Walpurgis Night / Valborgsmässoafton (1935) [Criterion Collection]

Director: Gustaf Edgren
Writers: Oscar Rydqvist (a film story by), Gustaf Edgren (a film story by)
Stars: Lars Hanson, Karin Kavli, Victor Sjöström

Lena (Ingrid Bergman) is in love with her married boss, Johan (Lars Hanson), in this romantic drama that takes Sweden’s declining birth rate as a backdrop and stirred up controversy with its depiction of abortion. While Lena dreams of marriage and motherhood, Johan’s wife is staunchly 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.

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.





Thanks to original uploader