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Ingmar Bergman is the Oscar-winning Swedish auteur who helped bring international cinema into the American art houses with his stark, brooding dramas. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Bergman started off as a screenwriter before moving into directing. His early hits “Summer with Monika” (1953), “Sawdust and Tinsel” (1953) and “Smiles of a Summer Night” (1955) helped make him a favorite amongst American audiences hungry for world cinema.

He hit his stride in 1957 with a pair of noteworthy titles: “Wild Strawberries” and “The Seventh Seal.” Both films dealt with the absence of God and the inevitability of mortality — the former concerning an aging professor (Victor Sjostrom) coming to terms with his life, the latter focusing on a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) playing a game of chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot...

The ex- movie star Mai Zetterling found more satisfaction in directing. In interviews she denied that she is an intellectual, but more intelligent films about male-female emotional politics are hard to come by. Unusually frank and intense, these dramas for the 1960s art film circuit pack a visceral impact — the extreme situations and content disturbed critics concerned with Good Taste. It’s a trilogy of respected works: Loving Couples, Night Games and The Girls.

Three Films by Mai Zetterling

Blu-ray

Loving Couples, Night Games, The Girls

The Criterion Collection 1162

1964-1968 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 13, 2022 / 79.95

Written by Mai Zetterling & David Hughes

Directed by Mai Zetterling

The immensely talented Mai Zetterling began as an actress on stage and film and eventually found herself most satisfied writing and directing. Initially an exotic export from Sweden, she didn’t care for Hollywood but found creative opportunities in England,...

Swedish stage and screen actor best known for her work with the film director Ingmar Bergman

The Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman was renowned for writing complex and demanding roles for women such as Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Further down the cast list, but prized by the director throughout his career, was Gunnel Lindblom, who has died aged 89.

She appeared in several of his best-known pictures, including The Seventh Seal (1957), in which she was the young mute woman who accompanies a knight’s squire (Gunnar Björnstrand) after he saves her from being raped. When she eventually speaks, it is to deliver the film’s final words: “It is finished.” Lindblom had played the role in an earlier stage version. “I am a rather silent person,” she said, “so maybe he gave me those parts just because he knew I don’t like to talk a lot. I prefer to listen.

In good news for fans of Ingmar Bergman and Bruno Dumont, the Criterion Collection has announced its June titles. Three from the Swedish master are making the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray, with Dumont’s “La vie de Jésus” and “L’humanité” making their Criterion debut. Also joining the collection are John Cameron Mitchell’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” George Stevens’ “Swing Time,” and Sergei Bondarchuk’s epic adaptation of “War and Peace.”

More information below, as well as the ever-alluring cover art:

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman

In 1960, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman began work on three of his most powerful and representative films, eventually recognized as a trilogy. Already a figure of international acclaim for such masterpieces as The Seventh Seal and The Magician, Bergman turned his back on the expressionism of his fifties work to focus on a series of chamber dramas exploring belief and alienation in the modern age.

War no longer recognizes ‘innocent bystanders’: a married couple seeks to sidestep ‘civil disturbances’ by relocating to a rural island, only for the war to descend on them from all sides. Forget escapist post-apocalyptic fantasies: Ingmar Bergman demonstrates how the terror of war obliterates human values at the personal level. Human trust and morals fall fast under pressure — atom bombs aren’t needed to return us to the stone age of dog-eat-dog. Bergman stages impressive large-scale ‘action’ scenes, yet always relates the terror without to psychological traumas within. It’s one of the director’s most affecting films.

Shame (Skammen)

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 961

1968 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Skammen) / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 5, 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst, Gunnar Bjürnstrand, Birgitta Valberg.

Cinematography: Sven Nykvist

Film Editor: Ulla Ryghe

Produced by Lars-Owe Carlberg

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar...

“The Circus Of Humiliation”

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection has upgraded to Blu-ray their earlier DVD release of Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 feature, Sawdust and Tinsel (titled The Naked Night when the picture was first released theatrically in the U.S.). The visual quality has improved with a new 2K digital restoration that looks razor sharp with gorgeous contrasting black and white imagery, and it comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.

