MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974). Director: Sidney Lumet.

Famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney of Tom Jones) takes over the investigation after a man using an assumed name is murdered, and there turns out to be a whole train load of suspects. In her novel, Agatha Christie's starting off point was the murder of the Lindbergh baby, and the victim was involved in the kidnapping of the child, herein named Daisy Armstrong. In both book and movie Poirot perhaps doesn't exhibit quite as much incredulity as he might have when he learns at least two people on the train just happen to have had ties to the victim (as well as others whose deaths were a direct result of little Daisy's murder). And then things get even stranger, but there's a method to Christie's madness ... This was the first of the big-budget, all-star adaptations of the works of Christie, and it's entertaining if unspectacular. Oscar winner for Best Actor, Finney is nothing like Poirot, but if this is a "stunt" performance, I must say it's an excellent one, although he isn't as good as David Suchet, who later made the role his own. Wendy Hiller gives a positively weird, and one assumes, intentionally comic performance as the aged Princess Dragomiroff. Ingrid Bergman is fine but her very small role hardly deserved the supporting Oscar she received. Similarly, Sir John Gielgud is wonderful, but he's on-screen for only a few minutes; he won a BAFTA award. (Surely Oscars should be reserved for actors who are very much outside their comfort zone, which Finney definitely was). In a terrible performance, Anthony Perkins literally twitches all over the place as the secretary to the dead man; Sean Connery has one strong scene explaining himself to Poirot; Rachel Roberts scores as the princess' maid; Richard Widmark is fine as the victim; Vanessa Redgrave [Camelot] is perfect and lovely as Connery's paramour; and Martin Balsam is a delight as a representative of the train line and a personal friend of Poirot's. Richard Rodney Bennett provided the pastiche Porter score, which lacks the suspense this type of picture requires. Many of the cast members, especially Lauren Bacall as the loud American lady, seem self-conscious.

In addition to the 2017 remake, there have been other adaptations of the famous story. Alfred Molina played Poirot in a 2001 television version. David Suchet again essayed Poirot in a 2010 TV movie  which added a prologue, with an adulteress being stoned to death, that was not in the novel, and an epilogue wherein Poirot expresses moral outrage over the murder on the train which he does not express in the book; later he softens his attitude due to the murder of that woman at the opening. Suchet is especially excellent in this and it's amusing to see Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey playing a mere valet. Finally, a Japanese mini-series based on the novel appeared in 2015.

Verdict: Take this train ride or not -- it's up to you. **1/2.

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NOTORIOUS: THE LIFE OF INGRID BERGMAN

NOTORIOUS: THE LIFE OF INGRID BERGMAN. Donald Spoto. HarperCollins; 1997.

Donald Spoto gives Bergman the bio treatment and it's largely a sympathetic look at her life and career. As usual, Spoto claims some sort of friendship with his subject, beginning with his interviewing her for a book on Hitchcock. Spoto covers all of her films made in Sweden, Hollywood, and Italy; her first marriage to Petter Lindstrom (whom apparently came to see her as rather self-absorbed and negative even after he was happily re-married); her affair, marriage and collaborations with Roberto Rossellini; her third marriage to a theatrical producer which ended up as a loving friendship but a failed romantic union; her assorted relationships with a variety of men; her comeback in Anastasia; and her emergence as a star and talent of the first rank even as she eventually battled cancer. Spoto perhaps tries too hard at times to cover up for his subject's obvious flaws as a person, and some of the things he writes are a little inexplicable, such as how the gay/bi Tony Perkins was "frozen in terror at the touch of a woman" [!] when he appeared with Bergman in Goodbye Again. This is ridiculous, considering Perkins did numerous love scenes with women during his career, and eventually married and had two children. Spoto, like most biographers, talks over and over and over again about Bergman's "beauty," but she was actually rather average-looking and certainly no sex symbol, although she apparently had no trouble making herself available and attracting men.

Verdict: Solid, engaging, and very well-written, if imperfect, bio of Bergman. ***1/2.

