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poliphilo I've been excited to discover there''s an Ingmar Bergman channel on YouTube. It has some of the movies, including the full TV versions of Fanny and Alexander and Scenes from a Marriage, but also some real rarities- in particular a number of obscure TV productions going back to the fifties. Bergman directing Moliere, Bergman directing Strindberg. Last night I watched Painting on Wood, the short, self-authored play that provided the raw materials for The Seventh Seal. It's not particularly good, but it's interesting and odd- and you can see why Bergman didn't want to let the matter rest. All the characters are there- more or less- though the role of the jester was split in two for the movie, there's no chess challenge, the knight is silent (having had his tongue removed by Saracens) and everything takes place on a single set. According to Bergman (in Magic Lantern) the knight had to be silent- and have other characters speak for him- because the actor looked imposing but was crap. It's an example of a creator adapting to circumstances- and making the best of a bad job. Of course by the time he came to make the movie Max von Sydow was available for casting...
I made another discovery- a Shakespeare Channel with a vast archive of material- mostly radio and TV productions- again going way back in time. I watched the beginning of John Barton's three-part Wars of the Roses (based on the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III)- which I was bowled over by in the 60s. I may or may not persevere. In its time it was groundbreaking. Now its just an historical artefact- with lots of plummy voiced actors being Dukes and Dolphins (Dauphins). Janet Suzman is terrific as Joan la Pucelle- a Joan conceived- in order to make the English look good- as a charismatic, demon-driven sorceress...
I made another discovery- a Shakespeare Channel with a vast archive of material- mostly radio and TV productions- again going way back in time. I watched the beginning of John Barton's three-part Wars of the Roses (based on the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III)- which I was bowled over by in the 60s. I may or may not persevere. In its time it was groundbreaking. Now its just an historical artefact- with lots of plummy voiced actors being Dukes and Dolphins (Dauphins). Janet Suzman is terrific as Joan la Pucelle- a Joan conceived- in order to make the English look good- as a charismatic, demon-driven sorceress...
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Date: 2023-11-16 08:40 am (UTC)I don't know if that link will work but typing "Ingmar Bergman Channel" into the search engine should find it
I didn't know Painting on Wood had been filmed either. Bergman kept quiet about it- probably because he hoped it would be forgotten....