His chief aim for the remainder of his life is to sleep in his bed, complete with mosquito net, without being disturbed. Aided by a wonderful performance by Karl Mantzius, Sjostrom scarcely puts a foot wrong in elaborating an exquisitely funny and touching comic fable out of this story of a sleeping beauty who stubbornly resists the world’s efforts to free him from a self-imposed spell.
Sweden, 1919.
English titles.
Black and white.
Silent.
70 mins.