Mauritz Stiller

Directing

Mauritz Stiller

Born 1883-07-17 · Helsinki, Finland

Mauritz Stiller (Moshe Stiller) was a Finnish-Swedish film director, actor and writer, probably best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. With Victor Sjöström he created the production company AB Svensk Filminspelning in 1922. Stiller was a major force in the international film industry and recognized for his refined narrator structure with different fictional levels. He produced some 50 feature films between 1912-1928. After frequent disagreements with studio executives at MGM and Paramount, Stiller returned to Sweden, where he died soon afterwards. Stiller's contribution to the motion picture industry has since been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1713 Vine Street.

Acting credits

The Springtime of Life poster
5.3

A motherless child has a tumultuous existence, but she eventually becomes a famous international opera singer. Past and present meet when she performs in her original home town.

The Springtime of Life

1912

Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer poster
6.0

A journey through Swedish queer film history.

Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer

2022

Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo poster
3.0

Documentary providing a career overview of the great Greta Garbo.

Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo

2014

The Gardener poster
5.4

A gardener's son has fallen in love with the daughter of one of the workers at the nursery, and the two are married. The gardener then kicks his progeny off the property and begins to act despicably toward his son's wife.

The Gardener

1912

No artwork available
NR

Raoul meets Elvira. He becomes fond of her and they start a relationship. Elvira's daughter has also fallen in love with Raoul. She commence a relationship with him. This leads to a deadly conflict of jealousy.

Mother and Daughter

1912

Stiller, Garbo & jag poster
3.7

One day when Ruben Stiller is playing in a bath, he gets an alien talking to Nadja, who asks him to find out the fate of Charly's dog. Ruben agrees because Charly's host was Mauritz Stiller, and Ruben is the grandson of Mauritz's brother.

Stiller, Garbo & jag

1988

The Divine Garbo poster
NR

Profile of actress Greta Garbo, narrated by Glenn Close

The Divine Garbo

1990

No artwork available
NR

Pastor Elias is preparing a sermon for when the bishop is coming by his church.

When Mother in Law Rules

1914

The Wings poster
5.9

The story is that of a conniving countess coming between a gay sculptor, Claude Zoret, and his bisexual model and lover, Mikaël, ultimately leading to Zoret's death in a raging storm at the base of a statue of Mikaël as the mythological Icarus. The film is missing 19 minutes of run time.

The Wings

1916

No artwork available
NR

A woman in an abusive relationship is made to realize that she can no longer tolerate her fiance's ill treatment toward her.

The Tyrannical Fiancé

1912

Behind the camera

The Mannequin poster
NR

Lili is a young and courageous woman. She does things that create confusion. She suddenly begin to act in a film's plot in a movie theater, or take a mannequin from a shop.

The Mannequin

1913

The Mannequin poster
NR

Lili is a young and courageous woman. She does things that create confusion. She suddenly begin to act in a film's plot in a movie theater, or take a mannequin from a shop.

The Mannequin

1913

Brother Against Brother poster
5.0

Two brothers compete for the love of a woman while the impending war threatens to separate them from both sides of the border. Based on the novel "La Débâcle" by Émile Zola.

Brother Against Brother

1913

Madame de Thèbes poster
5.9

The story is wacky – a gypsy is cursed by her father, so that she has to deny her illegitimate son in order for him to have a successful life. She gives him to a well-to-do lady who has lost her own child. Later, he has grown up to be a politician who wants to become the foreign minister. He doesn’t know that his real mother is the famous Madame de Thebes, the fortuneteller who all politicians make sure to visit! This information falls into the hands of a rival, who tries to use it to ruin his career. Meanwhile, the rival’s attractive daughter is attacked by a ruffian and needs to be rescued… There are a lot of striking images in this film. You can see the beauty of them even if the state of the print is far from perfect. The Norwegian actress Ragna Wettergreen gives a haunting performance as Madame de Thebes, with wisdom and regret – and quite a few melodramatic gestures. Understatement was not the norm in those days.

Madame de Thèbes

1915

The Unknown Woman poster
NR

A rich young man falls for a beautiful girl and meets with trouble. An adaptation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Das fremde Mädchen.

