Unfortunately, many people these days think Ingmar Bergman is the star of Casablanca. In actuality, he is a brilliant and prolific filmmaker. I know that quite a few RMers know who he is and have seen some of his movies, but there are still many who have not. For those of you who have not seen a Bergman film, I recommend you check him out. And for those of you who have seen some of his films, I urge you to watch some of his lesser known works, which are often just as brilliant as the most popular ones.

Below I have ranked all of the Bergman films I've seen, and I have given a brief description of each one. Some of these films cannot be described in so few words, but I did my best. This list is totally my subjective opinion.

I have also discussed the availability of each of the films. This is geared mostly to those in North America, since that's where I'm at, but I also mention when a film is only available on DVD in the UK (in PAL format, of course).

Note: I frequently use the word, "melodrama," to describe Bergman's early films. I realize this word has many negative connotations today, but when I speak of "melodrama," I do not mean to convey any negative meaning. I use the original definition of the word, referring to emotionally charged dramas about the relationships between contemporary characters.

The list:

1. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
An amazing film, Fanny and Alexander is as rich and engrossing as a Charles Dickens novel. The film opens with a Christmas party, where we meet all the colorful members of the Ekdahl family, including two children, Fanny and Alexander. After the lengthy party sequence, Fanny and Alexander's father dies while rehearsing a scene from Hamlet. After their mother remarries to a puritanical bishop, the kids try to adapt to their new life, which is the complete opposite of the exuberant life they used to lead. This film features everything that is great about Bergman: drama, mystery, humor, and a little fantasy.

Availability: On Criterion DVD are both the three-hour theatrical release and the five-hour cut that was later shown as a miniseries on Swedish television. As intimidating as it may be, I recommend watching the five-hour version.


2. Persona (1966)
This is one of Bergman's most complex and baffling films. The movie opens with an enigmatic montage of images, and then launches into the title sequence. The story starts after that, focusing on a nurse who is put in charge of looking after an actress who suddenly stopped talking. Words cannot describe the experience of watching this film. I recommend this one to fans of David Lynch.

Availability: MGM DVD.


3. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Bergman isn't known for his comedies, but Smiles of a Summer Night may be the best romantic comedy ever made.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


4. Shame (1968)
My favorite war movie, Shame takes a unique approach to the subject: instead of focusing on the soldiers fighting the war, the film follows two civilians caught up in it. Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow play a married couple whose relationship is put to the test as they find themselves in the middle of a civil war on a small island.

Availability: MGM DVD.


5. Summer With Monika (1953)
Highly entertaining early Bergman melodrama about a teenage couple who run away together and live on a motorboat. Despite occasionally sloppy filmmaking and writing, this film holds up extremely well. It also contains one of my favorite shots in the history of cinema.

Availability: Unfortunately, this isn't available on DVD in the USA. It's on DVD in the UK and on VHS in the US. I haven't seen the VHS, so I don't know how good the quality is, but the UK DVD is excellent.


6. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
This is probably the only Bergman film that could be considered a horror movie, but it is not conventional horror. It is a slow, psychological horror, somewhat like The Shining. David Lynch has cited this movie as one of his major influences.

Availability: MGM DVD.


7. Scenes From a Marriage (1973)
The greatest film ever made about marriage (except for perhaps Stanley Donen's Two for the Road), this stars Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson as the couple that has a seemingly perfect marriage at the start of the film. Over the course of the film, that marriage disintegrates in front of our eyes. This is Bergman's most realistic film and was shot on 16mm, giving it an in-your-face, no-nonsense feel.

Availability: Like Fanny and Alexander, this is available on Criterion DVD in both a three-hour theatrical cut and a five-hour miniseries. Although the five-hour version is a deeper experience, the theatrical cut is still very much worth watching.


8. Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)
Outstanding film about the ringmaster of a traveling circus and his mistress. This is the earliest movie to fully display all of Bergman's talents.

Availability: Only available on VHS, this film is just crying out for the DVD treatment (Criterion, please).