SARATOGA TRUNK

Ingrid Bergman

SARATOGA TRUNK (1945). Director: Sam Wood.

"I don't have money, either, but I know how to turn a trick." -- Clint.

"Common. Common as dirt."  -- Angelique to Clio.

"Shut your mouth -- or I'll send you away somewhere to starve." -- Clio to Angelique.

After her mother's death,.Clio Dulaine (Ingrid Bergman) travels from France to New Orleans with a weird entourage consisting of old Angelique (Flora Robson), who takes care of her as she did her mother before her, and little person, Cupidon (Jerry Austin), who is only a couple of feet tall but feisty and fun. Clio is in New Orleans to get revenge on all of those who turned on her mother, a supposed murderess of her father, but this plot is quickly resolved once she meets cowboy Clint Maroon (Gary Cooper). After a love-hate courtship, Clint leaves for Saratoga and Clio follows, hoping to snare the wealthy if weak, supposedly mother-dominated Bartholomew Van Steed (John Warburton of Secret File Hollywood). But are Clio and Clint really sure that they are out of each other's systems? Saratoga Trunk is a weird movie that loses its focus and grip early on, but offers an excellent performance from Bergman -- who has never been photographed more beautifully -- and a good turn from Cooper. The problem with the film, among many, is that the most exciting scene has to do with a railroad clash -- and crash -- where two trains collide, men jump off the trains, and a rousing fight scene ensues -- unfortunately, none of this has much to do with the main plot of Saratoga Trunk (and the whole business with the railroad is tedious aside from the aforementioned scene). Apparently playing a black woman, British actress Robson [Caesar and Cleopatra] is wonderful as Angelique; Austin offers a winning performance as Cupidon; and there are splendid turns from Florence Bates [Rebecca] as a Saratoga society lady who helps Clio, and Ethel Griffies as the formidable termagant mother of Van Steed, who is out to expose Clio as a phony. Throughout the movie the love-hate badinage between Clio and Angelique is priceless. This is based on a novel by Edna Ferber.

Verdict: Lots of good things in this movie, a striking performance from Bergman, but a half-baked and over-boiled story that doesn't quite work. **1/2.

AS TIME GOES BY : THE LIFE OF INGRID BERGMAN

AS TIME GOES BY: THE LIFE OF INGRID BERGMAN. Laurence Leamer. Harper and Row; 1986.

"Ingrid had learned to use people without appearing to use them."

"In my whole life I never had a woman so much in love with me as Ingrid was. The day after the picture ended, I couldn't get her on the phone." -- Gary Cooper

Ingrid Bergman was a mother (to four children) and a wife (with three different husbands) but her chief role was as movie star. She lived primarily if not exclusively for her work, and everything was subordinate to it. Her talent was indisputable, however, which perhaps made her feelings more acceptable. With a passionate and somewhat neurotic temperament, she often made bad choices. Her decisions in later years to make changes to some of the scripts she signed up for were not always wise. Bolstered with many interviews, this bio examines Bergman's early years in Sweden and in Hollywood, her romantic involvements (many of which she did not mention in her memoirs), and her difficult relationships with her children and husbands over the decades. As Time Goes By is a balanced portrait of the great movie star  -- the book is neither nasty nor full of sycophantic fawning -- analyzing her many film roles and detailing both her strengths and weaknesses as an actress, especially when she attempted parts she was not really suited for; Leamer gives the actress her due, but he does not love every movie nor does he think Bergman can do no wrong as an artist. This is an absorbing, well-written bio.

Verdict: Highly readable and interesting look at the life and career of Ingrid Bergman. ***1/2.

GASLIGHT (1944)

Boyer and Bergman

GASLIGHT (1944). Director: George Cukor.

Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) lived in a house in London with her aunt, a famous opera singer who was strangled to death. Years later she comes back to that house with her new husband, Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The autocratic Anton berates Paula for her bad memory and for losing things and inexplicably taking pictures from the wall and hiding them. Is Paula going crazy or is there something more sinister going on? Gaslight doesn't make any attempt to disguise the identity of the bad guy in this, but the film is suspenseful in spite of it. Bergman won her well-deserved first Oscar for her portrayal of the confused Paula, and Boyer is equally expert and fascinating. In her first film role, Angela Lansbury [A Life at Stake] scores as the saucy, borderline rude maid, Nancy, and Dame May Whitty is charming as the nosy old biddy, Miss Thwaites. Joseph Cotten offers another effective portrait as a policeman who once met Paula's aunt and is struck by the resemblance; against orders, he takes a new interest in the case. Barbara Everest is also notable as the cook, Elizabeth. The best scene in the film is when Paula nearly has a nervous breakdown at a piano concert. Although Cukor was not a suspense specialist along the lines of Hitchcock, he still manages to craft a nifty thriller, as he did with A Woman's Face. Bergman and Boyer re-teamed for much less felicitous results in Arch of Triumph, as the chemistry just wasn't right for those particular characterizations. At one point Paula shows her husband a glove worn by her aunt and signed by no less than Charles Gounod, in whose Romeo and Juliet she had performed -- what a memento! This is far superior to the 1940 British version of the story.

Verdict: A mesmerizing performance by a resplendent Bergman and fine support from Boyer, Cotten, and Lansbury.  ***1/2. 

THE YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE

Alain Delon and Shirley MacLaine

THE YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE (1964). Director: Anthony Asquith. Screenplay by Terence Rattigan

"Oh, God. How I'm going to hate living from now on."

This is a trio of tales loosely tied to the same beautiful title automobile -- copulation occurs in the back seat of the rolls in each story, but even that doesn't make this picture entertaining. Surely a movie built around such a premise could have turned out better than this, but it's as if playwright Rattigan [The Browning Version] decided to throw together scrips and scraps from his discarded idea book to come up with this mess. The first story, starring Rex Harrison [My Fair Lady] as a member of the Foreign Office, is easily the best, and even manages to be somewhat moving in its tale of Harrison being cuckolded by his wife (Jeanne Moreau) and her lover (Edmund Purdom), who works with Harrison, on the day he should be happiest. The second and worst story has to do with a gangster (George C. Scott) traveling in Italy with his moll (Shirley MacLaine) who encounter a handsome man (Alain Delon) who makes tips selling photos to tourists; you can guess what happens. This exercise in tedium can't even be saved by the actors (including Art Carney as Scott's Man Friday) and has a flat wind up to boot. Delon and MacLaine have little chemistry. The third and last story is a contrived bit of business in which a fussy and wealthy woman (Ingrid Bergman) agrees to take a Yugoslav (Omar Sharif) across the border to aid his king and country just as the Germans are attacking. This termagant has more intestinal fortitude than anyone would ever have imagined, but her romance with Sharif is unconvincing, to say the least. (It would have been even less convincing had the more appropriate Katharine Hepburn been cast, as one critic suggested). Bergman is miscast, Scott [The Exorcist III] is excellent as the mobster, Delon succeeds at being charming, Moreau is creditable, and Harrison, with that stiff British upper lip, underplays quite satisfactorily. The best performance, however, is given by a winning and credible Sharif.

Verdict: The first episode is good, but the last two make two hours seem like ten. *1/2.

INTERMEZZO (1936)

INTERMEZZO (1936). Director: Gustaf Molander.

Holger Brandt (Gosta Ekman), a famous violinist, is married to Margit (Inga Tidblad) and has two children, the self-assured little girl, Ann-Marie (Britt Hagman), and the handsome engineer student, Ake (Hasse Ekman). Into their lives comes the aspiring pianist, Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman). Despite a 25-year age difference, Holger and Anita drift into an affair, which the former eventually tells his wife about. Burning his bridges behind him, Holger takes off on a tour with Anita as his accompanist, but when his wife sues for divorce he hesitates in signing the papers. Do those old feelings for his family still linger? Ingrid Bergman had already made a few films in Sweden when she did Intermezzo, the film in which Hollywood took notice of her. Although never a great beauty by conventional standards, she generally looks quite striking and attractive in this picture, and her performance is excellent. The other cast members are equally good, but Intermezzo is rather on the slight and superficial side and becomes too melodramatic at the end. This is chiefly known as the film that started Bergman on her way to major stardom; she appeared in the American remake three years later. Intermezzo's basic story of a man who leaves wife and children for a younger woman had been done many, many, many times before and this would hardly be the last time. The best scene is actually between Holger and his son towards the end.

