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Eclipse Series 1: Early Bergman (Torment / Crisis / Port of Call / Thirst / To Joy) (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(4)
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Am happy to see that Criterion continues to put out more Bergman as time goes on. This collection includes arguably the best work from his early period and features most often actors Birger Malmstem and Stig Olin, two regulars from this phase in Bergman's career. It is remarkable how versatile these actors are, delivering distinct performances from film to film.

The prints are good, the subtitles removable. Each disc is packaged separately in a plastic case, and there is a concise essay printed on the inside cover for each film. The five cases slide up into the wraparound cover, so this isn't deluxe packaging. No special features, but these films are really intended for the Berman aficionado, who will presumably have seen one or more of them already.

All five films are nicely shot, and two of them (Port of Call and Thirst) are even recommendable to general viewers unaware of Bergman or his corpus. To Joy could just as well have been called To Despair--it is one of the few Bergman films I find truly depressing, with its depiction of a tortuous relationship involving a beautiful and congenial Swedish girl, portrayed by Maj-Britt Nilsson. The other two films, Frenzy and Crisis, besides their visual quality, have historical interest as Bergman's first produced screenplay and directorial effort, respectively.

Not included in this collection of early work are (among other films) The Night Is My Future (1947), which had popular success in its day but is quite conventional, and Prison/The Devil's Wanton (1949), which, while a mature and personal work, might be considered plodding and heavy-handed.

This is an excellent box set of early Bergman works, but after watching all five films I have to conclude that four of them are minor works. Not that they're not interesting, but I recommend the box set above all for THIRST, which is an astounding work. I hadn't seen it before, but after watching it twice now I'm convinced it's Bergman's first masterpiece, introducing many of the themes and techniques he would develop in movies such as THE SILENCE, PERSONA, SHAME, THE PASSION OF ANNA, and SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE. THIRST is not otherwise available on DVD, I think, so the box set is worth getting even if the other films are only ones in which Bergman still hadn't found his way, much less his unique style.

THIRST almost leaps ahead over everything he did in the 50s to connect with what he started doing in the 60s. When he makes THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY in 1961, it seems to me he is picking up where he left off with THIRST. The main character is Rut, played effectively by Eva Henning. She is a ballet dancer whose life and career have gone downhill ever since she had a tragic love affair with a married man who abandoned her, an affair that resulted in an abortion that left her barren and psychologically damaged. She also suffered a knee injury that caused her career to abort. The back story is told in flashback, along with scenes from her dancing school days. The film opens on the last day of her vacation with her husband, Birtil, whom she apparently married on the rebound after her affair with Raoul. The movie opens as they wake up in a shabby hotel room and confront their dissolute life and turbulent marriage. Rut is psychologically dependent on Birtil. She also feels tenderness toward him; she might even love him. But she also feels contempt because he's a stand-in for Raoul, and Raoul, however cruel, however big a male chauvenist pig he was, was an assertive military man (i.e., a real man), while poor Birtil--and Rut can't help throwing it in his face--is timid and wimpy (i.e., not a real man at all). When we first see him, he's asleep in a baby-like position with his rump up in the air. Anyhow, a stunning psychological portrait of their complex relationship unfolds on the last day of their vacation as they travel back home through black fantasies of murder and revenge.

The movie takes place in one day, much of it real time, but gives backstory in Rut's memory-flashbacks, which are deftly weaved in. There's also a second thread to follow, which is confusing at first but makes total sense by the end. Birtil has had an affair with a married woman named Viola, apparently also a dancer. On the very day that we meet Rut and Beril on their vacation, Viola, reeling from both her husband's death and her affair with Birtil, is seeing her psychologist, Doctor Rosengren, a cold, calculating sadist who tries to take sexual advantage of her fragile state. Viola rejects him and flees his office. As she walks down the street, she meets an old friend, who invites her up to her apartment. We had already met this friend in one of Rut's flashbacks from her days at Miss Henriksson's dancing school, so she serves as a link between Viola and Rut. (By the way, Miss Henriksson, an old, tough boozer, is brilliantly played by Naima Wifstrand). Anyhow, we then follow the events that lead up to Viola's suicide. In the apartment, the friends get drunk, but things turn dark as Viola realizes that she's being seduced into a lesbian encounter. The woman who plays the lesbian seducer--her name escapes me--gives a tremendous performance. (In fact, there are great performances from just about everybody.)