Sawdust was a major step forward in the evolution of Bergman’s filmography, although it was not well-received by Swedish audiences at the time of release. It was most likely deemed too disturbing for what appeared to be a movie about a traveling circus. Note that this was before Bergman’s international breakthrough, which would occur a couple of years later with Smiles of a Summer Night. At the time of Sawdust and Tinsel, Bergman was mostly known just...

Ingmar Bergman’s ‘sad comedy’ finds desperation and adultery in his favorite milieu, the theater. He also gets to contrast the self-important thespians with those dubious circus nomads, even as both groups are shunned by civilian society.

Sawdust and Tinsel

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 412

1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Gycklarnas afton / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 18, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Ake Grönberg, Harriet Andersson, Hasse Ekman, Anders Ek, Gudrun Brost, Annika Tretow, Erik Strandmark, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Curt Löwgren, Kiki.

Cinematography: Hilding Bladh, Sven Nykvist

Film Editor: Carl-Olov Skeppstedt

Original Music: Karl-Birger Blomdahl

Produced by Rune Waldekranz

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Criterion just issued a monster gift box of their entire collection of Ingmar Bergman films on Blu-ray, but they’re also continuing with single releases of the Swedish maestro’s classic titles. Step back before 1957 or so, and one will find more variety of tone in Bergman’s output.

“A Cruel Mistress”

By Raymond Benson

Master filmmaker and stage director Ingmar Bergman famously said that he was “married to the theatre,” but that “film was his mistress.” In a vintage interview in Margarethe von Trotta’s new documentary on Bergman, the Swedish artist is asked to define “film director.” Bergman’s brow wrinkles and he is lost in thought for a moment… and then he replies that being a film director is “someone who has so many problems to deal with he doesn’t have time to think.”

Film, then, is a cruel mistress, indeed.

An official selection of the New York Film Festival and released to U.S. theaters in November in time to help celebrate Bergman’s centenary, Searching for Ingmar Bergman is a welcome and lovingly-made examination of the filmmaker’s life and work. Director von Trotta, one of the major figures of the New German...

On July 14, 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman was born, and a quarter-century later, he began to bring his cinematic voice to the world. A century after his brith, with an astounding body of work like few other directors and an influence that reverberates through the past many decades of filmmaking, his filmography is being celebrated like never before.

Starting this February at NYC’s Film Forum and then expanding throughout the nation “the largest jubilee of a single filmmaker” will be underway in a massive, 47-film retrospective. Featuring 35 new restorations, including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander, and many, many more, Janus Films has now debuted a beautiful trailer alongside the full line-up of films.

The Ingmar Bergman retrospective begins on February 7 at NYC’s Film Forum and then will expand to the following cities this spring:

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Wa

Detroit Film Theatre,...

Need to catch up? Check out the previous Nashville recap here.

It’s all over but the cryin’… but there’s a lot of cryin’ left to do in this week’s Nashville.

That’s to be expected, of course: While we’ve had a week to process Rayna’s unexpected death thanks to complications from a car accident, her loved ones have had just a few days. So when we check back into Music City, it’s a somber place, indeed. Deacon’s a mess. The girls aren’t much better. And the unholy alliance of Teddy and Tandy...

Warning: This post contains major spoilers from this week’s Nashville. And if you need to catch up, check out the previous Nashville recap here.

Connie Britton is, indeed, leaving Nashville. And this week’s episode chronicles in heartbreaking detail the tumultuous final hours of Rayna Jaymes’ life. (As it turns out, the hour isn’t Britton’s last with the show. More on that here.)

RelatedConnie Britton Talks ‘Devastating’ Nashville Twist (‘There Wasn’t Any Alternative’), Teases Rayna’s ‘Return’

“If Tomorrow Never Comes” is a great — perhaps the best — episode of the country-music series. It is also the most heartbreaking.

Tonight's theme was women getting stronger.

Rayna got stronger by beefing up security at her house.

Juliette got stronger by dealing with the thoughts and feelings that were pulling her toward church.

Scarlett got stronger when she accepted the result of last week's music video.

Maddie's relationship with her parents got stronger as she confided in them about her and Clay's struggles.

So let's start with Maddie. On Nashville Season 5 Episode 6 Maddie and Clay are dealing with their age difference, among other things.

Seven years is a pretty big difference; especially at that time in their lives. Maddie is still in high school, while Clay is almost half way through his twenties.

