剧情介绍
贫苦的小镇上，传教士极力想解救痛苦的灵魂，却受尽镇民讪笑怒骂。小镇青年在损友的怂恿下，逐渐步入犯罪边缘，笃信上帝的女友也随之陷入绝望，传教士及时阻止年轻人的犯行，并缓缓道出自己的荒唐过去。 为了凸显明星魅力，影片甚至以演员研读剧本、揣摩角色开场，并在背景投射出主角在片中的剧情转折。因为欧洲各地民情的差异，结局便拍了三种版本，三种结局也反映出丹麦、俄罗斯、瑞典完全不同的民族性。
After losing his parents, who died from grief over their son's unjust sentence to jail, John Redmond obtains his release and devotes his life to the uplift and betterment of mankind. After preaching to a crowd one day he is accused of having served a term in jail himself. The leader of a gang and his followers are planning an act of burglary in a saloon. John Redmond happens into the same place, but he is mocked and leaves. One of the gangsters decides to lead an honest life and appeals to John for moral aid. The lay-preacher tells him his story: How in a quarrel one evening his sweetheart was killed by the bullet of a rival suitor, which was meant for him, and for which he was sentenced to jail. Through the intervention of this prison chaplain, however, the case was retried, his innocence was proven and he was set free. His first way was to his ill mother who, shortly after his return, died in his arms. Nellie, the reformed gangster's sweetheart, rejoices over his reformation, and the lay-preacher continues his life's vocation.
早期宗教救赎主题的电影，很传统简单的故事，视点的转换、运镜和场景氛围的营造具有开拓性，
诺帝斯克影片。精心制作的城市景观的真实模型，加上强烈的逆光，使场景非同寻常。无资源
Tableau Cinema典范，默片在场景空间中实现视觉中心调度和转移的精巧之作。三版结局也是早期发行策略可以干涉影片制作的有趣案例。
Nordisk公司1914年出品，Forest Holger-Madsen执导，一个传教士的人生回忆挽救了犯罪生涯中沉沦的青年。针对丹麦、俄国和瑞典发布了三版结局，体现出不同的民族性——丹麦人偏向大团圆和宗教，俄国人酷爱悲剧，瑞典人选择克制的救赎。
美国标题－candel and the moth；丹麦标题－life of a priest. 结局三种版本：丹麦、俄罗斯、瑞典。
使用场景营造情绪的绝好例子。
片尾有意思~