But the film begins and ends with Rut and Bertil, who leave the hotel room to catch a train home. On the train, through a phantasmagoric, war-torn landscape, their marriage comes to a crisis. The title, THIRST, can refer to several things in the movie: alcoholism, emotional thirst, suicide (Viola drowns herself); keep the theme in mind as you watch the film. In any case, it's Bergman's first major attempt and well worth buying even if you have to purchase the whole box set. The other films are good if intermittently dull, and they pale beside this one.

Judging from this first entry, Criterion's new line, Eclipse, will be serving a valuable function for film buffs by providing high-quality DVD transfers of hard-to-find classic titles. The early Bergman films on display here look great, as expected from Criterion, although perhaps they're of more interest to Bergman completists than to the average filmgoer. They're all easy enough to watch, with Bergman's usual expertise with actors guaranteeing many interesting performances on display. But the major pleasure here is seeing the first appearance in these films of many themes that will be given deeper, more memorable treatment in such later works as PERSONA and SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE. The set's price is more than reasonable, the packaging attractive. Recommended.

Purchased this box set last week. Here are some impressions. They contain plot descriptions and possibly spoilers.

TORMENT (1944). The movie focuses on a boarding-school senior, Widgren, who is terrorized by his Latin teacher, and a local shop girl, Bertha, who in different ways, is involved with both men. Widgren is portrayed as a sensitive, caring, idealist. He says he wants to write and play the violin all day. He becomes involved with and falls in love with Bertha, only to be rejected by her later. He tries hard in school, but is scolded by his Latin teacher and unfairly given a demerit and later expelled. He works hard to impress his parents but they only express disappointment in him. He is a good soul who is slowly beaten down by convention and society. He almost folds to the pressure and begins to distance himself from others and life in general, but is saved in a way by a kind professor who understands him. The girl and the Latin teacher both represent tormented people, those who are, for some reason or another, excluded from society, and both meet a tragic end, one in death and the other through the realization that he is alone and everyone despises him. Worth viewing. 3/4 stars.

CRISIS (1946). The movie is told as if it were a play, a drama. There is a narrator who sets the stage in the beginning and speaks once again to end the tale. The movie centers around Nelly, an 18 year old girl raised by a loving women (not her natural mother), who grows up in a small town but dreams of something more for herself. She is pursued by a local gentlemen, Ulff, who is kind, but she does not want to be tied down. When she is given the opportunity to live with her estranged mother and work in a beauty shop in a city, she accepts the invitation. She also becomes involved with a man, Jack, who is a friend of the mothers. Her departure creates a crisis in each of the characters as they are forced in various ways to examine their lives. For some, it leads to growth and acceptance. For others, it is too painful and can only lead to death. A decent movie overall. 3/4 stars.

PORT OF CALL (1948). The movie begins with the attempted suicide of a young woman, Berit, who has a troubled past, having spent years in a reformatory and who is now under the watchful eye of her judgemental mother. The young women begins an affair with a sailer, now a dock worker, Gosta, and through him hopes to find the happiness that has eluded her during life. Gosta too has a sense that time is passing by with little to show for it. He has seen much during his many years at sea, but still is alone and unsure of himself. The film has much Bergman philosophy in it, but is pretty conventional in most other respects. However, it is quite touching. In one scene, Berit tells Gosta that if they stay in town, they won't have much. He responds, "But I'll have you and that is a lot." Overall a very solid film. 4/4 stars.