Verdict: Very good performances almost disguise that this is soap opera. **1/2.

INTERMEZZO: A LOVE STORY (1939).

Leslie Howard, Ingrid Bergman

INTERMEZZO; A LOVE STORY (1939). Director: Gregory Ratoff.

"I wonder if one has ever built happiness on the unhappiness of others."

Producer David Selznick, struck by Ingrid Bergman's appearance and performance in the Swedish film Intermezzo -- in which she played the young lover of a married man with children -- signed her to a contract and decided to do an American version of the movie in which Bergman was "introduced." According to most biographies of the actress, Selznick wanted to do Bergman over by Hollywood standards, and she insisted she just wanted to be herself. Oddly, Selznick went to the other extreme, in that Bergman looks much better -- prettier and sexier -- in the Swedish version than in his own -- she doesn't even wear make up in the remake. The violinist in this is played by Leslie Howard, his wife by Edna Best, and the children by Ann E. Todd and Douglas Scott. While the remake follows the original's story closely (and uses virtually the same script most of the time), there are some differences. First, there isn't as big an age difference between Bergman and Howard, giving an added weight to their relationship; in addition the scenes where Howard and Bergman fall in love are longer and more expressive. The story is a bit more moralistic than the Swedish version. A negative change is when the little daughter is hit by a car. In the Swedish version she is immediately taken to a hospital, but in the American version, Howard takes her home and yells "Send a doctor to the house!" To the house? -- this after she is clearly shown being run over! As in the earlier version, the best scene isn't between husband and wife or husband and lover, but the moving confrontation/reconciliation between father and son (well-played by Howard and young Scott). The movie is twenty minutes shorter than the Swedish version, and only clocks in at 70 minutes. Bergman and the other performers are all very good.

Verdict: Despite the business with the accident, this may have a slight edge on the original. ***.  

ANASTASIA

Helen Hayes, Yul Brynner, Ingrid Bergman

ANASTASIA (1956). Director: Anatole Litvak. Screenplay by Arthur Laurents.

In Europe in the 1920's rumors are circulating that Anastasia (Ingrid Bergman), the youngest daughter of the Tsar Nicholas, may have survived the purge that killed the rest of her family. General Bounine (Yul Brynner) finds a woman, fresh out of mental hospitals and contemplating suicide, whom he thinks resembles Anastasia, and guides her -- like Henry Higgins -- to act more like royalty. But as she is about to meet the Dowager Empress (Helen Hayes) and seal her fate, she wonders if she could really be who everyone says she is. Anastasia is a wonderful, absorbing film that is not true to historical facts but to their spirit, and works beautifully as a kind of fairy tale. Bergman deservedly won a Best Actress Oscar for this, and she is matched in excellence by a powerful Hayes, and a rather sexy and dynamic Brynner. There is also fine work from Martita Hunt [Becket] as the Empress' peppery lady-in-waiting [to whom the Empress says "to a woman of your age, sex should mean nothing but gender"]; Ivan Desny as her nephew, Paul; Akim Tamiroff [The Vulture] as Boris Chernov, one of the co-conspirators in this matter of the "phony" Anastasia; and Natalie Schafer [The Other Love] as one of the group of Russian exiles who embraces Anastasia as their own; among others. The ending is contrived but effective, and the movie still manages to maintain an air of ambiguity. In real life, the Empress completely rejected "Anastasia's" claim, and the woman lived her life as Ana Anderson, protesting all along that she was the real daughter of the Tsar. Decades later, DNA proved conclusively that Anderson was lying. Filmed in stunning DeLuxe color and with a nice score by Alfred Newman.