Women do mature quicker than men but that doesn't apply to their situation. Maddie is immature for her age, while Clay seems wiser than his 24 years. He was obviously forced to mature earlier in life due to his parents issues.

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A quick look at the slinky sleight-of-hand involved in making movies about magic.

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In 1932’s Chandu The Magician, Edmund Lowe plays the titular wizard. What famous boogie man plays his adversary?

Bela Lugosi Boris Karloff Peter Lorre Correct

Lugosi is a lot of fun but the real star of this movie is director William Cameron Menzies whose distinctive visual style graces every scene.

Incorrect

Question 2 of 10 2. Question

1953’s Houdini...

David’s Quick Take for the Tl;Dr Media Consumer:

Shame is Ingmar Bergman’s “war movie,” a disclosure that already feels to me like I said too much, since I went into this one knowing next to nothing about it and was therefore all the more pleasantly stunned and staggered by the discovery. So if you haven’t yet watched it, stop reading now, and go do so right away, or at least before you proceed much further in reading here. It’s an excellent film and in my opinion, yet another marvelous, essential “must see” entry into Bergman’s canon. (Other critics, and even the director, don’t share my assessment; I’ll address that below.) But for those who’ve seen it, I have to figure they can agree with my surprise at the inclusion of screaming fighter jets, exploding grenades, dead paratroopers hanging from branches, machine gun blasts,...

This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee, Trevor Berrett, and Arik Devens to discuss Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night.

About the film:

After fifteen films that received mostly local acclaim, the 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) at last ushered in an international audience for Ingmar Bergman. In turn-of-the-century Sweden, four men and four women attempt to navigate the laws of attraction. During a weekend in the country, the women collude to force the men’s hands in matters of the heart, exposing their pretensions and insecurities along the way. Chock-full of flirtatious propositions and sharp witticisms delivered by such Swedish screen legends as Gunnar Björnstrand and Harriet Andersson, Smiles of a Summer Night is one of cinema’s great erotic comedies.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes

Buy The Film On Amazon:

Watch a scene from the...

ABC is the third broadcaster to reveal their finale plan for the 2015-16 TV season, and it kicks off Thursday, May 12 with Scandal‘s Season 5 ender, while bubble drama Nashville‘s closer will close things out on May 25.

Related2016 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Getting Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?

All told, ABC’s season-ending schedule thus looks like this. May Sweeps this year runs April 28 through May 25.

Friday, April 22

8 pm Last Man Standing

8:30 pm Dr. Ken

Thursday, May 12

9 pm Scandal (Title Tba)

Sunday, May 15

7 pm Once Upon a Time (two hours; “Only You”/”An...

You know you’re in a bad way on Nashville when Jeff freaking Fordham, last seen dodging his girlfriend as she wielded a nine iron, looks askance at your life choices.

Yet sadly, that’s the state in which Juliette finds herself in this week’s episode, as the blonde bombed-shell heads home to Nashville unsure whether her husband and baby will take her calls, much less take her back. And things look really good for the Barnes-Barkley family… until they really don’t.

RelatedCastle, Nashville Latest ABC Series to Adopt Extended Winter Break Plan

Lest you think the hour is a downer,...

Ingrid Bergman ca. early 1940s. Ingrid Bergman movies on TCM: From the artificial 'Gaslight' to the magisterial 'Autumn Sonata' Two days ago, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series highlighted the film career of Greta Garbo. Today, Aug. 28, '15, TCM is focusing on another Swedish actress, three-time Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman, who would have turned 100 years old tomorrow. TCM has likely aired most of Bergman's Hollywood films, and at least some of her early Swedish work. As a result, today's only premiere is Fielder Cook's little-seen and little-remembered From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973), about two bored kids (Sally Prager, Johnny Doran) who run away from home and end up at New York City's Metropolitan Museum. Obviously, this is no A Night at the Museum – and that's a major plus. Bergman plays an elderly art lover who takes an interest in them; her...

Due to the large volume of films that the Toronto International Film Festival screens every year, participants often find themselves unsure of how to decide what to see. To that end, festival organisers often distribute the films into numerous programmes to reflect commonalities among them. The Contemporary World Cinema Programme, to that end, looks at the features from filmmakers from around the world, showcasing the talents being displayed from numerous countries.

The full lineup for the 2015 Tiff Contemporary World Cinema Programme has now been announced, adding to the previously announced slate of Canadian Films in the Programme. The films, as well as their official synopses, can be seen below.

