The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The...

The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The Passion of Anna / ... | Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand | focus on the "Collection" Disk

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The Ingmar Bergman...

	The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The Passion of Anna / ... Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand MGM, 2004 average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Disc 1: HOUR OF THE WOLF SE Disc 2: PASSION OF ANNA SE Disc 3: PERSONA SE Disc 4: THE SERPENT'S EGG SE Disc 5: SHAME SE Disc 6: BONUS DISC

MGM gets it right

After much confusion, the long-awaited Bergman set has finally come out. You can disregard all the negative comments you may have read about faked aspect ratios, etc. Yes, MGM tried to pull a fast one on a couple of the titles in this box, but after being caught out, they did the right thing by pulling the box and waiting to issue an excellent set with transfers that easily match those of Criterion, Kino, etc. (Let's hear it for consumer power!) All the titles are now in their proper aspect ratio. The black and white transfers (Persona, Hour of the Wolf and Shame) are truly beautiful. These films have probably not looked this good since they first came out. The digital transfers for the two colour titles offer equally fine video and clear original audio. The disc of bonus materials is fascinating, with rare interviews with Bergman himself from 1970 and 2002. The bonus disc and the five individual titles also offer interviews with key Bergman players, including Erland Josephson, Bibi Anderson and the ever-insightful Liv Ullmann.
As for the films, they speak for themselves. If you still haven't seen the four sixties films in this box (the summit of Bergman's art in the opinion of many critics), here's a chance to get acquainted with some truly great late-20th century art. Forget about the bad press. MGM got it right this time.

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focus on the "Collection" Disk

The five feature films that make up this special edition are probably well known to anyone who's thinking about buying it, so I'll limit my remarks to the sixth disk, the "Ingmar Bergman Collection" of special features. (Besides, I've reviewed each of the five feature films individually.)

The disk features a few photographic essays and an unopenable (at least for me) issue of "American Cinematographer" which presumably is devoted to Bergmaniana. The photographs are unremarkable, and the unopenable AC file is, of course, a disappointment. But three items in the supplemental disk make up for it.

The disk contains a 1970 interview with Bergman that most Bergman fans will have seen at some time. The gem is a 2002 interview, "Intermezzo," in which Bergman's conversation is both fascinating and revealing. He says, for example, that for a major period in his life, he thought film could be a refuge against his personal demons, someplace where he could find peace. The implication of his remarks is that his demons were still present at the end of his life. He worries that young directors are technically good but don't have anything to say. And he talks about his lifelong intimacy with Strindberg, beginning when he was a teenager. Fascinating stuff.

The second great item is a short documentary on Faro Island, with an emphasis on how its bleak landscape suited Bergman's temperament. For those of us (like myself) who have longed to see the two documentaries Bergman made about Faro, this short film is especially interesting.

Finally, there's a documentary on Sven Nyqvist's cinematography, which is very good indeed.

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Well done, but the aspect ratios are STILL wrong

I had originally given this collection 5 stars, but then did some investigating. It turns out that although they've fixed the aspect ratios on a couple of the films, they are still wrong on Shame, Persona, and Hour of the Wolf. This effectively chops out about 12% of the films, destroying Bergman's original compositions. I didn't believe it at first until I went through scene-by-scene and realized the horrible truth.

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