DVD/150: SMULTRONSTALLET (WILD STRAWBERRIES) (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

Ingmar Bergman followed his masterpiece DET SJUNDE INSEGLET (THE SEVENTH SEAL) with another, the wonderful SMULTRONSTALLET (WILD STRAWBERRIES).

As the old doctor who reviews his unhappy life while travelling to receive a university honour, Bergman cast the silent film director Victor Sjostrom who gives an astonishing performance.

Although Bergman had directed Sjostrom eight years earlier, he found Strostrom more frail and frustrated at his failing memory; co-star Ingrid Thulin agreed to insist it was her fault if one of their scenes together went wrong.

Troubled by unsettling dreams of mortality. Dr. Isak Borg travels by car to receive a lifetime achievement award from his old university.  He is accompanied by daughter-in-law Marianne who admits that, like most people including his son, Borg is considered aloof and unlikeable.

A visit to his childhood summer home reawakens memories of his love for his cousin Sara, who married his brother.

Shelf or charity shop?  Well it IS part of a cracking Bergman box-set...  but even if on it's own, it's one to keep as it's Bergman at his most haunting and masterful. Helped immeasureably by Erik Nordgren's score and the poetic cinematography of Gunnar Fischer, it's a film to get lost in.  As I said Sjostrom, in his last film, is remarkably in almost every scene but is wonderfully restrained so his final show of emotion seems unsurprisingly natural.  He is supported by some of Bergman's favourite actors - Gunnel Lindblom appears as Borg's sister in flashback, Max von Sydow is a garage attendant who remembers Dr Borg as a caring local doctor, Gunnar Bjornstrand is Borg's son slowly turning into an unemotional shell like his father while Ingrid Thulin is excellent as Marianne, hiding her own secret from her father-in-law.  Bergman's relationship was ending with Bibi Andersson but he shines a spotlight on her talent by casting her in two key roles: luminous in flashback as Borg's beloved cousin who he loved from afar and, in the present day, as the free-spirited young girl who hitch-hikes a ride with her two lovers from Borg and Marianne; seeing the young trio begins the thaw in Borg's heart. By avoiding the inherent sentiment - just think of all the Hollywood films where a crotchety old man finds 'redemption' - Bergman makes WILD STRAWBERRIES universal.

MY FAIR LADY at London Coliseum - I've Grown Accustomed To This Score

A few weeks ago we went to see the Lincoln Center's revival of MY FAIR LADY which is playing during the Summer at the Coliseum.  I had never seen it on stage before but had of course seen George Cukor's 1964 film version and if you can't sing along with at least five songs from it's score then what *have* you been doing with your ears?

Director Bartlett Sher has given us revelatory revivals of Rogers and Hammerstein's war-horse musicals SOUTH PACIFIC and THE KING AND I so I guess Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's MY FAIR LADY fits that frame, but since seeing it I am unsure of why it made hardly any impression on me.

It's original NY production was a huge hit playing 2,717 performances over 6 years, nearly matched by the London production which managed 2,281 shows.  It's success was even mirrored by Cole Porter in his song WE'LL HAVE MANHATTAN "And My Fair Lady is a terrific show they say / We both may see it close, some day".  Subsequent revivals have built on it's success and it's score has been plundered over and over for albums, variety shows and cabaret.  But despite this, the show has always left me cold.

The songs are pretty and well-structured but they seem to be all front-loaded in the first half with the second half mostly comprised of reprises and the deathly solos for Henry Higgins.  Here, the ghost of Rex Harrison haunts the score: they were composed to be sung-spoken to accomodate Harrison's limited vocal range and because of that, his songs drone on and on... and on: even the most famous one "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" seems endless.  Henry Higgins was played well by Harry Hadden-Paton, blithely riding rough-shod over Eliza's feelings.

Of course having Julie Andrews as the original Eliza meant her songs have a more graceful sweep and newcomer Amara Okereke gave a charming performance, over-doing the gaucherie a bit in the first act but she became more assured in the second act as Eliza finds herself in a class no-mans-land.  Sher has given the show a new ending which gives Eliza the final moment and for Okereke that seemed right.

The supporting cast should have been headed by Vanessa Redgrave as the imperious Mrs Higgins - but she was a no-show.  It was unannounced so when some person walked onto the stage and started addressing Henry Higgins as her son I was distinctly narked.  Maybe that's when I withdrew my interest?  Whoever she was she gave a colourless performance. 

Malcolm Sinclair was a delightful Colonel Pickering, a real stand-out.  Stephen K Amos was an interesting choice as Doolittle and was effective in his acted scenes, he just about got through his two famous numbers WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK and I'M GETTING MARRIED IN THE MORNING, the latter has been extended for no other reason than to give the ensemble something to do and to give the show a second act showstopper.  Maureen Beattie as Higgins' housekeeper bustled about well while Sharif Afifi in the worst supporting role in Musical Theatre, Freddy Eynsford-Hill, sang ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE well because let's face it, the character is given nothing else to do.

Bartlett Sher has directed well but ultimately it all felt a bit top-heavy; unlike SOUTH PACIFIC and THE KING AND I there is nothing to delve into with MY FAIR LADY, Lerner's book is all surface and it doesn't allow for any exploration.  His usual team of Catherine Zuber (costumes), Christopher Gattelli (choreography) and Michael Yeargan (sets) all delivered.  Ted Spurling's musical supervision was excellent and Gareth Valentine's leading of the orchestra was fine.

But although I can now tick it off my list of musicals never seen on stage, I am still none the wiser as to it's huge appeal.

DVD/150: THE BUSTER KEATON CHRONICLES 1 (1920 - 1923): ONE WEEK; THE SAPHEAD; CONVICT 13; THE SCARECROW; NEIGHBORS; THE HAUNTED HOUSE; THE GOAT; THE BOAT; THE PLAYHOUSE; THE PALEFACE; COPS; MY WIFE'S RELATIONS; THE BLACKSMITH; THE FROZEN NORTH; THE ELECTRIC HOUSE; DAY DREAMS; THE BALLOONATIC, THE LOVE NEST

Buster Keaton had already made fourteen shorts over three years with Fatty Arbuckle when he was given his own studio in 1920, starting a run of shorts and features that stand the test of time as comedy gold.

Volume one contains 18 films and, although the prints are of variable quality, Keaton's mix of balletic athleticism and innovative comedy shine through.

Mostly co-directed and co-written with Edward F Cline, this collection contains some of my favourites.

 

 

Newly-married Buster creates havoc with a tampered-with build-your-own-home-kit in ONE WEEK, and in THE BOAT, Buster's attempts at building and sailing a boat end in hilarious disaster!

 

Married by mistake, Buster has to deal with his horrible new Irish in-laws in MY WIFE'S RELATIONS and in the opening dream sequence of his masterpiece THE PLAYHOUSE, Buster plays everyone: the performers, the audience and the orchestra!

Shelf or charity shop?  One for the shelf... well. 18 for the shelf really!