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INGMAR BERGMAN: THE DIRECTOR (TV)

Summary

This British documentary presents an overview of Ingmar Bergman's work as a director, focusing primarily on his films. Narrated by British filmmaker Lindsay Anderson, this program includes interviews with Bergman's intimate creative collaborators and footage highlighting a career in cinema that, as of 1988, spans more than forty years and forty films. The following individuals discuss their experience with Bergman as a director and as a man: actors Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Liv Ullmann, Birger Malmsten, and Harriet Andersson; cinematographers Gunnar Fischer and Sven Nykvist; production manager Katinka Farago; editor Sylvia Ingemarsson; publisher Lasse Bergstršm. Footage from many Bergman films and television productions is presented chronologically to illustrate his evolution as an artist and as an individual including from his first film as director, the unsuccessful "Crisis" (1945); one of his favorite early films, "Summer Interlude" (1951), which mirrors his youthful experience working at an opera house; the 1957 masterpieces, "The Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries"; the austere naturalism of his early 1960s "chamber films," including "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961) and "Winter Light" (1963) which grapple with the problem of God's existence in the modern world; to his brilliant use of television's intimacy in the miniseries, "Scenes from a Marriage," (1973) and "Fanny and Alexander" (1982), a warm, rich, colorful evocation of his childhood -- and his last feature film. Also included is footage and commentary on the following films: "Frenzy" (1944), "Crisis" (1945), "Prison" (1949), "Summer with Monika" (1953), "Waiting Women" (1952), "Smiles of a Summer Night" (1955), "The Face" ("The Magician") (1958); "Persona" (1966); "A Passion" (1969); "Face to Face" (1975.) Intermixed with the film clips is footage from Bergman's personal archive, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the filmmaker and his collaborators at work on the various productions.

Details

  • NETWORK: Thames (United Kingdom)
  • DATE: November 30, 1987
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:51:35
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:37157
  • GENRE: Arts documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Films - Production and direction; International Collection - United Kingdom
  • SERIES RUN: Thames - TV, 1988
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Alan Horrox … Producer
  • Michael Winterbottom … Director
  • Avril Warner … Film Researcher
  • Martin Smith … Music by
  • Rick Wentworth … Music by
  • Louisa Fuller … Music by
  • John Metcalfe … Music by
  • Ivan McCready … Music by
  • Lindsay Anderson … Narrator
  • Ingmar Bergman … Voice-over, Extract from "The Magic Lantern" directed by
  • Bibi Andersson
  • Harriet Andersson
  • Lasse Bergstrom
  • Gunnar Bjornstrand
  • Eva Dahlbeck
  • Lars Ekborg
  • Katinka Farago
  • Gunnar Fischer
  • Sylvia Ingemarsson
  • Erland Josephson
  • Birger Malmsten
  • Nykvist, Sven (See also: Nyquist, Sven)
  • Victor Sjostrom
  • Liv Ullmann
  • von Sydow, Max