25 April, directed by Leanne Pooley, making its World Premiere

Award-winning filmmaker Leanne Pooley utilizes the letters and memoirs of New Zealand soldiers and nurses along with state of the art animation to tell the true story of the 1915 battle of Gallipoli.

'Fanny and Alexander' movie: Ingmar Bergman classic with Bertil Guve as Alexander Ekdahl 'Fanny and Alexander' movie review: Last Ingmar Bergman 'filmic film' Why Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander / Fanny och Alexander bears its appellation is a mystery – one of many in the director's final 'filmic film' – since the first titular character, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) is at best a third- or fourth-level supporting character. In fact, in the three-hour theatrical version she is not even mentioned by name for nearly an hour into the film. Fanny and Alexander should have been called "Alexander and Fanny," or simply "Alexander," since it most closely follows two years – from 1907 to 1909 – in the life of young, handsome, brown-haired Alexander Ekdahl (Bertil Guve), the original "boy who sees dead people." Better yet, it should have been called "The Ekdahls," for that whole family is central to the film, especially Fanny and Alexander's beautiful blonde mother Emilie,...

“Cries And Sisters”

By Raymond Benson

One of the late, great Ingmar Bergman’s skills as a filmmaker was to write and direct memorable roles for women. He was one of the few directors, such as Ford or Altman or Allen, who repeatedly relied on a “stock company” of actors throughout his career. While there were many wonderful male actors who worked for Bergman (Max von Sydow, Erland Josephson, Gunnar Björnstrand), we generally remember the women—Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Eva Dahlbeck, Bibi Andersson, among many—for baring their souls on screen in Bergman’s challenging, difficult works that always elevated the art of film to breathtaking levels.

Cries and Whispers is an excellent example of the power of the female actor. It’s essentially a four-woman chamber piece, taking place in the late 1800s in Sweden, about three sisters and a servant, their relationships to each other,...

Ever think that Taylor Swift looks at Nashville‘s Maddie Conrad and thinks, “You lucky twerp?”

After all, while a pre-teen Tay-Tay had to hoof it all over Music City, begging label execs to listen to her demo, Rayna’s older daughter spends most of this week’s episode being pursued by an aggressive studio head with a penchant for expensive welcome gifts.

Don’t worry, Taylor: By the end of the episode, Rayna puts the kibosh on her kid’s career (for now) and inadvertently brings about the downfall of her biggest enemy — and, might I add, she does...

Hurricane Beverly blows into Nashville this week, and the damage she leaves in her wake is considerable, irrevocable and really, really annoying.

Even Gunnar at his Season 1-iest could not evoke as much of my ire as Scarlett’s mom does when she shows up and acts exactly as you’d expect of someone who once literally drove her daughter mad.

On the plus side, even Deacon’s irritating sister — and the setback in his illness in which she becomes involved — can’t push him into the pit of despair I feared he’d call home once his diagnosis set in.

The first-ever Nashville cast concert tour hit New York City on May 6, with Charles “Chip” Esten (Deacon), Clare Bowen (Scarlett), Jonathan Jackson (Avery), Sam Palladio (Gunnar), Chris Carmack (Will), Chaley Rose (Zoey), and Will Chase (Luke) in tow. They performed songs heard on the show, as well as originals. In honor of Bowen’s song “Cheap Red Wine,” which will be on the album she’s currently cutting, Mandi Bierly and Samantha Highfill grabbed a couple of glasses after the show and discussed their notes on the set list, Esten’s biceps, and the adorableness that was Chase’s girlfriend,...

We move into the top 20 now, where the films become incredibly spiritual. One major component seen in many of these religious films: the overtones meant to instill a sense of mystery and wonder. You see it in films set in both sweeping landscapes and intimate settings. Whether or not any of the films on this list are condoning the acceptance or rejection of faith and religion is almost beside the point. The real point is that it is so influential on our culture that movies will always be made about it.

courtesy of lassothemovies.com

20. Babette’s Feast (1987)

Directed by Gabriel Axel

The 1987 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner (beating Au Revoir Les Enfants), Babette’s Feast is the story of two devout Christian sisters whose father – the leader of a small Christian sect in Denmark – has died. Unfortunately, Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Philippa (Bodjil Kjer) find they have no way to gain new members,...

