Film Practices on the Interstices between Art and Commerce: A Study of Gösta Werner’s Tåget (1948)

Sammanfattning: This thesis centers on the work of the Swedish critic, filmmaker, and scholar Gösta Werner (1908-2009) and analyzes his commissioned short film Tåget - en film om resor och jordbundenhet (1948). Although recent developments in film studies show an upsurge of interest in the previously neglected field of the industrial film, in-depth case studies of the relationship between filmmaker and commissioner remain rare. This analysis draws on the concept of the three A’s as it has been described in recent writings of Thomas Elsaesser. Studying the relationship between the filmmaker and the commissioner Statens Järnvägar (The Swedish State Railways), the reason behind the production, and the use of the film, it becomes apparent that Tåget moves between a wide spectrum of film cultural spheres reaching a broad and multifaceted audience. Analyzing the film text and the formal devices employed, the thesis concludes that the commissioned film domain offered Werner the opportunity to experiment while it at the same time issued constraints.