Hamnstad (1948)

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writers:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)
Olle Länsberg (novel)

Release Date:

1 August 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A suicidal factory girl out of reformatory school, anxious to escape her overbearing mother, falls in love with a sailor who can't forgive her past.

Plot Keywords:

Mother | Husband Wife Relationship | Sexual Jealousy | Rage | Father Daughter Relationship

Cast

Nine-Christine Jönsson	...	Berit
Bengt Eklund	...	Gösta
Mimi Nelson	...	Gertrud
Berta Hall	...	Berit's Mother
Birgitta Valberg	...	Mrs. Vilander
Sif Ruud	...	Mrs. Krona
Britta Billsten	...	Prostitute
Harry Ahlin	...	Skåningen
Nils Hallberg	...	Gustav
Sven-Eric Gamble	...	Eken
Yngve Nordwall	...	The Supervisor
Nils Dahlgren	...	Gertrud's Father
Hans Strååt	...	Mr. Vilander
Erik Hell	...	Berit's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edvard Danielsson	...	Man (scenes deleted)
Carl Deurell	...	Vicar (scenes deleted)
Kolbjörn Knudsen	...	Sailor (scenes deleted)
Gunnar Nielsen	...	Gentleman (scenes deleted)
Georg Skarstedt	...	Gentleman (scenes deleted)
Siv Thulin	...	Girl (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Harbour City (International: English title)
Port of Call (USA)

Runtime:

100 min | Germany:99 min | UK:94 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | UK:X

Filming Locations:

Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

The book which Gösta reads on his bed is 'Resor utan mål' ('Journeys Without Destination') by Swedish author and future Nobel laureate in Literature (1974) Harry Martinson. Martinson was, indeed, a sailor before becoming an author, and the book, published in 1932 as Martinson's first prose volume (his greatest fame would come for his poetry), was a document of his own experiences as one, written at twenty-eight after he had given up the sea due to a combination of lack of employment and a bout of tuberculosis. A sailor like Gösta would indeed have found much interest in the book, as it dealt realistically with the life of a sailor from his country living a life very similar to his own. The book itself has sadly never been published in English, but Martinson's second novel, 'Kap Farväl!', somewhat similar to 'Resor utan mål', was translated as 'Cape Farewell'. Director Ingmar Bergman was indeed an admirer of his countryman Martinson and, in 1964, he staged the premiere of Martinson's play 'Tre knivar från Wei' ('Three Knives From Wei'), although, unfortunately, he considered the production an unmitigated disaster.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

Personal freedom is a major theme of this lovely, bleak, but not pessimistic, early Ingmar Bergman movie

Berit is a factory girl fresh out of reformatory school and fresh from an attempted suicide by drowning when she meets a sailor named Gösta at a dance club. He beds her down that night, and later, when the two become lovers, allows himself to assume that he was the first man to do so. Meanwhile, Berit is desperate to be free: free from the badgering and manipulation of the mother she is forced to live with, free of the dirty work of the factory and free of her social worker and the constant threat of returning to reformatory school. Her already unhappy life is complicated when an old friend from the school desperately needs her help.

Personal freedom is a major theme of this lovely, bleak, but not pessimistic, early Ingmar Bergman movie. We yearn for Berit to find freedom from her unpleasant life, and most of all freedom from loneliness, just as we hope Gösta can free himself from jealousy and the specters of long-gone rivals for his affections.