Persona

Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman

Sweden, 1966

Ingmar Bergman’s Persona is probably the great Swedish filmmaker’s most perplexing and thought-provoking work; it’s certainly his most surreal. Unusual imagery and curious narrative developments aren’t necessarily foreign to the rest of his filmography, but they have never been as frequent as they are here, nor have they been as overtly inexplicable. (Even if their meanings remain unclear, at least the dream sequences in Wild Strawberries can be clearly identified as dreams; there is no such easy rationalization here.) With so much happening in this 1966 feature, so many levels of story and visual complexity, it’s little wonder that Persona has yielded a great deal of discussion and analysis. And subsequently, it’s little wonder that the newly released Blu-ray/DVD from the Criterion Collection is accompanied by an excellent gathering of supplemental material, enhancing an already fascinating film,...

Oscar-winning Danish director of Babette's Feast

In April 1988, a week before his 70th birthday, the film director Gabriel Axel, who has died aged 95, walked up on stage at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles to receive the best foreign language film Oscar for Babette's Feast (1987), the first Danish movie to achieve that honour. In a mixture of Danish and French, the slim, grey-bearded, bespectacled Axel quoted a line from the character of the General in the film: "Because of this evening, I have learned, my dear, that in this beautiful world of ours, all things are possible."

It was the pinnacle of Axel's long career and marked the beginning of a resurgence of Danish cinema. (Another Danish film, Bille August's Pelle the Conqueror, won the foreign language Oscar the following year.) Despite several fine films, there was previously little in Axel's oeuvre to predict the perfection of Babette's Feast.

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Bones, New Girl, Nashville, Arrow and Grey’s Anatomy!

1 | Smash is obviously on the path toward “redeeming” self-absorbed, drug-addicted, obnoxious Jimmy, but after he took the stage high as a kite (leading to a mid-performance injury to Karen) and later chewed out the entire cast and crew (screaming “I’m the only one that did anything anyway!”), won’t the writers’ efforts inevitably be a case of too little too late?

2 | Do Once...

The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand, with newly added appearances by legendary stars at screenings of some of their most memorable films, including Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan, Barrie Chase, Polly Bergen,Coleen Gray, Theodore Bikel and Norman Lloyd, as well as producer Stanley Rubin, Clara Bow biographer David Stenn, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) film collections manager Katie Trainor and director Nicholas Ray’s widow, Susan Ray. In addition, TCM’s Essentials Jr. host and Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader will present screenings of Shane (1953) and The Ladykillers(1955).

And The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s The Donovan Affair (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.Mel Brooks is slated to talk about his comedy The Twelve Chairs (1970). Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan...

The pressure was certainly getting to the designers on this week's episode of "Project Runway." Their task this week was to design a dress that could be featured in a "Project Runway" 10th anniversary "capsule collection" from Lord & Taylor. Their design would not only appear on the store's website, but also in their Fifth Avenue location in New York.

"It is no wonder quite a few designers appear on the verge of a nervous breakdown," wrote Gossip and Gab. This is the kind of opportunity that can make or break a career. To make matters worse, the guest judge for the week was Lord & Taylor president Bonnie Brooks.

Elena struggled to fit her creativity into something that people would actually want to wear. She said she has no interest in making wearable clothes, so this simply isn't her challenge.

But she made it work and even earned top marks, alongside three other designers: Fabio,...

Ven Budhu might never create a line of clothing that can be sold to women larger than a Size 4 — after all, when you’ve reached Size 6 proportions, you might as well give up on life and simply cut neck and arm holes into a burlap sack, right? — but I’m really looking forward to his book Ven and the Art of Douchebaggery.

Oh, sure, Ven’s not the first designer in Project Runway history to express his horror over having to work with a woman whose measurements and willingness to express her opinions don’t mimic those of a mannequin — Book Idea No.

Tags: Alicia HardestyProject RunwayProject Runway recapsIMDb

Last week on Project Runway, we played a weird form of musical chairs: Andrea left! Then Kooan left! Then Raul came back! Then Buffi was eliminated! Then I passed out! Luckily, I think the drama level for this episode will cool slightly back to normal.

