By Raymond Benson
The red carpet label
Criterion Collection has continued its mining of classic foreign language films
by releasing for the first time in the U.S. two pictures that first brought
famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman some attention. Summer
Interlude (1951) and Summer with
Monika (1953) are both fairly commercial love stories but with a slightly
dark flair which only Bergman can produce. Both films are highly erotic (especially Monika) for the time, and these titles contributed to the notion in
America that Sweden made sexy movies.
In fact, Summer with Monika was first released in the U.S. as a
sexploitation film in 1956 by the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest showman,â€
Kroger Babb, an exhibitor/producer who specialized in low budget sleaze thinly
disguised as “educational material for adults.†Babb re-cut Summer with Monika, added
a dubbed English language soundtrack that had little to do with Bergman’s
original, laid on a jazzy, sultry Les Baxter musical score, and released the
film as Monika: The Story of a Bad Girl. Because the picture contained brief nudity,
it was marketed solely for titillation purposes. (Woody Allen once remarked that the only
reason he and his friends went to see it was because they’d heard there was a
“naked woman†in it.)
The character of Monika, in
Bergman’s version, is not necessarily a “bad girl,†she’s just from a poor
working class family and does what she can to have fun and bring excitement
into her life. She embarks on a
summer-long sexual affair with the rather young and innocent Harry and ends up
getting pregnant. Poor Harry does the
right thing and marries her; but wild Monika will have none of the domestic
life. She soon leaves her husband holding
the infant. A cautionary tale? Perhaps.
Summer Interlude may not be as dour, but it still ends with characters questioning the
meaning of life and death, and speculating how love fits into the
equation. Marie (played by the gorgeous Maj-Britt Nilsson, who has the
best legs of any Bergman actress) is a successful ballet dancer who, when she
was a teenager, had a summer fling with Henrik (Berman stalwart Birger
Malmsten) that was idyllic. Unfortunately,
the fellow dies in a freak accident, leaving Marie disillusioned and bitter,
even as she becomes famous.
Despite the heavy-sounding
storylines, these are two of Bergman’s most accessible and enjoyable
films. Bergman often touched on the subject
of young love in these early pictures, and he nailed the nervousness,
exhilaration, and angst that accompany what we have all experienced. The photography by Gunnar Fischer is
outstanding, especially with the new digital restorations on both disks.
Summer Interlude disappointingly has no extras. Summer with Monika, however, sports a
treasure trove, including a revealing new interview with legendary Bergman
actress Harriet Andersson—it’s hard to believe she was once the scandalous
nymphet of the film. Images from the Playground is a
collection of home movies Bergman shot while on the sets of these and other
films, including archival interviews with Andersson and Bibi Andersson. Especially interesting is the short on the
distribution of Monika: The Story of a
Bad Girl in the USA, with a profile of Kroger Babb. If only Criterion had obtained the rights and
a print of that sexploitation version of Monika
and included it—that would have
been a gem. Both disks come with thick
booklets containing essays and photographs.
If you’re a Bergman fan—and a
Criterion fan—these lost jewels are highly recommended.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER "SUMMER WITH MONIKA" ON BLU-RAY DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON
CLICK HERE TO ORDER "SUMMER INTERLUDE" ON BLU-RAY DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON