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Crisis
1946 Drama / Romance
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Credits
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Director: Ingmar Bergman
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Script: Ingmar Bergman, Leck Fischer (play)
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Photo: Gösta Roosling
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Music: Erland von Koch
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Cast: Inga Landgré (Nelly),
Stig Olin (Jack),
Dagny Lind (Ingeborg),
Marianne Löfgren (Jenny),
Allan Bohlin (Ulf),
Signe Wirff (Aunt Jessie),
Ernst Eklund (Uncle Edvard),
Svea Holst (Malin),
Arne Lindblad (The Mayor)
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Country: Sweden
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Language: Swedish
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Runtime: 93 min; B&W
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Aka: Kris
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Summary
18-year old Nelly lives an idyllic life with her adopted mother Ingeborg in a small provincial
town. One fateful day, her real mother, Jenny, appears, with the intention of taking
her back to Stockholm. At the town ball, Nelly succumbs to the charms of Jenny’s
erstwhile lover, Jack, who is a much more exciting proposition than her current suitor,
Ulf. After a humiliating showdown between Jack and Ulf, Nelly accepts Jenny’s
offer of a job in her Stockholm beauty salon. It isn’t long before she realises
the tragic consequences of her decision...
Review
"A bona fide fiasco" was how Ingmar Bergman described his directorial debut. Sweden’s
leading film production company Svensk Filmindustri commissioned him to direct Crisis
on the strength of his screenplay for Torment
(1944), a popular film which amply demonstrated Bergman’s skill as a writer.
Previously, Bergman had had some experience of directing stage plays and was chafing at
the bit to start directing films.
For the man who was destined to be recognised as one of the greatest filmmakers of
all time, it was hardly the most auspicious of beginnings. Bergman accepted a little too
eagerly the poisoned chalice of adapting a stodgy play (The
Mother Animal) by the Danish writer Leck Fischer. Although Bergman
managed to make some changes to the play (most notably the inclusion of Jack, the most
interesting character in the film), the story remained very much an old-fashioned and
rather laboured melodrama, marred by laughably superficial characterisation and some very
clumsy 1940s moralising.
However, the main difficulty the 26-year old Bergman
encountered whilst making this film was his own highly volatile temperament. His
lack of experience and unwillingness to trust others who knew their craft better than
he did resulted in bad working relationships with almost his entire cast and crew.
Bergman succeeded in alienating himself to such a degree that the production came close
to being aborted. The great Swedish cineaste Victor Sjöström was brought
on board to keep Bergman in line, offering friendly advice and serving as his supervisor/mentor.
Bergman was so grateful to Sjöström that he later gave him a part in one of
his early films, To
Joy (1950), and then the lead role in
Wild Strawberries (1957).
In view
of the obstacles Bergman faced in making this film, it’s surprising that it stands up
as well as it does. The banality of the subject didn’t seem to dampen the director’s
enthusiasm for experimentation, and the film does indeed reveal a director with considerable
talent. The beautifully atmospheric scenes set in the Swedish capital in the second
half of the film show the influence of American film noir and French poetic realism.
Bergman’s flair for innovative expression surfaces several times in the course of the
film, most memorably in a skilfully composed dream sequence (a recurring motif in his
subsequent work).
Whilst there are some touches of brilliance, the film’s deficiencies
are all too noticeable. The generally uninspired camerawork and stilted acting performances
make the film look less like a work of cinema and more like an unimaginatively shot repertory
stage play. The insubstantial storyline seems to drift with no clear focus and closes
with a painfully contrived ending. It’s hardly surprising that the film was both
a commercial and critical failure - it deserved no better.
The losses incurred
by this film prompted Svensk Filmindustri to cancel Bergman’s next project Sentimental
Journey (which would later be made as
Summer Interlude), and could well have cut
short Bergman’s filmmaking career. Fortunately, independent film producer Lorens
Marmstedt did see Bergman’s potential and immediately invited him to direct It
Rains on our Love, a far more attractive prospect than Crisis
. The rest, as they say, is history.
© James Travers 2007
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