Product Description

The first release from Criterion's new Eclipse label is a set of early films from the acclaimed director Ingmar Bergman. The five DVD set includes Torment, Crisis, Port of Call, Thirst, and to Joy. Unlike the Criterion titles, the films released under the Eclipse banner will have few, if any bonus features, and will not be as painstakingly restored. The label aims to get many more important films back into print and at popular price.

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In Hollywood, falling in love is a happy ending; in Ingmar Bergman movies, love is only the beginning and the ending is always in doubt. But Bergman's reputation for gloom is undeserved; though the five films in Early Bergman have titles like Torment and Crisis, they bristle with life, in all its passion and tenderness (ironically, the bleakest of the lot is titled To Joy). Sadness and whimsy walk hand in hand: As a young woman puts on her lipstick, she draws a frowning face on the mirror; as a husband hears about his wife's death, a small boy turns a toy bear on a stool in the background.

Bergman's career began as a screenwriter with Torment, a noir-ish tale of a volatile student and his sadistic Latin teacher. Stylishly directed by Alf Sjoberg, Torment's script already has Bergman trademarks: Vivid, unpredictable characters, sexual frankness, and a skeptical view of cultural pillars, from romance to honor. Bergman's first directorial venture, Crisis, brings in another prominent element, the subtle yet powerful conflicts among women, as a young girl is torn between her shallow, flamboyant birth mother and the caring but conservative woman who raised her. The tensions between daughter and mother persist in Port of Call, one of the strongest in the set; a rebellious young woman, whose mother sent her to reform school, staves off suicidal impulses by falling in love with a sailor. This brief and depressing-sounding summary doesn't capture the fluid camera movement or the movie's emotional potency, which balances misery with yearning and hope. Thirst demonstrates an increasing narrative sophistication; as it depicts a troubled marriage, the movie plucks multiple storylines like a musician plucking the strings of his instrument. Music itself is a central concern of the last of these five films: To Joy, in which a self-obsessed violinist corrodes his marriage with fear and self-doubt.

There's a startling freshness and vitality to the performances in all of Bergman's films, made all the more striking in contrast to Sjoberg's (though Torment is far from stale). From the beginning, Bergman draws something genuine from his actors, soon developing a visual style that manages to be alluring yet seemingly effortless, never struggling for an arresting image but simply capturing the unexpected jolts of life. The movies in Early Bergman are more raw than his later classics (Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Fanny & Alexander), but sometimes talent can be most clearly seen in its less polished form. --Bret Fetzer

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 13.6 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Ingmar Bergman
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Box set, NTSC, Subtitled, Multiple Formats, Black & White
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 7 hours and 54 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ March 27, 2007
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Criterion Collection
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 5