The Count of the Old Town / Munkbrogreven (1935) [Criterion Collection]

Director: Edvin Adolphson, Sigurd Wallén (uncredited)
Writers: Siegfried Fischer (play), Arthur Fischer (play)
Stars: Valdemar Dalquist, Julia Cæsar, Sigurd Wallén

Ingrid 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 eccentrics, The Count of the Old Town offered Bergman a chance to show off her all-too-rarely displayed comedy skills.

Extras:
- None

Eclipse Series 46: Ingrid Bergman’s Swedish Years:
- The Count of the Old Town / Munkbrogreven (1935)
- Walpurgis Night / Valborgsmässoafton (1935)
- Intermezzo (1936)
- Dollar (1938)
- A Woman's Face / En kvinnas ansikte (1938)
- June Nights / Juninatten (1940)

Ingrid Bergman appeared in eleven 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 direction of filmmakers such as the prolific studio hand 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 took Bergman to America—exhibit the precociously assured talent of a young artist with an illustrious international career ahead of her.





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