9. Cries and Whispers (1972)
The most haunting film in Bergman's catalogue. My first viewing of the film left me cold, but subsequent viewings have rendered me breathless. It is about two estranged sisters, along with a maid, looking after their dying sister. Flashbacks reveal more info about the sisters and the maid, but the plot is not really the point here. It is the mood, the feeling, and the emotion. It's chilling!

Availability: Criterion DVD.


10. The Magic Flute (1975)
Excellent adaptation of the famous Mozart opera. It starts out as a filmed opera on a stage, but becomes much more cinematic as it goes on. Loads of fun.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


11. The Silence (1963)
There isn't much of a plot, but this film has interesting characters and incredible atmosphere. The movie is an experience, rather than just a good story. Recommended to Stanley Kubrick fans.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


12. The Seventh Seal (1957)
Bergman's most famous movie, and also one of his deepest and most thought-provoking. I don't rate it quite as highly as others, but I still think it's great.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


13. The Magician (1958)
Both intriguing and entertaining, the film focuses on a magician and his troupe, who are challenged by a local police chief to prove that their magic is real. Great mix of comedy, drama, and suspense.

Availability: VHS in U.S. DVD in UK. I have the VHS, and the quality is pretty bad. I'm sure the UK DVD is much better, but I haven't seen it.


14. Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
A young schizophrenic woman, recently released from a mental hospital, spends a vacation with her husband, brother, and father on a small island. With excellent cinematography and a great performance by Harriet Andersson, who slowly descends back into the madness that landed her in the institution, this is definitely a worthwhile viewing experience.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


15. Wild Strawberries (1957)
I seem to be one of the few people who is not in love with Victor Sjöström's performance in this movie. I find his performance very one-note, but this is still a great movie. Thoughtful and reflective, but also funny and charming, Wild Strawberries is often cited as Bergman's best film.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


16. Dreams (1955)
Bergman himself says this is a boring film, and critics tend to hate this one, but for some reason, I just love it! The film follows a fashion editor and her top model on a trip to another country, where each one has an affair with a married man. Not one of Bergman's deepest works, but it's fun, dramatic, and entertaining.

Availability: VHS.


17. From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)
Opening scene features a man brutally murdering a prostitute. The rest of the film jumps back and forth between the events that led up to the murder and the investigation that follows it. Very interesting and engrossing. This is the only Bergman film in German.

Availability: DVD in UK.


18. Saraband (2003)
The couple from Scenes from a Marriage reunites after not seeing each other for thirty years. Great movie, although Bergman does not have the zest that he had in his younger days.

Availability: Sony DVD.


19. The Virgin Spring (1960)
Great medieval drama about a young girl who is brutally raped and murdered on her way to church. Her killers unknowingly seek refuge at the girl's house. When her father finds out who they are, there is hell to pay. A slow but rewarding film that brings to mind the filmmaking style of Akira Kurosawa. Most modern viewers know The Virgin Spring as the movie that inspired Wes Craven's Last House on the Left.

Availability: Criterion DVD coming January 24! Currently on VHS.


20. Autumn Sonata (1978)
Good drama about a strained mother-daughter relationship, featuring the great Ingrid Bergman (no relation) in one of her last performances, along with Bergman regular Liv Ullmann. Excellent movie, but not quite as powerful as I think it could be.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


21. Secrets of Women (1952)
Three women tell each other stories about their marriages. The first story is a little dull, the second story is outstanding, and the third is a cute comedy that foreshadows Bergman's other forays into comedy.

Availability: VHS. DVD in UK as Waiting Women.


22. Three Strange Loves (1949)
One of the best of Bergman's early melodramas.

Availability: VHS. DVD in UK.


23. Face to Face (1976)
Not one of Bergman's best, but this film is worth watching for Liv Ullmann's outstanding performance.

Availability: Never officially released on home video. I have a bootleg copy.


24. Port of Call (1948)
Well done melodrama. Brings to mind the works of Elia Kazan.

Availability: VHS. DVD in UK.


25. Brink of Life (1958)
Pretty good drama set in a hospital's maternity ward.

Availability: Never officially released on home video. I have a bootleg copy.


26. The Rite (1969)
A judge questions three actors, investigating their supposedly pornographic performance. An interesting but uneven film.

Availability: DVD in UK.


