A Little Night Music (1977)

Director:

Harold Prince

Writers:

Ingmar Bergman (screenplay)
Hugh Wheeler (musical)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Fredrik Egerman is very happy in his marriage to a seventeen-year-old virgin, Anne. Only she's been...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Title Based On Song | Remake | Independent Film

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Desiree Armfeldt
Diana Rigg	...	Charlotte Mittelheim
Len Cariou	...	Frederick Egerman
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Anne Egerman
Hermione Gingold	...	Mme. Armfeldt
Laurence Guittard	...	Carl-Magnus Mittelheim
Christopher Guard	...	Erich Egerman
Lesley Dunlop	...	Petra
Chloe Franks	...	Fredericka Armfeldt
Heinz Marecek	...	Frid
Jonathan Tunick	...	Conductor
Hubert Tscheppe	...	Franz
Rudolph Schrympf	...	Band Conductor
Franz Schussler	...	The Mayor
Johanna Schussler	...	The Mayoress

Also Known As:

Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht (West Germany)

Runtime:

USA:124 min

Country:

USA | West Germany | Austria

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | USA:PG

Company:

S&T-Film Berlin

Trivia:

Later remade as a TV production starring Sally Ann Howes, A Little Night Music (1990) (TV).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Undead (#9.6)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

You Must Meet My Wife

Considering everything it's really quite good!

I love this Sondheim masterpiece and having seen what Sondheim considers the finest staging ever (New York City Opera) live and on video many times over, the movie still has significant virtues. It was widely panned and dismissed as if all the film critics secretly met and took a vote to hate it together. Yes, some songs have been cut and some themes (most sadly, Mme. Armfeldt's) basically eliminated. But there are still some truly definitive performances and beautifully mounted scenes. And Elizabeth Taylor is far from terrible in her part. Unfortunately the current film on video is in terrible deterioration. This film deserves to be preserved as a rare film adaptation in Sondheim library. Remember the horrible film versions of Funny Thing Happened..., South Pacific and other great Broadway musicals that received poor screen adaptations. Taken in context of how seldom movie versions successfully transfer to the screen, A Little Night Music is not great but is certainly good, and far better than many other movie musicals that seem to be held in higher esteem than they deserve.