Although perhaps not, as we soon learn it’s going to be a group challenge this week, which are always the worst. As evidenced by three of the contestants then saying, “I don’t like working with others! Grrr Hulk Angrryyyy.” Okay, maybe they didn’t say it exactly like that, but it was close. They are full of rage and disappointment already, which is always a great way to start your work day!

On top of that, their primary client is going to be Nina Garcia for Marie Claire magazine. Okay, Marie Claire At Work magazine, which I guess is a thing.

Five episodes in to Season 10 of Project Runway, and I’m feeling a little dubious about the show’s title. I mean, the “Project” half seems to be more about the moneymaking endeavors of the show’s various judges and sponsors, while absurd (or is it cost-saving?) time limitations have left the “Runway” half of the equation as something of an afterthought.

This week’s beneficiary? Nina Garcia (aka “Nitpicking Nina”), who trumpeted her day job’s brand extension, Marie Claire @ Work, by splitting the designers into two teams, tasking each with creating a cohesive collection of chic professional outfits,...

If too many cooks can spoil the soup, then it follows that too many “twists and turns” can reduce a Project Runway challenge into something of a muddled mess. This week, the 14 remaining designers were split into seven teams of two, paired with a client who happened to be a former Runway contestant and a Lexus vehicle that would provide a “color inspiration,” and then asked to create a red-carpet look for said client for the 2012 Emmys. (Why not just make everybody jump through a flaming hoop for good measure?)

Things in the workroom got fairly ridiculous — as is usually the case during team challenges.

There are moments when Project Runway feeds your inner hardcore fashion enthusiast, and other times when it scores as many laughs per minute as your average episode of Cougar Town or Veep. This week’s “Unconventional Materials” challenge — in which the designers were tasked with creating stylish looks using $250 worth of materials from Dylan’s Candy Bar — succeeded on both counts.

Heid Klum, Tim Gunn, and Michael Kors dropped zingers so priceless, I’d be disappointed if they don’t eventually get turned into t-shirt slogans. “Her boobs are turning into old man’s eyes!” It doesn’t get more...

It’s good to know that after 10 seasons of Project Runway, Michael Kors’ patented brand of bitchery remains completely undiluted, that Nina Garcia’s disdain continues to burn as hot as an electric kettle, and that there’s still plenty of suspense to be wrung from watching a bunch of eccentric strangers sitting behind sewing machines.

The only major change I spotted in the Season 10 premiere, in fact, was Tim Gunn’s subdued unveiling of the Lord & Taylor Accessory Wall. (Piperlime, we hardly knew ye!) Well, also, there was the kicky flash-forward start of the episode that placed us directly...

Erland Josephson, The Sacrifice Erland Josephson, who was featured in more than a dozen Ingmar Bergman movies in addition to several plays directed by Bergman, died of complications from Parkinson's Disease on Feb. 25 in Stockholm. Josephson was 88. Even though most of Bergman's best-known players were women — Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Harriet Andersson, Ulla Jacobson — the director frequently worked with the same male actors as well. Max von Sydow, a Best Supporting Actor nominee this year for Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is the only one to have become internationally renowned. But among Bergman's recurring collaborators were also the likes of Gunnar Björnstrand and the Stockholm-born stage actor Erland Josephson. Perhaps Josephson failed to become an international star because he played supporting roles in most of his Bergman films, while his few leads for the filmmaker were generally subordinate to the leading ladies' roles, e.g.

Lifetime Heidi Klum on the Ninth Season Premiere of “Project Runway.”

Zomg. It’s Season 9 of Project Runway. We’ve got hillbilly truckers. We’ve got pretty, pretty princesses. We’ve got more rompers than you can shake with a Mood tape measure.

We begin with 20 designers but only 16 will be in. Four are booted before it even begins! Will there be a Santino Rice? A Daniel Vosovic? An Uli Herzner (what, you don’t remember her fabulous print/pattern sense for hot climates?...

Lillian Gish in Victor Sjöström's The Scarlet Letter Considering that religious puritans (and their politically correct cohorts) continue to plague the world at the beginning of the third millennium, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter remains as relevant today as when it was first published in 1850. This evening, Turner Classic Movies is presenting MGM's 1926 film version of Hawthorne's story about sex, love, and the evils of religious fanaticism and social intolerance. It's a must. One of the best silent films I've ever seen, The Scarlet Letter has Prestige written all over it. However, unlike so many prestige motion pictures that turn out to be monumental bores, this Scarlet Letter offers on screen everything most prestige movies only offer in their marketing campaigns: sensitive direction by Swedish import Victor Sjöström (aka Victor Seastrom); flawless characterizations by Lillian Gish (as Hester Prynne) and another Swedish import, Lars Hanson; a concise adaptation...