27. The Devil's Eye (1960)
Good comedy where Satan sends Don Juan back to Earth to take a young girl's virginity. Not as funny as it could be, but it's still an entertaining film.

Availability: VHS.


28. Summer Interlude (1951)
This one falls in the "early melodrama" category. Fairly entertaining, but nowhere near as deep and engrossing as most later Bergman works.

Availability: VHS. DVD in UK.


29. After the Rehearsal (1984)
A 70-minute film set entirely in a theatre after a rehearsal. Pretty good.

Availability: VHS.


30. The Passion of Anna (1969)
Slow drama. A little dull for this period in Bergman's career, but not without its rewards.

Availability: MGM DVD.


31. Winter Light (1963)
Highly acclaimed drama about a priest questioning his faith. For some reason, I find it rather dull, but I've only seen it once, so with another viewing, maybe I will see it differently.

Availability: Criterion DVD.


32. All These Women (1964)
Zany comedy that is trashed by most critics. Not subtle in the least, but it's colorful and mildly entertaining.

Availability: DVD in UK. Might be on VHS in the U.S., but I'm not sure.


33. Crisis (1946)
Bergman's first movie. A decent melodrama with only small hints of the greatness to come.

Availability: DVD in UK.


34. A Lesson in Love (1954)
Romantic comedy. Light and fun, paving the way for his much better Smiles of a Summer Night.

Availability: VHS. DVD in UK.


35. To Joy (1950)
Another of his early melodramas. Not bad, but far from his best.

Availability: VHS. DVD in UK.


36. The Serpent's Egg (1977)
A Bergman film starring David Carradine! In English! Some interesting stuff, but the horrible dialogue really brings this one down.

Availability: MGM DVD.


37. The Touch (1971)
This was Bergman's first of two films in English. The dialogue is even worse and more on the nose in this one than in The Serpent's Egg.

Availability: Never officially released on home video. I have a bootleg copy.

I thought The Seventh Seal was a fantastic film, and Wild Strawberries and The Virgin Spring are at the top of my to-see list. Though I wouldn't mind seeing them all eventually.

quite possibly the most unsettling film i have ever seen.

also, dont' forget his soap commercials

Wow, thank you so much. Nice work.

My sentiments exactly. Of all the influential foreign filmmakers, Bergman is the one I know next to nothing about. I'm gonna have to join Netflix or something so I can get these more obscure films for rent.

The Seventh Seal is just a rip-off of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.

that and the animaniacs

I just put several of these on my queue at netflix

hahaha...(saddest thig is that it might be true)
grerat job anyways..I still have a lot of his work to watch

I've only seen:

The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
Autumn Sonata
A Lesson in Love

But I've got more of them in my queue at Boxman (a lesser Netflix for Swedes).

Wow, thanks for the summations. Quite a piece of work there. I have seen the following:

Saraband
Fanny and Alexander
Scenes from a Marriage
Persona
The Silence
Winter Light
Through a Glass Darkly
The Virgin Spring
Wild Strawberries
The Seventh Seal

Of these, my favorite is Winter Light, followed by The Virgin Spring and Fanny and Alexander. I especially love two things about Bergman: First, his attentiveness to detail in human relationships. Not only does he write spectacular dialogue, but he follows a person's actions to their end result. I also love his ability to engage some of the biggest questions about life, and do so with such vigor that we cannot help but consider them ourselves.

I plan on seeing Smiles of a Summer Night and Cries and Whispers next.

I had the pleasure of watching Persona last week. Beautiful images, amazingly surreal and simple.

Update:

Fanny and Alexander
Scenes From a Marriage
Cries and Whispers
The Seventh Seal
Persona
The Silence
Wild Strawberries
Through a Glass Darkly
Winter Light
Hour of the Wolf
Smiles of a Summer Night
Autumn Sonata
A Lesson in Love

I guess they are somewhat in order of preference, but it's not set in stone.

I've seen Scenes From A Marriage, Wild Strawberries, and Through A Glass Darkly. Winter Light and The Silence are next.

Criterion is fulfilling my wishes and releasing the fantastic 'Sawdust and Tinsel' on November 20. I'm so excited!

good thread