Sawdust and Tinsel (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

The photography & direction are excellent. The female characters are credible, but the men are not truly lifelike. The actor Frans comes closest, but the stage director and circus men are more like types than real people. They are symbols of people trapped, or the forces trapping them, no more real than the soldiers of the opening scene. I'm not a fan of people as symbols rather than people as people. The former approach works fine in a Bunuel film or "O Lucky Man!" because their intention is to exaggerate by presenting the absurd. Their comment is on inherent illogic of life. Bergman's vision is one of the hopelessness of life, whether caused by circumstances or the individual's nature, though he seems to imply (correctly in my view) that the latter causes the former. Unfortunately, he makes the presentation hopeless by the implication that growth is impossible.As with "The Serpent's Egg", the vision is dark, insurmountable, and fatalistic. Such a view of life or mankind may be executed well, as it is here, but can never stir us within as can, for instance, "The Seventh Seal" or "Fanny and Alexander", both dark in different aspects - one in the knight's death, the other in the father's death and the restricted life the children endure - but both also offer a final scene in which a future life of growth and happiness is possible. In SS, the young couple survive and we can hope they'll continue human civiliztion; in F&A, the final speech by the precocious uncle tells us that despite all, we are duty bound to live life as best we can, to make the most of things. Neither film stirs us with sentimentality, yet they do stir us. "Sawdust & Tinsel" does not raise us up, does not give us much of a deeper sense of life. This is an existentialist message.The DVD commentary is well done, informative, and definitely adds to the esperience of the film. Without it, I would have given this only 3 stars.

There's just something about a circus setting in a movie that fascinates me, especially when it depicts the gypsy-like, carny lifestyle. This is what's at the heart of Ingmar Bergman's first masterpiece, SAWDUST AND TINSEL (1953), a film which is among my favorite of all of the director's work, along with THE SEVENTH SEAL and WILD STRAWBERRIES (both 1957). SAWDUST AND TINSEL tells the bitterly emotional story of an early 1900s travelling circus owner (Ake Gronberg) and his bareback rider girlfriend (Harriet Andersson) who long for a better life, but ultimately face the fact that they're stuck with their lot and must make the most of it.Although relatively early in Bergman's career, the film is no less brilliant than his later work, as it already contains his characteristic symbolism and psychologically complex protagonists. Gronberg and Andersson both give memorable, parodoxical performances; volatile, yet at the same time sensitive and vulnerable. There's a potent eroticism raging between them, which is emphasized by Andersson's overt sexuality. Adding its own distinctive touch to the atmosphere of utter despair is Karl-Birger Blomdahl's sparse, strident music score.Criterion's gorgeous transfer is off the original camera negative, capturing all the beauty and detail of Sven Nykvist's stark black and white cinematography. DVD extras include a scholarly commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie, an introduction by the director himself from 2003, and an essay by critic John Simon.SAWDUST AND TINSEL is a very special movie that lingers in your memory once you've seen it. It's an honest, moving, and often bleak allegory of simple people coming to accept their circumstances in life, sublimely realized by one of the cinema's finest artists.Highly recommended.

**** 1953. Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. A land circus owner comes back to the town he left his wife and his children in, three years before. Criterion presents here the uncut version of this film with scenes absent from the VHS and laserdisc editions of SAWDUST AND TINSEL. Among the bonus features, you'll find an introduction by Ingmar Bergman himself, shot in 2003, as well as a very edifying commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie. The theme of humiliation, sexual, physical or simply psychological, is the main theme of SAWDUST AND TINSEL and the underlying element of its most awesome scenes such as the flashback on the beach which is also an homage to Sergei Eisenstein and to other masters of the silent films period. A movie to watch several times.

Love this movie. Its feels like Bergman making a Fellini film. I mean that in the highest complementary way.I really resonate with Fellini. More oft than not Bergman leave me with a hollow, repressed feeling. There is so much life being bottled up and in this film the character just let loose the emotions whatever they maybe and they go on. I love Harriet Anderson in this film, she is a total babe. The imagery is beautiful. Id say more, but its best to see it for yourself.

This early film by Ingmar Bergman stands out because of the acting,the cinematography and of course the direction.The story is downbeat but it does hold the attention of the viewer.The quality of the dvd is excellent and the extras are very interesting.

This 1953 movie is considered by most critics to be the first great movie by Ingmar Bergman-considered by almost eyerybody to be one of the greatest moviemakers ever. I beg to disagree. I was not entertained by this movie. I found the plot to be very slow moving and the characters to be not likeable and weird. If you want to see early Bergman than the professional critics recommend this movie-I cannot.

Very cool about a devil in the circus and animus figures.

I actually bought this for my son who said it was fabulous. Loved it.