Sad news tonight folks. Longtime Ingmar Bergman collaborator, Gunnar Fischer, has passed away earlier today at the ripe old age of 100. I just saw the Masters Of Cinema twitter feed posting a link to this Swedish web site (HD.se), announcing that he had died earlier today in Sweden.

From the translated story:

Gunnar Fischer out of time

The photographer and film director Gunnar Fischer died on Saturday, 100 years old.

Stockholm. He worked closely with Ingmar Bergman in the 50′s in classic films such as Summer with Monika, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and The Magician.

- He passed away in the afternoon. This fall, he would have turned 101 years, says his son and cinematographer Jens Fischer said.

Gunnar Fischer was employed by the Swedish Film Industry 1935-1970 and the 1970-75 Svt.

Fischer‘s cinematography is well represented in the Criterion Collection. You can find him working with Bergman early...

This Sunday, David Phelps and John MacKay, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Chair of Film Studies at Yale, will be presenting a double feature followed by a discussion at UnionDocs in Brooklyn. I cede the floor to David:

Two unsung masterworks: Jean-Luc Godard's Kids Play Russia (1993) is a personal history of Soviet montage, and Vsevolod Pudovkin's Storm Over Asia (1927) is one of its great exemplars. In both, against the voice of a lone renegade, the West invades the East to capture it — that is, in images of its stereotypes. Sight makes might? In these spectacular assaults on spectacle, Pudovkin stresses the imperialists' lives led "for appearance sake," and Godard argues that Western cinema will only see things by its code. And yet both, shooting documentaries in "the land of fiction" and editing them as dramas, redeem fiction as a possible, documentary reality; Godard starts seeing echoes...

When looking at the careers of legendary directors, writers and actors in retrospect, it can be interesting to analyze just what path they took before reaching greatness. Today, Ingmar Bergman is internationally known as one of the great auteurs of all time. But while he was already an established director for nine years in his native Sweden, it was not until his fifteenth film as director that Bergman achieved international acclaim in 1955. That film was Smiles of a Summer Night. Hit the jump for my review. Smiles of a Summer Night introduced viewers to the comic side of Bergman in a tale of four men and four women trying to find their true love in a mix of complex interconnected relationships. Fredrik Egerman (Gunnar Björnstrand) is an older lawyer married to a teenaged wife, Anne (Ulla Jacobsson) with whom he has never consummated. In his younger days Fredrik had an...

Swedish actor best known for the 1966 film Hunger

Per Oscarsson, who has died aged 83, was perhaps the only leading Swedish actor who never worked with Ingmar Bergman. This might have been by accident rather than design, although Oscarsson was known for his manic performances, whereas Bergman's men were usually placid. In other words, Oscarsson was more Klaus Kinski than Max Von Sydow.

Oscarsson's most memorable role was in Sult (Hunger, 1966) as Pontus, a bespectacled, penniless and starving young writer in Norway at the end of the 19th century. His complex, agonisingly convincing portrait of a man, ravaged by hunger, whose mind is on the verge of disintegration, split between moments of lucidity and despair, won Oscarsson the best actor award at Cannes and worldwide acclaim.

Hunger was the first all-Scandinavian co-production. Shot in Oslo, it was based on the famous psychological novel by the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, with a...

Fanny Och Alexander / Fanny And Alexander (1982) Direction and Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman Cast: Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Ewa Fröling, Börje Ahlstedt, Jan Malmsjö, Allan Edwall, Gunn Wållgren, Jarl Kulle , Erland Josephson, Pernilla August, Harriet Andersson, Stina Ekblad, Mats Bergman, Gunnar Björnstrand, Lena Olin Oscar Movies Bertil Guve, Pernilla Allwin, Fanny and Alexander By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica: Why Ingmar Bergman's final 'filmic film,' Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander (1982) bears its appellation is a mystery — one of many in the film — since the first titular character, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) is at best a third- or fourth-level supporting character. In fact, in the three-hour theatrical version she is not even mentioned by name for nearly an hour into the film. Fanny and Alexander should have been called "Alexander and Fanny," or simply "Alexander," since it most closely follows two years in the life of young, handsome, brown-haired [...]...

