Konungens af Siam landstigning vid Logårdstrappan

This short actuality is arguably the beginning of Swedish and, indeed, all of Scandinavian cinema: Dreyer and Bergman and all those other talents who have enlivened world film making brilliantly depressing movies. As such it is an important landmark, even if it is simply a well-composed bit of photography with some decent movement to it: historically important - just the idea of the King of Siam showing up in Sweden seems a bit odd to the modern ear -- if not a great film in and of itself. Well, they can't all be great.

Swedish talent would improve immeasurably over time, even as its subjects would darken in attitude. In another ten years, Swedish and Denmark would be the leading film production countries in the world, until overtaken by France and then later, the United States.