THRIST (1949). The movie focuses on a young women, a ballet dancer, as she and her husband travel across Europe. She is married to a scholar who is fascinated by coins. Their marriage is a rocky one. He is practical. She is not. She drinks often and is depressed that she cannot dance due to a knee injury and cannot bear chuldren. In a series of flashbacks, you see glimpses of her troubled past, an affair with a married man, a botched abortion, and the not so glamarous life as a ballet dancer. The couple at times hate each other but neither can bear to be alone. The dialogue is quite good, but the movie, which jumps around a lot, is not always easy to follow and there are sub stories that do not seem to add much to the main one. And of course, there is a death, almost two. Bergman fans will still want to see this. 2/4 stars.

TO JOY (1950). The film begins with a violinist in a small orchestra, Stig Ericsson, receiving news of his wife's death, Marta, and continues with a lengthy flashback showing how the couple met and scenes from their mostly unhappy marriage, including an affair. Stig is an ambitious musician whose dreams of becoming a concert sololist but his talent is not quite up to the task. Plagued by mediocrity and lack of accomplishmemnt, he lashes out at those around him, his friends, his conductor, and most of all, his caring, forgiving wife. In a cruel Bergman twist, it is only when Stig realizes that Marta has been the only positive event in his life, his only source of joy, that she is taken away from him. This is true Bergman cinema. 4/4 stars.

***** 1944-1950. If none of the movies presented here deserves 5 stars, this box set is however essential to whoever is interested in the artistic beginnings of a genius of the seventh art. Indispensable even if the copies are unfortunately not perfect.

These films though early works are worthy of the genius of Bergman and in many cases more accessible for the understanding of the classic Bergman themes: man's struggle with the anguishes of life.
Recommended for the Bergman lover and those unacquainted with the poet of misery.

The new eclipse series by the Criterion Collection is great for bringing cinephiles everywhere the opportunity to see films like this. The film is not perfect nor does it entirely submerge the viewer, but for a real fan of cinema, or more particularly Bergman, you can ask for nothing more. The film reveals Bergman's roots, it has his signature dark, brooding characters and themes, desolate landscapes, if not, at times, his own imagistic stamp.

The story, however, is maybe the engaging side of mediocrity. The film draws you into the downward spiral of the main characters (the central focus of the story) without making the world seem hopeless and desolate. But it doesn't reach the pre-poop-your-pants euphoria it seems to promise. It's almost there, but doesn't realy ever clinch it.

The spiral of these characters is hidden within the world of the film. The torment, is silent, removed, intricate. The film is not what I expected from the early Bergman collection, and is not perfect, but is well worth the rent, for it's politics of the body, insight into Bergman's work and a subtle story that shames American suspense's absurdity, it's over-the-top plot structures, and its star driven sales. It's real, dark, flawed yet engaging. Worth a viewing or two.

One of the more important figures of modern film, a gifted cinematic artist, Ingmar Bergman continued to venture into exciting narrative and thematic areas in his directorial career. Almost defining his own genre Bergman probed the heights and depth of human emotion. His work was influential on entire generations of filmmakers around the globe. His primary concerns crossed over from spiritual conflict while probing the fragility of the human psyche. Within this framework, he has crafted a body of work universally celebrated for its technical innovations while exploring the human condition. Bergman is quoted as saying "No form of art goes (as far) beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul."
The previous reviewer is incorrect in that there will be no extras on Eclipse Series releases, but this is still an incredible deal. It is fully reviewed at DVDBeaver.
RECOMMENDED!

As a film programmer & movie fan, I'm VERY psyched about the new Eclipse line from the Criterion Collection. What better start than these early titles by Bergman. It looks like more great things to come, so keep your eye out. Even without the many extras, etc, the Eclipse catalog will finally make available many rare films that have been waiting for DVD release. Thank you, Criterion!