Another week gone by, another round of Blu-ray buying and trying, avoiding and really avoiding here at Reject HQ. The release slate is slim and for the most part, it would appear as if home video distributors are afraid of the direct to video level junk they are throwing out there this week, as many a title didn’t arrive at our doorstep. Stuff like Jonah Hex and The Lost Boys: The Thirst are probably best left unreviewed by yours truly. Similar to the way a 30-year old man dominates a toddler tee-ball league, I was looking forward to busting some heads. Sadly, we’ll stick with a more intimate collection of releases this week, including a few nice surprises as we go through This Week in Blu-ray. The Magician (Criterion) You hear the name Ingmar Bergman and if you’ve never studied the world of international cinema, it feels like something so far away. That...

My introduction to classic foreign cinema began with three films you would suspect most anyone would begin with: Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 and Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. It probably comes as no surprise I instantly fell in love with all three films as well as all three directors. So, when it was revealed a Bergman film I wasn't at all familiar with was coming to Criterion Blu-ray it certainly was exciting. Not to mention it's a Bergman film with Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bengt Ekerot and Bibi Andersson. All of which are Bergman regulars, which only added to my anticipation.

The film centers on a traveling magic show referred to as 'Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater'. Max von Sydow plays the magician Vogler who's brought under question by a small town police chief and medical examiner, disbelieving they are true magicians.

The...

This week's roundup of DVD releases include fan favorites from TV, a scarred comic book antihero, the next installment of The Lost Boys, the requisite creature features, a Roger Corman set, and SyFy's apocalyptic view of the world. Also, don't forget to check out the soundtrack from the hottest vampire TV show right now (well, there's only one playing currently) at the very end of this list.

While waiting for your orders to arrive by mail, you can always catch up on Camera Obscura for free with our Episode 1-7 episodes & recap or watch the newest episodes on Dailymotion. You can also learn all about creature making from our Q&A With Camera Obscura's FX Maestro Jeff Farley.

On with the list....

Jonah Hex

Directed by Jimmy Hayward

Out of the pages of the legendary comics and graphic novels steps Jonah Hex (review), a scarred drifter and bounty hunter...

Criterion has announced their October releases and they’ve lined up some great titles including Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 film House. Criterion has provided us with high resolution front and back cover art as well as details on each release. Hit the jump to take a look. All are being released on DVD and Blu-ray:

The Darjeeling Limited

In The Darjeeling Limited, from director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Fantastic Mr. Fox), three estranged American brothers reunite for a meticulously planned, soul-searching train voyage across India, one year after the death of their father. For reasons involving over-the-counter painkillers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray, the brothers eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert—where a new, unplanned chapter of their journey begins. Featuring a sensational cast,...

Making its premiere this week, a new stage version of Ingmar Bergman’s legendary film, Through a Glass Darkly, has hit the stage, and according to a review from Reuters, it’s one hell of an adaptation.

If there is ever a filmmaker more reliant upon mood and atmosphere, it is the legendary auteur, Bergman. The outlet would love to let you all know that the play takes up the film’s perfect sense of claustrophobia that makes Through A Glass Darkly still one of the filmmakers best.

The film follows a woman named Karin, who has returned home after spending a bit of time away at a mental hospital. While the film stared Harriet Andersson and Max Von Sydow, the play features performances from the likes of stage veteran Ruth Wilson, Ian McElhinney and Justin Salinger, who all give great performances.

Personally, while Bergman will always be a name...

By Raymond Benson

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The Seventh Seal – 2-disk Restored Edition

(The Criterion Collection; 2009)

Woody Allen once said Ingmar Bergman was the greatest filmmaker since the invention of the cinema, and his favorite of the many masterpieces created by the auteur is The Seventh Seal (originally released in Sweden in 1957). While an earlier edition of the film was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection years ago, the company has seen fit to restore and re-release it in a special 2-disk set (both on Blu-Ray and DVD). In short, the results are magnificent.

The Seventh Seal is one of those classic films that has been parodied so many times it isn’t funny anymore. And when something is parodied so much that it’s become cliché, then the source material must have been pretty darned good. How many times have you seen a figure...