For its first full-length talkie, Nordisk Film chose to adapt St. St. Blicher’s famous novel “The Vicar of Vejlby”, a classic piece of Danish literature that has been filmed no fewer than four times. Set in the year 1625, it tells of the spirited local vicar who is sentenced to death for the murder of Niels, the village idiot. The vicar’s daughter Mette has to bear the burden of shame for three years – until the real culprit, plagued by conscience, returns to Vejlby. The film culminates in a dramatic finale at the vicar’s graveside. In retrospect, “The Vicar of Vejlby” can be seen as a typical product of the transitional period between silents and talkies, with its almost static camera, its dearth of close-ups and its theatrical acting. Nevertheless, veteran director George Schnéevoigt succeeds in translating the novel’s sense of foreboding into atmospheric visual imagery. In 1931, “The Vicar of Vejlby” was a huge box office success – not only because of the popularity of the novel, but also because of the sensation of hearing the Danish language in film for the very first time.