''Flight of the Eagle'' ( sv, Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd) is a Swedish

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 26 August 1982, directed by

Jan Troell Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish writer-director, and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with ...

, based on Per Olof Sundman's 1967 novelization of the true story of S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897, an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished. The film stars

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

as S.A. Andrée, Sverre Anker Ousdal as

Knut Frænkel Knut Hjalmar Ferdinand Frænkel (14 February 1870 – c. 10 October 1897) was a Swedish engineer and arctic explorer who perished in the Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 of S. A. Andrée in 1897. Biography Frænkel was born in Karlstad, Swede ...

and

Göran Stangertz Göran Nils Robert Stangertz (19 July 1944 – 27 October 2012) was a Swedish actor, director and artistic leader at Helsingborgsteatern. He won Sweden's most prestigious film award Guldbagge Award twice in the category best male leading role for ...

Nils Strindberg Nils Strindberg (4 September 1872 – October 1897) was a Swedish photographer and scientist. He was one of the three members of S. A. Andrée's ill-fated Arctic balloon expedition of 1897. Biography Nils Strindberg was born in Stockholm, Sw ...

. Dutch-Swedish songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk plays the role of the journalist Lundström. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the

55th Academy Awards The 55th Academy Awards were presented April 11, 1983, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor, and Walter Matthau. Louis Gossett Jr. became the first Africa ...

. Many sequences from the film were used in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

documentary '' A Frozen Dream'' (''En frusen dröm''), also directed by Troell.

Cast

Salomon August Andrée Salomon August Andrée (18 October 1854, in Gränna, Småland – October 1897, in Kvitøya, Arctic Norway), during his lifetime most often known as S. A. Andrée, was a Swedish engineer, physicist, aeronaut and polar explorer who died whi ...

* Sverre Anker Ousdal as

Clément Harari Clément Harari (10 February 1919 – 16 February 2008) was an Egyptian-born French film and television actor.Bazin p.14 Selected filmography * '' It Happened in Paris'' (1952) * ''Ça va barder'' (1955) - Sammy Kern * ''Mon curé chez les pauv ...

as Henri Lachambre * Eva von Hanno as Gurli Linder * Lotta Larsson as

Anna Charlier Anna Albertina Constantia Charlier (/'ʃaljə/) ) (25 July 1871, Norra Åby, Skåne County, Norra Åby, Skåne County, Sweden – 1949) was a Sweden, Swedish woman, today most commonly remembered as the fiancée of Nils Strindberg, participant in ...

Jan-Olof Strandberg Jan-Olof Strandberg (9 September 1926 – 2 May 2020) was a Swedish stage and film actor. He appeared in 45 films since 1947. On stage one of his most famous parts was as Vladimir in Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'', at Sweden's Royal Dr ...

Nils Ekholm Nils Gustaf Ekholm (9 October 1848 – 5 April 1923) was a Swedish meteorologist who led a Swedish geophysical expedition to Spitsbergen in 1882–1883. Biography Ekholm was born in Smedjebacken in Dalarna, son of a pharmacist. Having completed hi ...

* Henric Holmberg as Vilhelm Swedenborg *

Ulla Sjöblom Ulla Sjöblom (11 May 1927 – 3 August 1989) was a Swedish film actress. She appeared in 50 films between 1952 and 1988. Selected filmography * ''House of Women'' (1953) * ''Karin Månsdotter'' (1954) * ''Simon the Sinner'' (1954) * '' Ou ...

as Andrée's Sister *

Mimi Pollak Maria Helena "Mimi" Pollak (9 April 1903 – 11 August 1999) was a Swedish actress and theatre director. Biography Maria Helena Pollak was born in Karlstad, Värmland to Austrian-Jewish parents and was trained in the performing arts at th ...

as Mina Andrée * Cornelis Vreeswijk as Lundström *

Ingvar Kjellson Anders Ingvar Kjell Kjellson (20 May 1923 – 18 December 2014) was a Swedish stage and film actor.Ingvar Kjellson, biographic article in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' Kjellson was born in Kärna, Östergötland County. He was accepted at Dramatens ...

as Alfred Nobel * Bruno Sörwing as

Oscar II of Sweden Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norwe ...

* Åke Wihlney as The Captain * Berto Marklund as The Ship's Doctor *

Knut Husebø Knut Husebø (born 10 May 1946) is a Norwegian actor and visual artist. Born in Stavanger, Husebø debuted in 1968 in the role Flyndrefanten in the play ''Taremare by'' on Den Nationale Scene. He was employed at the Nationaltheatret 1969–1971 ...

as Fridtjof Nansen * Allan Schulman as

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the Fenno-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friher ...