Verdict: A true classic with superb performances. ****.

JOAN OF ARC

A captive Joan prays: Ingrid Bergman

JOAN OF ARC (1948). Director: Victor Fleming.

"We can win only if we become God's army."

Joan (Ingrid Bergman), a young farm girl in France, claims to hear voices from God, telling her to speak to the Dauphin (Jose Ferrer) -- who would become King of France -- and to rally the French troops to force the British interlopers out of the country. She is on a mission from God to save France. Initially people are skeptical --  she is eventually seen as a witch by some, and a saint by others, and she marches into battle as a kind of unarmed mascot. But Joan's admirers are growing in number, and the French powers-that-be are disturbed ... Joan of Arc was excoriated when it was first released, primarily because it cost more than Gone with the Wind but was a financial bust. It's hard to understand why contemporary critics found the film boring and almost worthless. I am not at all religious, but I was impressed by the film's performances --virtually every well-known character actor working in pictures at the time -- the score (Hugo Friedhofer), and the beautiful color cinematography (Joseph Valentine) which often makes each shot look like a painting. The movie moves quite quickly as well. Bergman gives an Oscar-winning performance, and is wonderful. The only quibble I might have is that in scenes when she is supposed to be utterly exhausted due to no sleep she merely seems mildly fatigued -- even make up would have helped, but one supposes no one wanted to mar her features. Bergman was 33 at the time of filming (Joan was put to the stake at 19) and always wanted to play the role; a younger actress might have lacked the ability and strength the part required. Jose Ferrer, who was introduced in this picture,  also won a Best Actor Oscar, and while he's not on Bergman's level, he is quite good as the rather foppish Dauphin. Of the huge supporting cast there is notable work from Richard Derr as a knight and Joan's first follower; John Emery [Kronos] as the sympathetic Duke d'Alencon; and Jeff Corey [Seconds] as a jailer intent on Joan's rape. There are also appearances by Jimmy Lydon (!) as Joan's brother; Alan Napier (Batman's butler) as the Earl of Warwick; Hurd Hatfield as Father Pasquerel; and brief bits with Henry Brandon, Thomas Brown Henry, George Coulouris, and many others. The worst performance is by Francis L. Sullivan [Hell's Island], who plays Pierre Cauchon, Joan's chief accuser, almost as if he were a villain in a cliffhanger serial. The movie employs a lot of dramatic license, as a great deal is not known about Joan, and the picture simply takes her at face value, with no indication (from the movie's point of view) that she may be either demented, opportunistic or both. Her horrible death is depicted but rather glossed over -- she doesn't even break out into a sweat as the flames supposedly consume her.

Verdict: At times the movie seems to exist in a vacuum, but it is beautiful to look at, well-paced, and features some marvelous performances. ***.

ARCH OF TRIUMPH

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman

ARCH OF TRIUMPH (1948). Director: Lewis Milestone.

"A refugee without a passport has lost his membership in the human race."

In pre-WW2 Paris two strangers meet and become unhappily involved. One is Ravic (Charles Boyer), who was tortured in Austria by the Nazi Haake (Charles Laughton), and has taken illegal asylum in France. Joan (Ingrid Bergman) is a woman of "easy virtue" whose latest lover has just died. The couple seem to fall in love, but Ravic's illegal status and very real fear of jail and deportation, means he cannot get married. Then there's the added complication of Alex (Stephan Bekassy), with whom Joan gets engaged during a period when she is alone, and who is very possessive of her. Arch of Triumph, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, should have been a powerful film, and it does have its moments, but it never emerges as the dramatic triumph that it could have been. A big problem -- besides the fact that everything is too prettified -- is that Boyer and Bergman have absolutely no chemistry, and even if one might acknowledge that Ravic might be a rather dour character, Boyer's emotionless and often perfunctory performance -- one of his worst -- doesn't help. Bergman is much, much better, and the picture is nearly stolen by Louis Calhern [Athena] as a friend of Ravic's who works as doorman at a Russian nightclub. Charles Laughton [They Knew What They Wanted] is excellent, as usual, as the repulsive Haake, but much more should have been made of his very final confrontation with Ravic. The fake "prince" Michael Romanoff, who opened his own Hollywood restaurant, plays the captain of the aforementioned club, and is rather unprepossessing. Ruth Warrick comes and goes too quickly to make any impression. William Conrad [East Side, West Side] , who later starred in TV's Jake and the Fat Man, has a terrific bit as a police man who corners Ravic and questions him after the former tends to an injured woman on the street. This is, I believe, the one and only picture made by Enterprise studios.

