Bergman's ventures into English-speaking cinema were notoriously disastrous. And one must ask how much one should view this as a Bergman film or as simply a film. Objectivity is a must.
David Carradine never made a good film, but a good director can use a bad actor. Indeed, think of Welles using Heston and Leigh in "Touch of Evil," in fact, Carradine's commentary on the MGM DVD resembles Heston's comments on working with Welles. And had this been a svenkfilm with a minuscule budget, Bergman probably could have although he was much more of an "actor's director" than Welles was.
But it's hard to figure out what Bergman was really after with this, and we can only assume that he was too overwhelmed with the size of the crew, and perhaps associated his old films with his estranged home country, driving him to similarly cast off his previous ways. But this is a portrait, a period piece. Fear and paranoia are at large (the dialogue makes this VERY explicit), and virtually every cliché aspect of the political thrillers from the early 70s are implemented.
Probably the most intentional and most admirable aspect of the film is how it parallels the film-making styles with those contemporary to the setting. This is an intriguing idea, adapted by Merhige for "Shadow of the Vampire." And Nykvist is certainly up to the task, shooting hauntingly dark back alleyways and staircases. "Caligari's" influence is beyond the obvious mental institution associations, but the way the character's paranoia (beyond the horrid dialogue) is transferred to the camera following him. Add the Pabst-esquire cabaret scenes and this could be a full-fledged expressionist homage, but it doesn't compensate for the banal script and the conspiracy undertones. Even the Camera, the film's greatest aspect, is polluted with 70s-ish zooms and focus pulls, resembling something by Jewison or Siegel.
Still we can allow a certain amount of artistic purging in the timeline of Bergman's career. And if this was a necessary step to "Sonata" and "Fanny," than it is certainly worth it.
2 out of 5 - Bad outweighs the good
David Carradine never made a good film, but a good director can use a bad actor. Indeed, think of Welles using Heston and Leigh in "Touch of Evil," in fact, Carradine's commentary on the MGM DVD resembles Heston's comments on working with Welles. And had this been a svenkfilm with a minuscule budget, Bergman probably could have although he was much more of an "actor's director" than Welles was.
But it's hard to figure out what Bergman was really after with this, and we can only assume that he was too overwhelmed with the size of the crew, and perhaps associated his old films with his estranged home country, driving him to similarly cast off his previous ways. But this is a portrait, a period piece. Fear and paranoia are at large (the dialogue makes this VERY explicit), and virtually every cliché aspect of the political thrillers from the early 70s are implemented.
Probably the most intentional and most admirable aspect of the film is how it parallels the film-making styles with those contemporary to the setting. This is an intriguing idea, adapted by Merhige for "Shadow of the Vampire." And Nykvist is certainly up to the task, shooting hauntingly dark back alleyways and staircases. "Caligari's" influence is beyond the obvious mental institution associations, but the way the character's paranoia (beyond the horrid dialogue) is transferred to the camera following him. Add the Pabst-esquire cabaret scenes and this could be a full-fledged expressionist homage, but it doesn't compensate for the banal script and the conspiracy undertones. Even the Camera, the film's greatest aspect, is polluted with 70s-ish zooms and focus pulls, resembling something by Jewison or Siegel.
Still we can allow a certain amount of artistic purging in the timeline of Bergman's career. And if this was a necessary step to "Sonata" and "Fanny," than it is certainly worth it.
2 out of 5 - Bad outweighs the good