The Serpent's Egg (1977)

Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American circus acrobat living in poverty-stricken Berlin following Germany's defeat in World... See full summary »

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman

Stars:

Liv Ullmann, David Carradine, Gert Fröbe

Cast

Credited cast:
Liv Ullmann	...	Manuela Rosenberg
David Carradine	...	Abel Rosenberg
Gert Fröbe	...	Inspector Bauer (as Gert Froebe)
Heinz Bennent	...	Hans Vergerus
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Isolde Barth	...	Girl in uniform
Toni Berger	...	Mr. Rosenberg
Christian Berkel	...	Student
Richard Bohne	...	Police officer
Paula Braend	...	Mrs. Hemse
Erna Brünell	...	Mrs. Rosenberg (as Erna Bruenell)
Paul Burian	...	Experiment person
Hildegard Busse	...	Prostitute
Paul Bürks	...	Cabaret Comedian (as Paul Buerks)
Gaby Dohm	...	Woman with baby
Hans Eichler	...	Max

Storyline

Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American circus acrobat living in poverty-stricken Berlin following Germany's defeat in World War I. When his brother commits suicide, Abel seeks refuge in the apartment of an old acquaintance Professor Veregus. Desperate to make ends meet in the war-ravaged city, Abel takes a job in Veregus' clinic, where he discovers the horrific truth behind the work of the strangely beneficent professor and unlocks the chilling mystery that drove his brother to kill himself.

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Plot Keywords:

clinic | suicide | serpent | circus | cabaret | 

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Taglines:

The kind of terror that could never be... until now... until Bergman!

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

West Germany USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

15 February 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

El huevo de la serpiente

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 12,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 2,359,946 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Film, De Laurentiis, Rialto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ingmar Bergman had planned to have a horse killed on camera to show the desperation of the German people during the Weimar Republic's inflation crisis of 1923. David Carradine said he would walk off the film if Bergman went ahead with is plans. Bergman compromised, and the horse was killed off-screen, but the corpse is shown, as an impoverished man offers up handfuls of offal to Carradine's character.

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Goofs

The Nazi-looking thugs that are beating up people are wearing Model 1943 German army caps and 1940s style clothing. This film is supposed to take place in the 1920s.

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Quotes

Abel Rosenberg: I wake up from a nightmare and find that real life is worse than the dream.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #22.33 (2005)

User Reviews

Soylent Green meets Cabaret

The Serpent's Egg is almost universally panned because it bears the signature of Ingmar Bergman, yet it doesn't feel much like a Bergman movie - except in a couple of flashes.

Most of the movie is set in dark, humid and chilly inter-war Berlin, where the protagonist gets ever closer to a sinister revelation. This side of the movie feels a bit like another bleak 70s artifact, Soylent Green. When David Carradine gets - at last - hired as an archivist in a sinister clinic, the viewer's interest is piqued.

However, Carradine is saddled with a sister-in-law, Liv Ullman, who comes along with a different set of scenes, that recall Cabaret without the acrid verve of the original. Liv Ullman tries hard, but she is truly miscast. Jane Birkin would have been perfect in this role.

The dialog is poorly written and gives the movie the choppy quality that everyone has objected to. The lines sound translated, unnatural, and David Carradine can't be faulted for sounding lost.

The big budget is well spent, and the film is not boring, nor pretentious. Some effects are in poor taste (the opening credits, and an excruciating scene in a brothel).

I suspect that The Serpent's Egg would have a better reputation today if it had been signed by a lesser director, say, George Pan Cosmatos. Without changing a single shot, it would be remembered as an interesting attempt at something different.