Verdict: Not terrible by any means, but not at all what it should have been. **1/2.

AUTUMN SONATA

Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman

AUTUMN SONATA (1978). Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman) is a successful, middle-aged concert pianist. After the death of her close friend, Leonardo (Georg Lokkeberg), she is invited to the home of her daughter, Eva (Liv Ullmann), who lives with her husband Viktor (Halvar Bjork), and her sister, Helena (Lena Nyman), who is both mentally and physically disabled. One night, full of wine, Eva tells her mother what living with -- and without -- her was like, excoriating her and even blaming her for her sister's illness, causing a rupture that may never be mended. Autumn Sonata is an interesting, if typically talky, character study/soap opera that never quite comes to grips with its central problems. Charlotte is a career-driven woman, and certainly no mother of the year, but her daughter in her own way seems just as self-absorbed, blaming Charlotte for basically acting like a typical mother when she was fourteen -- she even complains about her getting braces even though they straightened her teeth. Generally people grow out of their parent- hatred, recognizing they are only human, as they themselves reach adulthood, but Eva is apparently too neurotic and perhaps jealous of her mother's comparatively glamorous life to acknowledge this. If anything, more people would object to Charlotte's almost complete neglect of Helena over her alleged monstrousness toward the very whiny Eva. "Not a shred of the real me could be loved or accepted," Eva tells her mother, but isn't this the way most boys and girls feel at fourteen? Autumn Sonata is very well-acted, and there's some good dialogue, but there is a dramatic weakness at its core that even Ingrid Bergman noticed. Bergman was also uncomfortable playing in a movie that somewhat mirrored the sometimes difficult relationship between herself and her daughter, Pia Lindstrom. This is the only time both Bergmans worked together. Bergman has made much better pictures, such as Sawdust and Tinsel and Cries and Whispers.

Verdict: Critics raved, and Ingrid is terrific, but this is not one of Bergman's best. **1/2.

STROMBOLI

Trapped: Ingrid Bergman

STROMBOLI (aka Stromboli: Terra di Dio/Land of God/1950). Director: Roberto Rossellini. NOTE: This is the Italian version.

"Even those born here want to leave."

Lithuanian Karen (Ingrid Bergman) is living in a camp for displaced persons in Italy after World War 2. According to her story, she had a husband who was killed in the war, but there are those who think she is deceptive. In the camp she meets, and then marries, a soldier named Antonio (Mario Vitale), who takes her home to the volcanic island of Stromboli where he'll be a fisherman. There she is horrified to discover that she'll be living in a stark place on a barren landscape where people are narrow-minded and unfriendly, and she finds herself going crazy. She decides that she has to get out of this situation no matter what ... Stromboli was excoriated by many critics at the time of its release because of the adulterous affair between star Bergman and director Rossellini, which unfortunately overshadowed the film itself. While the plot of the movie is nothing like Bergman's real life, there are certain parallels, but whatever the case Stromboli is a memorable film. Rossellini wisely filmed on Stromboli itself, giving it an atmosphere that no studio could have duplicated. He used the islanders as extras, and also cast two real-life fisherman as Karen's romantic interests. Mario Vitale, who plays her husband, had a few credits after this picture, while Mario Sponzo, who plays a lighthouse keeper, only appeared in this movie; it's hard to judge how good they are as actors but they are both effective in their roles. Renzo Cesana is excellent as the island priest; this was his first credit but he later did much work for American television. Bergman gives another wonderful performance, and the film builds up to a poignant and powerful conclusion. Rossellini's brother, Renzo, has contributed an excellent score for the film, Otello Martelli's cinematography is first-rate, and there's some insightful dialogue in a screenplay in which several writers had a hand. There are certain aspects of the film that, oddly, remind one of Beyond the Forest, but to say they are very different movies is a major understatement.

