Sjöberg, Alf

Born June 21, 1903, in Stockholm. Swedish stage and motion-picture director.

In 1925, Sjöberg graduated from the acting school of the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. He became an actor with the company in the same year and became a stage director there in 1930. Sjöberg, an innovator in the use of space, scenery, and lighting in the theater, is attracted to epic spectacles with impressive mass scenes as well as to more intimate works. His productions have included Värnlund’s The Holy Family (1934), a dramatization of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (1941), Shakespeare’s Richard HI (1947) and Romeo and Juliet (1953), Strindberg’s Miss Julie (1949) and Master Olof (1972), Gogol’s The Inspector-General (1959), and Brecht’s Schweik in the Second World War (1963) and Mother Courage and Her Children (1965).

Sjöberg’s first film, The Strongest (1929), continued the romantic traditions of the Swedish silent film. His films of the 1940’s include With Life as the Stakes (1940), Home From Babylon (1941), The Road to Heaven (1942), Torment (1943), The Royal Hunt (1944), and The Return (1945). Although these films belong to various genres, they share a common theme: the struggle against fascism and the problem of Sweden’s neutrality in World War II. In 1951, Sjöberg made one of the best Swedish films, Miss Julie, based on the play by Strindberg. He has also directed the films Only a Mother (1949), Karin Månsdotter (1954), The Judge (1960), and The Island (1966).