Ingmar Bergman Volumes 1-4 (BFI)

[fatboyslim142]

Ingmar Bergman, Volume 1 (4 of the 8 films are NOT in the Criterion BD set)



Volume 1 specs/info:

INGMAR BERGMAN
VOLUME 1

Limited Edition (5,000 copies only) 5-disc Blu-ray box set containing eight films, released on 26 July 2021

Three films* from Volume 1 will be released on BFI Player Subscription on 9 August

All films in Volume 1 will be released on iTunes and Amazon Prime on 16 August

For more than 50 years, Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) produced groundbreaking works of cinema that established him as one of the world’s most acclaimed, enduring and influential filmmakers. Ingmar Bergman: Volume 1, released by the BFI on 26 July 2021, is the first of a four-volume celebration of the auteur’s work – available on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK – and reflects on the opening stages of Bergman’s career.

Presented over five discs, this beautifully packaged box set features 2K restorations of eight early films (1944-1950) written or directed by Bergman, including initial partnerships with regular collaborators such as cinematographer Gunnar Fischer and actor Birger Malmsten. These early works exhibit his burgeoning talents, introducing themes and tones that he would continue to develop over the following five decades. The discs are packaged with a 100-page perfect bound book and contain additional special features, details below. The films in Volume 1 are:

TORMENT (1944): Directed by Alf Sjöberg, Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman

CRISIS* (1946): Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman

MUSIC IN DARKNESS (1948): Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay by Dagmar Edqvist

EVA (1948): Directed by Gustaf Molander, Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman

PORT OF CALL* (1948): Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman

PRISON (1949): Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman

THIRST (1949): Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay by Herbert Grevenius

TO JOY* (1950): Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Screenplay by Ingmar Bergman

Special features
• The Guardian Interview: Ingmar Bergman (1982, 62 mins, audio only): Ingmar Bergman pays tribute to Alf Sjöberg, the director of Torment, discussing his influence and impact on his own career
• Ingmar Bergman: First Cries, Early Whispers (2021, 20 mins): a new video essay by writer, filmmaker and film journalist Leigh Singer
• 100-page perfect-bound book featuring new essays by Jan Holmberg (CEO of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation), Philip Kemp, Geoff Andrew, Jessica Kiang, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Kat Ellinger and Laura Hubner

Ingmar Bergman, Volume 2




Volume 2 specs/info:

Presented over six discs, Ingmar Bergman: Volume 2 features eight landmark titles by the iconic filmmaker – presented together on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. These include the Palme d’Or-nominated comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the introspective meditation on old age and human existence, Wild Strawberries (1957) and the iconic exploration of faith and death, The Seventh Seal (1957).


The films:

Summer Interlude (1951)
Waiting Women (1952)
Summer with Monika (1953)
A Lesson in Love (1954)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Magician (1958)



Please note that our distribution rights mean that this release is only available to customers in the UK (and related territories).

Extras:

Audio commentary on The Seventh Seal by film critic and editor-in-chief of Diabolique magazine, Kat Ellinger
Perfect-bound book featuring new essays by David Jenkins, Ellen Cheshire, Leigh Singer, Kieron McCormack, Philip Kemp, Jessica Kiang, Geoff Andrew and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Newly commissioned artwork by Andrew Bannister
Other extras TBC

Ingmar Bergman, Volume 3

Ingmar Bergman, Volume 4

[jackranderson]

Looks great but I wonder how much over-lap the future volumes are going to have with the Criterion set.

[dkelly26666]

I may have to get at least Volume 1, as it has FOUR films not in the Criterion set. There are also still a few from his late career that weren't in the Criterion set, either.

[Murray Futterman]

Originally Posted by jackranderson

Looks great but I wonder how much over-lap the future volumes are going to have with the Criterion set.

Ben Stoddart was asked on Facebook if any of the future sets will also include films not in the Criterion box, and he replied

"at first glance, no. Rights wise, no company will ever do a Bergman collection that has everything in it. It would be impossible. We are likely going to do Faithless as a standalone release down the line which isn't in the Criterion set. The focus of that release will be more Liv Ullman than Ingmar Bergman."

