Singoalla 1949 English Hardsub
Dir: Christian-Jaque
Cast:Lindfors,Auclair,Falk,Rauzéna,Chambot,Seigner

This film is already available on YouTube but only with French audio. English subtitles have been added so that it can reach a bigger audience (in yellow to provide better contrast in some of the winter scenes). “Singoalla” is based on a Romantic novel from 1857 by Viktor Rydberg about the fateful love of a nobleman for a gypsy girl in fourteenth-century Sweden at the time of the plague. One of the most expensive films ever made in Sweden, it was received harshly by most critics, who found the storytelling too naive. In the cinemas, however, it was a great success. Interestingly, the director was French – the distinguished Christian-Jaque – and three versions of the film were shot: French, English and Swedish. Viveca Lindfors plays the title role in all three, but the French version is slightly longer and the male lead is Michel Auclair, a very fine actor with a reputable stage career in classical roles, which shows in his interpretation. There are also some changes in the minor roles played by French actors. Personally, I think the French version is superior to the Swedish (which was recently released on DVD). The English version was almost identical to the Swedish, but only fragments seem to have survived (also available on YouTube).
The team behind the film sought to use the best available resources, not least for the musical score, for which they managed to lure the famous Swedish national romantic composer Hugo Alfvén from retirement. The score is very good and has some recognizable themes, e.g. the "Tristan and Isolde"-like music for the lovers’ trysts and a sinister theme for the plague. The gypsy dances were choreographed by Teddy Rhodin from the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Some critics quipped that the music for these dances was more appropriate for a Russian restaurant with a gypsy band than for the Middle Ages. However, the film is not a realistic adventure film but a lyrical and passionate tale, and it may well have been inspired by Marcel Carné's "Les visiteurs du soir", made a few years earlier. “Singoalla” itself was probably a source of inspiration for Ingmar Bergman when he made "The Seventh Seal" a few years later. I can’t see the French version ever having been copyrighted in the United States, and since it has been available on YouTube for some time without subtitles, there should not be any risk of copyright complaints. Anyone interested in sampling the English version can watch the 25 minutes available on    • Gypsy Fury (1949/1951) Viveca Lindfor...  . The Swedish version can be bought on DVD and English subtitles are available separately.