Ingrid Bergman's Swedish Years (Criterion Collection - Eclipse Series 46) - DVD

Ingrid Bergman appeared in ten films in her native Sweden before the age of twenty-five, and while that work tends to be overshadowed by her time in Hollywood, it showcases the actor summoning an impressive depth of emotion to deliver astute, passionate performances. Under the guidance of filmmakers including the prolific studio director Gustaf Molander, Bergman embraced a range of roles and worked with some of the most celebrated actors in the Swedish film industry, including Gösta Ekman, Karin Swanström, Victor Sjöström, and Lars Hanson. Comedies, romances, and thrillers, the six fascinating films collected here-including Intermezzo, the movie that brought Bergman to America-exhibit the precociously assured talent of a young artist with an illustrious international career ahead of her.6-DVD BOX SET INCLUDES The Count of the Old TownIngrid Bergman's first speaking role was in this hugely charming knockabout comedy, filmed on location in the Monk's Bridge district of Stockholm. Bergman plays an amiable young chambermaid being wooed by a handsome stranger, who may or may not be a jewel thief. Enlivened by cheeky humor and a cast of neighborhood eentrics, The Count of the Old Town offered Bergman a chance to warm up her all-too-rarely displayed comedy skills.Walpurgis NightLena (Ingrid Bergman) is in love with her married boss, Johan, in this romantic drama that takes Sweden's declining birth rate as a backdrop and stirred up controversy with it's depiction of abortion. While Lena dreams of marriage and motherhood, Johan's wife is fiercely unmaternal. Johan and Lena have a chance to be together, but their happiness is threatened by blackmail and murder. The great Victor Sjöström plays Lena's fiercely protective father, a newspaper editor convinced that the population problem will be solved by love, not legislation.IntermezzoThis gorgeous romantic confection, which catal