The Unknown Woman

1913

The Unknown Woman poster
NR

A rich young man falls for a beautiful girl and meets with trouble. An adaptation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Das fremde Mädchen.

The Unknown Woman

1913

The Stormbird poster
NR

Olga is a young student and a revolutionary agitator in Russian ruled Poland.

The Stormbird

1914

The Avenger poster
6.0

Hämnaren (The Avenger) was made in 1915, and was rediscovered in Berlin in 2001. It begins with a woman named Ester, who is reading a letter and crying. The letter says that a man named George won't marry her, because he knows his father would never allow him to marry a Jewish woman. Ester dies of childbirth, and possibly a broken heart. Her suitor Jakob takes care of her son, who is named Josef, and sends George a note, accusing him of causing her death

The Avenger

1915

The Child poster
NR

Mary and Georg love each other, but he is rejected by Mary's father who has suffered insecurity and sees his rescue in marrying Mary with the rich shipowner Harry Gordon.

The Child

1913

No artwork available
NR

The old friends Otto Berner and Charles Von Barton stands on separate sides in a political conflict.

Life’s Conflicts

1913

No artwork available
NR

The old friends Otto Berner and Charles Von Barton stands on separate sides in a political conflict.

Life’s Conflicts

1913

The Brothers poster
NR

Brothers Paul and Georg Williams' latest invention is of great military importance, and a foreign nation enlist it's most deadly spy, Mylady, to get information about it.

The Brothers

1914

The Brothers poster
NR

Brothers Paul and Georg Williams' latest invention is of great military importance, and a foreign nation enlist it's most deadly spy, Mylady, to get information about it.

The Brothers

1914

No artwork available
NR

A sea captain travels to the foreign port of San Lucas and collects a large sum of money, where he meets with a beautiful woman...and trouble.

The Lucky Pin

1916

No artwork available
NR

Mr Bernhard has financial difficulties. He has fallen into the hands of broker Mr Pouzer. In desperation, Bernhard's daughter Julia visit Pouzer to ask for mercy for her father. Yes, Pouzer replies, if I get you in return.

The Dagger

1915

The Street of Sin poster
8.0

"Basher Bill," a retired prizefighter turned criminal, pretends to reform by joining a Salvation Army shelter in London run by a pious wraith named Elizabeth. Attracted to Elizabeth (although he is engaged to a street girl named Annie), Bill confesses to a bank robbery, has a spiritual revelation, and decides to go straight. His cast-off sweetheart reports him to the police; then, contrite, she warns Bill of the impending danger. Bill is captured immediately, but he escapes and sacrifices his life to save Elizabeth and the Salvation Army nursery when the rest of the gang use them as a human barricade against the police.

The Street of Sin

1928

The Valet poster
NR

A romantic couple's happiness is threatened when the girl's father, a forester, decide to marry her off to a much older man, a valet.

The Valet

1914

The Tale of  Gunnar Hede poster
6.6

Gunnar Hede, a young Swedish man, wants to become a professional musician, but when his father suddenly dies he is pressured by his family to take over the family business of raising and selling reindeer.

The Tale of Gunnar Hede

1923

The Tale of  Gunnar Hede poster
6.6

Gunnar Hede, a young Swedish man, wants to become a professional musician, but when his father suddenly dies he is pressured by his family to take over the family business of raising and selling reindeer.

The Tale of Gunnar Hede

1923

Johan poster
6.3

On a farm in up-country Sweden, an enigmatic stranger comes to a conservative peasant community and seduces a farmer's wife.

Johan

1921

Johan poster
6.3

On a farm in up-country Sweden, an enigmatic stranger comes to a conservative peasant community and seduces a farmer's wife.

Johan

1921

No artwork available
NR

Göran Stål, an elegant and spoiled young man, has a relationship with painter Margit Degn, who is deeply in love with him. But Göran has a lot of bad business deals.

The Play Mates

1915

No artwork available
NR

Göran Stål, an elegant and spoiled young man, has a relationship with painter Margit Degn, who is deeply in love with him. But Göran has a lot of bad business deals.

The Play Mates

1915

No artwork available
NR

Engineer Gordon has made a new invention for the military and a master thief get the mission to steal the blueprints.

The Master Thief

1915