NOTE: Before falling in love with Bergman, Rossellini's previous mistress was Anna Magnani, who was so angered by her lover's actions that she made her own Stromboli- like movie, Volcano, the same year.

Verdict: Not quite a masterpiece but an Italian classic with a striking lead performance. ***1/2.

INGRID BERGMAN: MY STORY

INGRID BERGMAN: MY STORY. Ingrid Bergman and Alan Burgess. Delacorte; 1980.

Ingrid Bergman (1915 - 1982) worked with writer Alan Burgess on her memoirs just before her death in 1982. The book consists of Burgess' observations interspersed with lengthy sections written by Bergman, with quotes from those who knew her, personal letters, and diary notes. Therefore the book emerges as a fairly complete look at the life and career of Bergman, although one senses that certain things were probably swept under the rug. Born in Sweden where she became a film actress fairly easily, Hollywood took notice of her in Intermezzo, and set out to make an American version with Leslie Howard. Bergman hit the heights with such films as Casablanca, Notorious, Spellbound, Gaslight, Joan of Arc and others, earning more than one Oscar, before her career was nearly derailed by her adulterous affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini, who was also married and whose mistress was Anna Magnani. Leaving her husband and daughter, Bergman flew to Italy to make Stromboli with her lover; they later married and made a series of indifferent films such as Fear before they, too, divorced. Bergman managed to survive the scandal, marrying for a third time (a union which also ended in divorce) and came back to Hollywood for Anastasia and subsequent films. Although described as a great beauty and not a typical actress, Bergman was not really beautiful in the conventional sense, although she was a great actress. Like most movie stars, she wanted what she wanted when she wanted it, and first husband Petter [sic] Lindstrom was jettisoned in favor of a more romantic type who was also an artist with whom she could, presumably, make masterpieces that never quite materialized. There is only a little behind-the-scenes details about Bergman's movies, but a great deal about her personal life and impressions of intimates. The truth about Bergman is that her primary concern throughout her life was her career, and considering her talent, she probably made the right, if difficult, choices.

Verdict: The Life and Times of Ingrid Bergman. ***1/2.

LA PAURA (FEAR)

Ingrid Bergman 

LA PAURA (aka Fear aka Non credo piu all'amore/1954). Director: Roberto Rossellini.

Irene Wagner (Ingrid Bergman), whose husband spent some time in jail, has drifted into an affair with Eric Baumann (Kurt Kreuger). Irene and her husband Alberto (Mathias Wieman) run a pharmaceutical company together and their children, who live in the country, are cared for by a nanny. Although Irene wants to break things off with Eric, she finds herself being blackmailed by an alleged old girlfriend of Eric's named Joanna (Renate Mannhardt). Then things get worse ... La Paura is an Italian "B" movie that has a lovely ending and is reasonably engaging without ever quite hitting a dramatic high note. The acting is good, with Bergman, as usual, giving a superior performance. Bergman left her husband and daughter four years earlier to be with the director of the film, Rossellini, but the scandal eventually died down after she divorced Rossellini [Voyage to Italy] three years after making this film and she came back to Hollywood. Based on a novel by Stefan Zweig.

Verdict: Has some suspense and intriguing situations, but decidedly minor. **1/2.

JOURNEY TO ITALY / VOYAGE TO ITALY

Odd pairing: George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman

JOURNEY TO ITALY (aka Viaggio in Italia/1954). Director: Roberto Rossellini.

"I've never seen noise and boredom go so well together." 

Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Alex (George Sanders) travel to Italy to look at a house she has inherited from a late uncle. This house is in the shadow of Vesuvius, and the same can be said of the Joyce's marriage. As he joins friends in Capri, and she tours Naples, both dwell on the utter barrenness of their lives together. [It's hard to understand why she ever married such a cold fish in the first place.] Once you get past the bizarre sight of such different actors as Bergman and Sanders in the same movie -- both are excellent, however, and play quite well together -- what you're left with is a fair-to-middling travelogue and decidedly minor marital drama. It's like Rossellini cobbled this together to show off his lover Bergman as well as some historic points of Italy. The best scene has the couple in Pompeii where they are excavating the remains of a man and woman who died in the eruption. Moved by the awful fate of the ancient couple, as well as the fate of her marriage, Katherine bursts into tears and runs off. This is a lovely scene, but unfortunately the rest of the movie doesn't measure up. [There is also a nice scene when she remembers a poet who cared for her and who died]. One doesn't expect yowling soap opera, but something perhaps with more of a story, better-developed characters, some dramatic tension. Some may appreciate the understated tone, while others will find this worth only a shrug. Very nice musical score [from various sources] and a good supporting cast.The ending is completely unconvincing, and the film as a whole is superficial, although many consider it quite influential.

Verdict: With a stronger script and better-developed plot this could have been a contender. **.

NOTORIOUS

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman

NOTORIOUS (1946). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is the daughter of a German-born traitor who is imprisoned after a trial. The government, in the person of Devlin (Cary Grant), persuades Alicia to spy for them on an old admirer, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), who is one member of a Nazi enclave in Rio, where he lives in a big house with his termagant mother (Leopoldine Konstantin). Although Devlin is falling in love with Alicia and vice versa, he can't forget her past as a good-time party girl and, not wanting to get hurt, keeps throwing it at her. [One has to suspend disbelief over the whole business of a government agent having a relationship with a woman  for which he is an official liaison!] Each victims of their own pride, neither Alicia nor Devlin protest when it is suggested that she actually marry Sebastian so she can enter the household itself and accrue more information as to their plans. But if Sebastian or his mother should find out the truth ...? Bergman, Grant, and Rains -- not to mention Konstantin and the supporting cast -- all give excellent performances in this smooth Hitchcock thriller with a tense, rewarding climax. Hitchcock subtly maintains a sinister aura greatly aided by Rains and Konstantin and their unpleasant associates. Fay Baker, playing a partying friend of Alicia's, was Bette Davis' greedy sister in The Star and was a Mother-from-Hell in Sorority Girl.

Verdict: Definitely a strange romance with a fascinating heroine. ***1/2.

THE VISIT

THE VISIT (1964). Director: Bernhard Wicki.

A small European town that is on the verge of bankruptcy drums up a big welcome for a wealthy widow, Karla (Ingrid Bergman), who left the village at 17. Karla has what seems like a happy reunion with her girlhood lover, Serge (Anthony Quinn), who dumped her to marry the daughter of the town's most successful tradesman. At a dinner arranged for Karla, the multi-millionairess cuts through the bull and explains how Serge refused to accept responsibility for her pregnancy, and even hired two other men to say they had slept with Karla. Karla's baby was taken from her -- it later died -- and she was driven out of town as a whore. Now she tells everyone that she will not only give money to the town but to each individual citizen -- if Serge (whom she still loves) is put to death! Serge is at first confident that her offer will be completely rejected by his friends and fellow townspeople, but he is surprised by the depths of human greed.

Based on a play, this is not talky or stage-bound, but it still remains unsatisfying. There are so many fascinating ramifications to the basic situation that are only touched upon. Ingrid Bergman is quite effective as Karla -- Quinn is less so but not bad -- but Wicki's direction is pedestrian. This lacks the dramatic fervor and poignancy that it requires, and it doesn't help that Serge never seems to come to terms with his guilt. The Visit looks good, but it percolates without coming to a boil.

Verdict: Doesn't make the most of its fascinating premise. **1/2.