Cinematographer Julius Jaenzon was a groundbreaking innovator. His movie The Phantom Carriage is a technical triumph in Swedish film history.

Julius Jaenzon (1885 – 1961) was also known as J. Julius. He created the alias to avoid being mixed up with his brother Henrik Jaenzon, who also worked in the film industry.

After grammar school he decided to study to become a portrait photographer. He changed his mind, eventually, and left for America. The year was 1906.

He did not get quite as far, because on his way to America he stopped by Christiania (Oslo) and found the great passion of his life – the film!

Julius Jaenzon worked for A.S. Norsk Kinematograf (Norwegian Cinematographers) for four years. In 1907 he managed to capture the elusive Theodore Roosevelt on film for 15 minutes! And the following year he shot the first Norwegian motion picture: The dangers of a fisherman's life (Fiskerlivets farer).

Julius Jaenzon stayed with A.S. Norsk Kinematograf for four years. He made himself a name in the business and eventually received a letter from Charles Magnusson at the Swedish Movie Theatres, offering him a position at The Swedish Cinema in Kristianstad.

The Swedish Cinema merged with Film Industry Skandia in 1919, the coalition was named Swedish Film Industry Ltd (Svensk Filmindustri = SF). Julius Jaenzon became the head cinematographer and stayed with the company until his retirement.

SF invested a lot of money into the studio in Råsunda, and this facilitated a very advanced cinematography. Love's crucible (Vem dömer) from 1922, sets a high cinematographically standard and The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen) 1921 uses advanced trick cinematography.

The Phantom Carriage, the biggest technical triumph in Swedish film history, caused a lot of debate even before it was recorded. Many thought that kind of advanced cinematography was not achievable.

Julius Jaenzon´s career lasted from 1907 until 1948. He was a groundbreaking innovator and cinematographer, not only within the Swedish film business but also in the film business in general. He introduced both the artistic cinematography and the trick cinematography.
He was a trendsetter within the Swedish film cinematography for decades, inspiring and teaching cinematographers such as Åke Dahlqvist, Gunnar Fischer, Martin Bodin and Gösta Roosling. His cooperation with Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller resulted in an artistically glorious era, and his realistic and expressive cinematography was a major contributor to the huge successes of Swedish movies. Read more here.