* Staffan Liljander as The Inventor *

Lasse Pöysti Lasse Erik Pöysti (24 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a Finnish actor, director, theatre manager and writer. He was born in Sortavala. Biography Pöysti began his career as a child actor, becoming known to the Finnish public as Olli Suomin ...

as Photographer *

Peter Schildt Ernst Peter Jurgen Schildt (born 9 June 1951 in Stockholm) is a Swedish actor, screenwriter, film director, theatre director, etc. Schildt began acting at Vår teater, a children's theatre in Stockholm, as a child. He participated in theatre ...

as Andrée's clerk * Siv Ericks as Mrs. Assarsson

Production

The early drafts for a script were written in 1977, and the same year a team consisting of Jan Troell, the producer

Bengt Forslund Bengt Forslund (born 22 June 1932) is a Swedish film producer, screenwriter and production manager. He produced and co-wrote (with Jan Troell) '' The Emigrants'' (1971), for which he was nominated for Academy Awards for both Best Picture and W ...

, the original writer of the novel Per Olof Sundman and a few other people went to Spitsbergen for

location scouting Location scouting is a vital process in the pre-production stage of filmmaking and commercial photography. Once scriptwriters, producers or directors have decided what general kind of scenery they require for the various parts of their work ...

. Troell was at the time in the post-production process of his film '' Bang!'', and when ''Bang!'' was selected for the

1977 Cannes Film Festival The 30th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 27 May 1977. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Padre Padrone'' by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. A new non-competitive section, "Le Passé composé", is held at this festival only and focuses on compilatio ...

, the plan was to use the festival to attract investors. However, ''Bang!'' was poorly received and the interest faded even from the Swedish Film Institute. The project was put on hold and Troell went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to direct ''

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

'', an assignment he was offered after the previous director

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

had suddenly left the country to avoid sentencing for unlawful sexual intercourse with a thirteen-year-old in Los Angeles.Press reaction and comments
at the Swedish Film Institute When Troell returned to Sweden, and the film institute had gotten

Jörn Donner Jörn Johan Donner (5 February 1933 – 30 January 2020) was a Finnish writer, film director, actor, producer, politician and founder of Finnish Film Archive. Biography Born into the Donner family of German descent, Jörn Donner was the son of ...

as its new managing director, the project was revived. In May 1979 the new writing process started, this time led by Georg Oddner and

Klaus Rifbjerg Klaus Rifbjerg (15 December 1931 – 4 April 2015) was a Danish writer. He authored more than 170 novels, books and essays. In 1965 he co-produced the film '' 4x4'' which was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. Biography Ri ...

, with Donner himself as producer. The financing was difficult, not least because it coincided with the making of ''

Fanny and Alexander ''Fanny and Alexander'' ( sv, Fanny och Alexander) is a 1982 period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. ...

'', at the time the most expensive Swedish film ever made. However, Troell said he regarded all the film's expensive visuals as "background", and that "What excited me was the tragic quest and the characters of Andrée and his comrades.

Release

The film premiered on 26 August 1982 in

Gränna Gränna () is a locality in Jönköping Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 2,665 inhabitants in 2018. Founded in 1652 by Count Per Brahe, it is in Småland on the eastern shores of the lake Vättern, about 40 km north of Jönköpi ...

, the hometown of Andrée. It was entered into the 1982

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

, where Max von Sydow won the Pasinetti Award for Best Actor. A VHS version was released in Sweden in November 2000. Distributor Studio S released a blu-ray edition, with Swedish and English subtitles, on 9 October 2017.

Critical reception

The Swedish critics were generally very positive about the film. It was praised for its attention to detail and how complete it felt in a review in ''

Göteborgs-Posten ''Göteborgs-Posten'' (lit. "The Gothenburg Post"), abbreviated GP, is a major Swedish language daily newspaper published in Gothenburg, Sweden. History and profile ''Göteborgs-Posten'' was first published in 1813, but ceased publication in 1 ...

'' by Monika Tunbäck-Hanson: "It is the overall approach and the firm hand that contemporary Swedish films so often lack. Jan Troell lacks neither." Hans Erik Hjertén at ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

'' made a comparison to Troell's previous films: "The smallness of the humans, ripped from the larger community, is cleverly demonstrated by Troell by letting Strindberg at a distance cover his comrades with a single finger! In such details, the storyteller Troell has always had his strength and has it here too, but he is more restrained than before, it appears to me. Here is not the same profusion of lyrical whims as in previous films." Internationally the film was also well received.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

expressed in a review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' how he would like to know more about which parts of the story that were derived directly from Andrée's journal and which were speculation. He further wrote that the film "leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Yet the adventure is both panoramic and unusually intimate. Toward the end of the expedition, the personal drama of the three men, as they are overtaken by fate, is detailed with an intensity that is as moving as the earlier sequences are spectacular." Canby, Vincent (1983-04-08)
SWEDEN'S 'FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE'
" ''

''. Retrieved on 2009-05-10.

References

External links