Svenska Film Quotes

Swedish Match Corporation was just one part of Ivar’s empire. He controlled ten other businesses through his public “holding” company, Kreuger & Toll, another Swedish corporation. In addition to its stake in Swedish Match, Kreuger & Toll also invested in banking, real estate, and the film industry. Ivar formed separate real estate companies to hold his properties,14 and he used separate subsidiaries for each business, in order to avoid registration fees applicable to larger companies.15 One of his property holdings was Kvasten 6 Biblioteksgatan, where the well-known Stockholm cinema Röda Kvarn was located.16 This purchase led Ivar to become involved in the film industry, and to meet prominent directors and actors, include a leading director in Sweden, Mauritz Stiller. Ivar formed Svenska Filmindustri, a company that dominated Swedish cinema and brought him great pleasure, though little money. SF, as the company was known, was at the center of the golden age of Swedish film, and made critically acclaimed movies based on novels by the country’s leading writers.

Although Greta Gustafson was just fifteen years old when she met Ivar, they quickly became close. Ivar had grand plans for Greta. He persuaded her to take modeling and acting classes, and even paid to produce her first short film. He introduced her to his contacts in the film industry and supported her financially while she began studying at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. From the time Jordahl left for America until Ivar’s meeting with Durant, Greta would appear in three short films and two features, including one called Peter the Tramp, which was produced by Ivar’s production company, Svenska Filmindustri.