A Little Night Music (1977)

Fredrik Egerman is very happy in his marriage to a seventeen-year-old virgin, Anne. Only she's been a virgin for the whole eleven months of the marriage, and being a bit restless, Fredrik ... See full summary »

Director:

Harold Prince

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (suggested by: a film by "Sommarnattens leende")

Stars:

Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Rigg, Len Cariou

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Fredrik Egerman is very happy in his marriage to a seventeen-year-old virgin, Anne. Only she's been a virgin for the whole eleven months of the marriage, and being a bit restless, Fredrik goes to see an old flame, the famous actress Desiree Armfeldt. Desiree is getting tired of her life, and is thinkin of settling down, and sets her sights on Fredrik, despite his marriage, and her own married lover Count Carl-Magnus. She gets her mother to invite the Egermans to her country estate for the weekend. But when Carl-Magnus and his wife Charlotte appear, too, things begin to get farcical (Send in the Clowns), and the night must smile for the third time before all the lovers are united.

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Plot Keywords:

female singer | russian roulette | playing piano | male singer | orchestra | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA West Germany Austria

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1980 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sascha Filmverleih, S&T-Film Berlin, Elliott Kastner Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Adapted from a Broadway musical produced and directed Harold Prince (who also directed this film), the stage production of "A Little Night Music" starred Glynis Johns as Desiree, Patricia Elliott, Beth Fowler and George Lee Andrews. Len Cariou, Laurence Guittard, and Hermione Gingold all reprise their roles from the play.

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Connections

Version of A Little Night Music (1990)

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Soundtracks

"The Glamorous Life"
Written by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Elaine Tomkinson

User Reviews

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.