Eclipse 1938: Dollar

So we (for very small values of “we”) continue watching the Ingrid Bergman in Sweden box set from Criterion.

There’s six movies included in this set, and the first three weren’t… good. I mean I haven’t seen many Swedish movies from the 30s, but I vaguely imagined that they had to be better than this.

So this was written by Hjalmar Bergman… who isn’t related to Ingrid or Ingmar, apparently? How many people named Bergman are there in Sweden anyway!?

Oh deer. This is bad. No scenery is left unchewed.

Well, this is better than the previous movies. I paused it a bit to read the liner notes on the DVD, and… this is supposed to be an American-style screwball comedy? I don’t quite see it. It’s got too much drama? It’s not frivolous enough?

But Bergman’s doing her best to get some comedy going, but the cinematographer seems to actively sabotage her by not centring her when she’s doing the best lines.

OK, now it seems like it’s finally taking off, with the repartee and stuff.

Wow, that’s some jacket. Those buttons! Those shoulder straps! That hat! Amazing.

Looks like it’s wool? I’m obsessed.

There are scenes here where I’m going “finally this is taking off!” and then the next scene kinda fails.

Bergman is, of course, the best thing about this movie, but even though she’s totally giving it all, she can’t really save it.

Dollar. Gustaf Molander. 1938.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

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