[havalina]

If they basically got all the films Tartan had probably looking at something like:

v2 1950s:
Summer Interlude 1950
Summer With Monika 1952
Waiting Women 1952
A Lesson in Love 1954
Smiles of a Summer Night 1955
Seventh Seal 1957
Wild Strawberries 1957
The Magician 1958

v3 1960s:
The Devil's Eye 1960
The Virgin Spring 1960
Through a Glass Darkly 1961
Winter Light 1962
The Silence 1963
All These Women 1964
Persona 1966
The Rite 1969

v4 Later Work:
[The Touch 1971]
Cries & Whispers 1972
Scenes from a Marriage 1974
[The Magic Flute 1975]
Autumn Sonata 1978
From the Life of the Marionettes 1980
Fanny & Alexander 1982
After the Rehearsal 1984
Saraband 2003


Left off Sawdust & Tinsel since that's subsequently been in both the AE box and a Criterion release.

The Touch and The Magic Flute in brackets as they are previous BFI releases but not Tartan I don't think. If they include the miniseries of Scenes and Fanny & Alex, they'd probably leave these off.

[mattyl149]

I managed to upgrade most of my Tartan Bergman DVD collection and now with this set, I can replace Prison, Music In Darkness, Eva and Torment. These had no special features on the DVDs anyway

That leaves me with Saraband and Persona which I kept for special features which weren't on the Criterion set. Hopefully those are on those other sets. I also kept the Tartan Seventh Seal Blu-ray as that also has special features not on the Criterion set so hopefully I can also replace that one

[Ozu Teapot]

Volume 1 is a must buy for me as a big Bergman fan for the four films not included on the Criterion Bergman's Cinema set. For the future volumes, if havalina's predictions are correct and by Ben Stoddart's Facebook comments, it may well depend on how I rate the extras!

There's a lot of interesting Bergman TV movies and plays which are unreleased afaik and it'd be great if they could get some of them, even Bergman's Bris soap ads! I feel I read around the time of Bergman's centenary in 2018 that Svensk Filmindustri had been restoring "everything" Bergman so the stuff might be there.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by havalina

If they basically got all the films Tartan had probably looking at something like:

v2 1950s:
Summer Interlude 1950
Summer With Monika 1952
Waiting Women 1952
A Lesson in Love 1954
Smiles of a Summer Night 1955
Seventh Seal 1957
Wild Strawberries 1957
The Magician 1958

v3 1960s:
The Devil's Eye 1960
The Virgin Spring 1960
Through a Glass Darkly 1961
Winter Light 1962
The Silence 1963
All These Women 1964
Persona 1966
The Rite 1969

v4 Later Work:
[The Touch 1971]
Cries & Whispers 1972
Scenes from a Marriage 1974
[The Magic Flute 1975]
Autumn Sonata 1978
From the Life of the Marionettes 1980
Fanny & Alexander 1982
After the Rehearsal 1984
Saraband 2003


Left off Sawdust & Tinsel since that's subsequently been in both the AE box and a Criterion release.

The Touch and The Magic Flute in brackets as they are previous BFI releases but not Tartan I don't think. If they include the miniseries of Scenes and Fanny & Alex, they'd probably leave these off.

They've already released 2 of these.

BFI have released 3 Bergman things individually:







Play for Today includes The Lie which was also done for Swedish TV in 1970.

& they also released this documentary about Bergman in 1957.

[CelestialAgent]

GIF of the following sets

https://twitter.com/BFI/status/1387754076012793860?s=20

The Seventh Seal, Persona, Cries and Whispers?

[JoePo]

As an owner of the Criterion set I might pick up vol.1 if it's going cheap one day but based on what I've seen so far I can mostly take or leave his 40s stuff.

[Nedoflanders]

Finally!

It's a shame they've arrived this late, I imagine most of the Bergman aficionados have already imported the Criterion mammoth (including myself). Put me down for the first set though (even if I would prefer individual releases - really hate double-dipping).

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by Ozu Teapot

Volume 1 is a must buy for me as a big Bergman fan for the four films not included on the Criterion Bergman's Cinema set. For the future volumes, if havalina's predictions are correct and by Ben Stoddart's Facebook comments, it may well depend on how I rate the extras!

