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For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

In 2016 after years of waiting, Criterion Collection has released this two-part epic in Blu-Ray and standard DVD. For fullest effect, the two segments should be played as in the original, theatrical release: "The Emigrants" entirely in Swedish (with English subtitles), "The New Land" in English. It is in itself quite an achievement that the cast of both is virtually identical yet are competent in the new and old languages. Scandinavian immigrants to the Minnesota Territory in the 1850's--before the US Civil War-- found conditions both familiar and alien. The cold climate was like their native land but the soil of the New World was more fertile and not so stony. It was a place of open spaces and vast pine forests, few towns and no cities to compare with Stockholm or Oslo.In the story, friendships are tested, some broken over issues of religion. Family life isn't always smooth or predictable. There are generational conflicts. Historical events are alluded to such as the Civil War or depicted, if briefly, like the 1862 uprising of the Eastern Sioux, starving on their Minnesota reservation, with deadly attacks on surrounding settlements until put down by the US Army. Yet the Indian side of the conflict is given play, also, with the emigrants coming to understand that The New Land had belonged to others before them.

Watched all 4 hours of it, but it was painful. Amazingly slow, long winded, repetitive and lugubrious saga of dour Lutherans working themselves to death. Hard to believe it was a sequel. Also extended passages of some of the most irritating music score in cinema --- prolonged, unaccompanied drums. Just endless drums for what seems like a 40 minute sequence.

Swedish screenwriter, film editor, cinematographer and director Jan Troell's fourth feature film which he edited, photographed and co- wrote with Swedish screenwriter and producer Bengt Forslund, is an adaptation of the novels "The Settlers" (1956) and "The Last Letter Home" (1959) by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg (1898-1973) which is the last two parts of his tetralogy, "The Emigrants suite" (1949-1959). It premiered in Sweden, was shot on locations in Sweden and USA and is a Swedish production which was produced by Bengt Forslund, is the second and last part of a two-part film and was preceded by "The Emigrants" (1971) and was produced by Bengt Forslund. It tells the story about Karl-Oskar Nilsson and Kristina Johansdotter who after having emigrated from Småland, Sweden with many other Swedish emigrants, travels from New York City, USA to an area in Taylor Falls, Minnesota, USA. Karl-Oskar finds and claims a piece of land for his family at a place called Ki-Chi-Saga and there they settle after saying goodbye to his brother Robert and his friend Arvid. Acutely and engagingly directed by Jan Troell, this period drama set against the backdrop of America during the late 1850s and 1860s, draws an extensive and gripping portrayal of a group of Swedish emigrants who travels to the United States to make new and better lives for themselves and a compassionate portrayal of a relationship between a peasant and his wife who are striving to support their children and themselves in a foreign country during the American Civil War. While notable for its poignant production design by Swedish art director P.A. Lundgren (1911-2002), the brilliant cinematography by Jan Troell and the fine costume design by Swedish costume designer Ulla-Britt Söderlund (1943-1985), this character- driven and dialog-driven epic examines themes like family relations, interpersonal relations, friendship, poverty, religion, cultural differences, love, courage and dignity.With the natural surroundings playing an important and symbolic part of the story and depicting various character portrayals, this reverent sequel becomes an in-depth study of character, has a distinct atmosphere which is emphasized by the naturalistic milieu depictions and the efficient score by Swedish composers Bengt Ernryd and Georg Oddner (1923-2007) and is impelled and reinforced by the empathic and involving acting performances by Swedish actors Max von Sydow and Eddie Axberg, Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann and Swedish actress and singer Monica Zetterlund (1937-2005). A finely narrated and illuminating historic drama which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973 and gained, among other awards, the NBR Award for Best Actress Liv Ullmann at the National Board of Review Awards in 1973, the NSFC Award for Best Actress Liv Ullmann at the National Society of Film Critics Awards in 1974 and the Guldbagge Award for Best Actor Eddie Axberg and Best Supporting Actress Monica Zetterlund at the Guldbagge Awards in 1972.

This is an extraordinary film, which I gave 10 out of 10 even if Warner Brothers, the film's theatrical distributor, cut the film in half for its American release. If ever this film (and its predecessor, "The Emigrants") makes it to DVD, I sincerely hope those 102 minutes are restored, so that I can at last see the film that Jan Troell intended for me to see.As it looks on video, "The New Land" is still magnificent - its depiction of Swedish immigrants settling in frontier Minnesota outdoing every Western ever made. Be sure to look for the scene that George Lucas stole wholesale where Max von Sydow slaughters an ox and places his freezing son inside it during a snowstorm.