MovieChat Forums > Gycklarnas afton (1956) Discussion > Bergman's best

Bergman's best

posted 18 years ago by kriege10
21 replies | jump to latest

This film has fallen between the cracks apparently because it was released before Bergman's first medium hit "Smiles of a Summer Night" and his first big one "The Seventh Seal". Actually, a number of people including Dwight MacDonald, James Baldwin and John Simon put this in first place. I personally think this is one of the dozen best films ever made and don't even know where to start talking about it. Almost every scene is a masterpiece; there are more brilliant shots here than in any other Bergman film. This is his "Citizen Kane", yet people post ridiculous comments about how this film has some good moments, but is not up to the standard of something like "Autumn Sonata". (At least they didn't say "Fanny and Alexander"!) This film needs to be rediscovered. It would almost certainly be considered up there with "Wild Strawberries" if it had been released at the same time, i.e. after "The Seventh Seal".

[–] pfr_77 11 years ago

Sawdust & Tinsel has been the only Bergman film of the 16 I've seen so far that did absolutely nothing for me. I'm not too sure why, though. I'm definitely going to try and watch it again soon, and this thread gives me hope that maybe it was an off day for me.

[–] tobias_681 11 years ago

When it comes to pure composition of the shots and the cinematic values this is one of Bergman's best. However I felt the writing was not excactly that amazing and beside Harriet Anderson the actors do not measure those that are in most of hisother films (it was good but Bergman had so many great actors in his movies). I'd rank the Bergman movies that I've watched like this (you'll probably be dissapointed):

1. Winter Light
2. The seventh seal
3. Persona
4. Through a glass darkly
5. Wild Strawberries
6. Fanny Och Alexander (TV Version)
7. Smiles of a summer Night
8. Scenes of a mariage (Theatrical Version)
9. Autumn Sonata
10. From the life of marionettes
11. The passion of Anna
12. Cries and Whispers
13. The virgin spring
14. The Magican
15. Sawdust and Tinsel
16. The hour of the wolf
17. The Silence
18. Shame
19. Summer Interlude
20. Sommaren med Monika
21. Face to Face

Edit: But I'd like to add that I still rated Sawdust and Tinsel 9/10. It's a great movie.

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You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were and I say Why not?

[–] OccasionalPoster 10 years ago

I watched this late last night on Hulu Plus and while I liked it to an extent, I don't think it is as good as some of Bergman's other films I've seen so far. At first, I thought maybe it had something to do with me being tired when I watched it (thankfully I didn't fall asleep through it), but reading through some of these posts, I am glad to see I am not alone. I did think the film drastically improves during the second half but it takes a while, I think, to really get into it. But I did like the whole theme of life being a circus and how somehow, we are trapped in one.

Overall, I give it an 8/10. It was definitely worth the watch. (I'll probably watch it again in the near future.)

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