There's a lot of interesting Bergman TV movies and plays which are unreleased afaik and it'd be great if they could get some of them, even Bergman's Bris soap ads! I feel I read around the time of Bergman's centenary in 2018 that Svensk Filmindustri had been restoring "everything" Bergman so the stuff might be there.

There are 5 NOT included in the Criterion set.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by havalina

If they basically got all the films Tartan had probably looking at something like:

v2 1950s:
Summer Interlude 1950
Summer With Monika 1952
Waiting Women 1952
A Lesson in Love 1954
Smiles of a Summer Night 1955
Seventh Seal 1957
Wild Strawberries 1957
The Magician 1958

v3 1960s:
The Devil's Eye 1960
The Virgin Spring 1960
Through a Glass Darkly 1961
Winter Light 1962
The Silence 1963
All These Women 1964
Persona 1966
The Rite 1969

v4 Later Work:
[The Touch 1971]
Cries & Whispers 1972
Scenes from a Marriage 1974
[The Magic Flute 1975]
Autumn Sonata 1978
From the Life of the Marionettes 1980
Fanny & Alexander 1982
After the Rehearsal 1984
Saraband 2003


Left off Sawdust & Tinsel since that's subsequently been in both the AE box and a Criterion release.

The Touch and The Magic Flute in brackets as they are previous BFI releases but not Tartan I don't think. If they include the miniseries of Scenes and Fanny & Alex, they'd probably leave these off.

From Facebook in regards to the TV/Extended versions of Fanny & Alexander & Scenes from a Marriage:

F&A yes. Scenes is a different rights holder though I likely will look into it. Realistically though, I haven’t got the resources to get it.

[Ozu Teapot]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

There are 5 NOT included in the Criterion set.

I make it four.

Perhaps you're thinking of Three Strange Loves which is on the Criterion set under it's alternative title of Thirst.

[UnionJackMix]

Did any of you read the bottom of the email from the BFI that states due to copyright issues the set won't be sold outside UK/Ireland? Is this only for the BFI store or also amazon? I never heard of restrictions to sell outside of the UK if it's still within Europe, or is it another wonderful side-effect of that gift that keeps on giving Brexit?

[Kyle15]

If any of these have better encode work on them I may pick up the bits with my favorites. Namely volume 3 and 4 by the looks of it.

[Dr. Feelgood]

Originally Posted by UnionJackMix

Did any of you read the bottom of the email from the BFI that states due to copyright issues the set won't be sold outside UK/Ireland? Is this only for the BFI store or also amazon? I never heard of restrictions to sell outside of the UK if it's still within Europe, or is it another wonderful side-effect of that gift that keeps on giving Brexit?

I logged in my BFI account and tried to pre-order it and got the copyright issues message.
The only other (after brexit) time that BFI did not ship certain items outside the UK, was during the last 2 for £25 Criterion sale. Whereas in Amazon there was no issue, so my guess is that the same will be case for the Bergman set (fingers crossed).
It is strange though, can't really understand what is forcing them to do so.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by Ozu Teapot

I make it four.

Perhaps you're thinking of Three Strange Loves which is on the Criterion set under it's alternative title of Thirst.

Think Ben Stoddart got it wrong & forgot that.

[The Hornets]

Originally Posted by Dr. Feelgood

I logged in my BFI account and tried to pre-order it and got the copyright issues message.
The only other (after brexit) time that BFI did not ship certain items outside the UK, was during the last 2 for £25 Criterion sale. Whereas in Amazon there was no issue, so my guess is that the same will be case for the Bergman set (fingers crossed).
It is strange though, can't really understand what is forcing them to do so.

I presume it's the same issue Second Sight had with the Dawn of the Dead where the copyright holder blocked them shipping direct sales outside UK.

However Amazon and Zavvi didn't have the restriction as there is nothing the copyright holder can do to stop them selling anywhere.

[CelestialAgent]

A few more insights from Ben in Facebook comments

The Lie (1970) won't be included.

These volumes will include the films you'd somewhat expect them to, basically a good guide is that it's the Tartan DVD Bergman releases on Blu-ray.

F&A [TV version] yes. Scenes [TV version] is a different rights holder though I likely will look into it. Realistically though, I haven’t got the resources to get it.