| Leaves from Satan's Book | |
| Director: | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| Starring: | Helge Nissen Halvard Hoff Jacob Texiere |
| Cinematography: | George Schnéevoigt |
| Runtime: | 157 minutes (121 minutes DVD release version)[1] |
| Country: | Denmark |
| Language: | Silent |
Leaves from Satan's Book, also known as Leaves Out of the Book of Satan (Danish: '''Blade af Satans bog'''), is a 1920 Danish fantasy film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and starring Helge Nissen as Satan.[2] This was only the third film directed by Dreyer, who later went on to create such classics as Vampyr (1932) and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). The film is structured much like D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) with its episodic nature while evoking F. W. Murnau's Satan (1920). The film ran 157 minutes, but sources list the DVD's running time at 121 minutes.[1] [3]
Troy Howarth states "If not for the presence of Satan, (this film) wouldn't warrant inclusion in a study of the horror genre; in truth it's more of a quaint pageant play than a horror film....The cast emotes to a degree too theatrical for even silent cinema."[4]
Satan has been cast out of Hell and banished to Earth under decree of Heaven. He can return only after overseeing a series of temptations. However, for every soul who gives in to his tempting, one hundred years are added to his sentence. For every soul who resists, one thousand years are subtracted from his sentence. The film follows Satan throughout much of recorded history, focusing mainly on four short episodes. First he tempts Judas to betray Jesus, then he goes on to influence the Spanish Inquisition, spark the French Revolution and finally he causes the Finnish Civil War of 1918 to occur.