Vanja Dahlgren was born Vanja Linnéa Wasmuth in the Maria Magdalena parish in Stockholm. She married the photographer Sten Dahlgren. She worked as script supervisor on 68 films during her active years.
The importance of the script supervisor on a film is often underestimated. Her task is just to keep proper order on what happens during each shot and to record this in her notes. The process carries great weight and many aspects: the number of takes, the number of approved takes, visible details, weather conditions, altered lines in the dialogue, et cetera, et cetera. It all provides the director with a continuum of information, and will also be of use if a scene for different reason need to be re-shot – not least in order to provide the editor with a comprehensive information regarding the shots.
It has traditionally been a women’s profession and there is no education offered beforehand. As a result, most script supervisors are self-taught and end up getting the job by chance. A measurement of the ability of a script supervisor, as well as her collaborative qualities and her general popularity, is the number of times she works with the same director. In the case of Vanja Dahlgren, all these points are highly substantial.
Her first assignment in 1933 was Per-Axel Branner’s Pettersson & Bendel. Vanja Dahlgren was then 28 years old and worked on five more films with Branner and four with Sigurd Wallén in the 1930s. It can also be noted that she already with Pettersson & Bendel got to know the film editor and aspiring director Rolf Husberg, who in this function would utilize her talents on among other films The Children (Barnen från Frostmofjället, 1945) and Moln över Hellesta (“Clouds over Hellesta”, 1956).
Even more important, however, was the collaboration with Schamyl Bauman. It began in 1940 with Vi tre (“Us three”) and was followed by about 20 films until Bauman’s last directorial effort, Mamma tar semester (“Mama takes a holiday”, 1957). On the latter, Vanja Dahlgren also worked as assistant director. Due to her good reputation, many other directors enjoyed her contributions – as long as the Bauman schedule allowed it. Some of them have gone down in film history, for example Anders Henrikson’s Ett brott (“A Crime”, 1940), Alf Sjöberg’s The Road to Heaven (Himlaspelet, 1942) and also Sjöberg’s Cannes-winning Miss Julie (Fröken Julie, 1951).
She also worked on several films with directors Håkan Bergström, Weyler Hildebrand and Stig Olin. Strangely enough, she did not work on a single film together with her husband, the film photographer Sten Dahlgren. She married him in 1939, and during the 1940s and 1950s, Sten Dahlgren worked on about 20 films.
Bengt Forslund (2018)
(Translated by Jan Lumholdt)
Basic info
Main profession: Continuity/Script Supervisor
Born: 1905
Died: 1969
Active: 1933-1957
Filmography
Regiassistent:
Mamma tar semester (1957)
Scripta:
Pettersson & Bendel (1933)
Sången om den eldröda blomman (1934)
Ungdom av i dag (1935)
Äventyret (1936)
Adolf Armstarke (1937)
Familjen Andersson (1937)
Konflikt (1937)
Vi går landsvägen (1937)
Två år i varje klass (1938)
Adolf i eld och lågor (1939)
Melodin från Gamla stan (1939)
Ett brott (1940)
Hjältar i gult och blått (1940)
Kronans käcka gossar (1940)
Vi tre (1940)
En kvinna ombord (1941)
Första divisionen (1941)
Livet går vidare (1941)
Magistrarna på sommarlov (1941)
En sjöman i frack (1942)
General von Döbeln (1942)
Himlaspelet (1942)
Vi hemslavinnor (1942)
En melodi om våren (1943)
Flickan är ett fynd (1943)
I mörkaste Småland (1943)
Örlogsmän (1943)
Jag är eld och luft (1944)
Lilla helgonet (1944)
Prins Gustaf (1944)
Släkten är bäst (1944)
Barnen från Frostmofjället (1945)
Flickorna i Småland (1945)
I Roslagens famn (1945)
Hotell Kåkbrinken (1946)
Saltstänk och krutgubbar (1946)
Försummad av sin fru (1947)
Maj på Malö (1947)
Nu börjar livet (1948)
Robinson i Roslagen (1948)
Havets son (1949)
Lattjo med Boccaccio (1949)
Skolka skolan (1949)
Frökens första barn (1950)
Min syster och jag (1950)
Fröken Julie (1951)
Puck heter jag (1951)
En fästman i taget (1952)
Klasskamrater (1952)
Folket i fält (1953)
I dur och skur (1953)
Dans på rosor (1954)
Gula divisionen (1954)
Karin Månsdotter (1954)
Den underbara lögnen (1955)
Farligt löfte (1955)
Flicka i kasern (1955)
Hoppsan! (1955)
Älskling på vågen (1955)
Den tappre soldaten Jönsson (1956)
Johan på Snippen (1956)
Kulla-Gulla (1956)
Moln över Hellesta (1956)
Swing it, fröken! (1956)
Johan på Snippen tar hem spelet (1957)
Mamma tar semester (1957)
Sjutton år (1957)
Som man bäddar … (1957)
Roll:
En sjöman i frack (1942)