The Seventh Seal

Data
Title: Det sjunde inseglet
Year: 1957
Length: 96 minutes
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson
Music: Erik Nordgren
Distinctions: currently #104 on IMDb’s Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a 14th-Century Nihilist/Crusader stalls Death with a game of chess
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great. If there’s any subject that’s suited to Bergman, it’s challenging Death with a strong dose of bubonic plague thrown in.
Story: Okay. The concept is good enough to carry the story most of the way, but it doesn’t live up to its potential.
Characters: Good. When they weren’t too busy being Very Nihilist and feeling sorry for themselves about it, they seemed like nice enough characters. Death in particular is quite nice.
Dialog: Indifferent. There are a few excellent exchanges, but a lot of the dialog is just spouting of bad philosophy.
Pacing: Eh.
Cinematography: Good. Great visuals, but it’s kind of hard to see some things through all the shadows.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Great.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). Maybe worth seeing once due to its cultural contributions.
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for dialog and pacing) 7/10 (Pretty good).

Witness for the Prosecution

Title: Witness for the Prosecution
Year: 1957
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Larry Marcus, Billy Wilder & Harry Kurnitz, based on the play by Agatha Christie
Starring: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton
Music: Matty Malneck
Distinctions: currently #129 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 116 minutes
Synopsis: a man’s wife testifies against him at his murder trial
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and music)

Very entertaining, especially Laughton’s performance.  I think snarky wit is the foundation of the English legal process.  I never would have seen the ending coming even if I’d had reason to expect a twist – but I didn’t have reason, because it still would have been a good movie without the twist.

Wild Strawberries

Title: Smultronstället
Year: 1957
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin
Music: Erik Nordgren
Distinctions: currently #132 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 91 minutes
Synopsis: an old man on a road trip faces his mortality
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for concept, story, pacing and subjective rating)

Slow and boring. Great music. I always complain about the Nihilist outlook of this sort of mid-century European art film. But in this case, the ending is up beat, and it just confuses me. I do not know what to make of a happy Ingmar Bergman character.

Nights of Cabiria

Title: Le notti di Cabiria
Year: 1957
Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli & Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on the novel by Maria Molinari
Starring: Giulietta Masina, François Périer, Franca Marzi
Music: Nino Rota
Distinctions: Oscar for best foreign language film; currently #143 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a prostitute copes with being low-class
Length: 117 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 5/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for concept, story, pacing and subjective rating)

Masina’s performance and character are entertaining, but it’s a pretty slow movie. There’s not much of a plot, and what little there is doesn’t really get started until over half way though.

Sweet Smell of Success

Title: Sweet Smell of Success
Year: 1957
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Writer: Clifford Odets & Ernest Lehman, based on the novella by Ernest Lehman
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner
Music: Elmer Bernstein
Distinctions: currently #224 on the IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a slime-ball newspaper gossip-monger schemes to control his sister’s life
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), March 2008
Subjective Rating: 3/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for story, dialog, pacing and music)

A character-driven story in which the characters are not even remotely likable. There’s depth to them, and they are not meant to be likable, but I need to relate to somebody or something if I’m going to give a crap about the movie. The plot is okay, with lots of twists and turns and intrigue. They had a lot of fun with the dialog (“I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.”), although the delivery is typical classic Hollywood shoot-the-lines-out-as-fast-as-possible. Overall it just struck me as unexceptional film-making.