The Serpent's Egg (1977)

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman

Release Date:

15 February 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Berlin 1923! A dangerous time to be alive and stay that way!

Plot:

Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American...

Plot Keywords:

Clinic | Suicide | Serpent | Circus | Cabaret

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
Emil Feist	...	Miser
Kai Fischer	...	Prostitute
Herbert Fux
Renate Grosser	...	Prostitute
Heino Hallhuber	...	Groom
Georg Hartmann	...	Hollinger
Edith Heerdegen	...	Mrs. Holle
Rosemarie Heinikel	...	Girl in uniform
Klaus Hoffmann	...	Commando announcer
Grischa Huber	...	Stella
Harry Kalenberg	...	Coroner
Volkert Kraeft	...	Leader of the commanco
Andrea L'Arronge	...	Girl in uniform
Gunther Malzacher	...	Husband
Lisi Mangold	...	Mikaela
Beverly McNeely	...	Girl in uniform
Günter Meisner	...	Convict (as Guenter Meisner)
Anne Mertin
Hubert Mittendorf	...	Comforter
Kyra Mladeck	...	Miss Dorst
Heide Picha	...	Wife
Hans Quest	...	Dr. Silbermann
Charles Regnier	...	Doctor
Walter Schmidinger	...	Solomon
Irene Steinbeisser	...	Bride
Fritz Strassner	...	Dr. Soltermann
Glynn Turman	...	Monroe
Ellen Umlauf	...	Hostess
Hertha von Walther	...	Woman in street
Wolfgang Weiser	...	Civil servant
James Whitmore	...	The Priest
Ralf Wolter	...	Partner of the master of ceremonies

Directed by
Ingmar Bergman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ingmar Bergman

Produced by
Dino De Laurentiis	....	producer
Harold Nebenzal	....	line producer
Horst Wendlandt	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Rolf A. Wilhelm

Cinematography by
Sven Nykvist

Film Editing by
Jutta Hering

Production Design by
Rolf Zehetbauer

Art Direction by
Werner Achmann
Herbert Strabel
Friedrich Thaler

Costume Design by
Charlotte Flemming

Makeup Department
Mathilde Basedow	....	makeup artist
Gerda Bublitz	....	makeup artist
Evelyn Döhring	....	makeup artist
Ariane Dömel	....	makeup artist
Dagmar Friedrich-Vacan	....	makeup artist (as Dagmar Friedrich)
Franz Göbel	....	makeup artist
Ute Hanow	....	makeup artist
Marie-Luise Hantsch	....	makeup artist
Babette Juli	....	makeup artist
Helga Kempke	....	makeup artist
Susi Krause	....	makeup artist
Mathilde Kulhanek	....	makeup artist
Erika König	....	makeup artist
Albin Löw	....	makeup artist
Theodor Maier	....	makeup artist
Hedy Polensky	....	makeup artist
Naksiye Prenovic	....	makeup artist
Georg Rasche	....	makeup artist
Ursula Schaffert	....	makeup artist
Raimund Stangl	....	makeup artist
Alois Steckermeier	....	makeup artist
Eva Uhl	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Franz Achter	....	unit manager
Georg Föcking	....	unit manager
Horst Scheerbarth	....	unit manager
Harry Wilbert	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wieland Liebske	....	assistant director

Art Department
Barbara Freude	....	props (as Barbara Freude-Schnase)
Harry Freude	....	props

Sound Department
Theo Müller	....	boom operator
Armin Münch	....	boom operator
Karsten Ullrich	....	sound

Special Effects by
Karl Baumgartner	....	special effects
Dieter Ortmeier	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Günther Adlmüller	....	assistant camera
Hermann Fahr	....	assistant camera
Norbert Friedländer	....	assistant camera
Gerhard Fromm	....	assistant camera
Bernd Heinl	....	assistant camera
Gernot Köhler	....	assistant camera
Dietrich Lohmann	....	second camera
Lars Looschen	....	still photographer
Werner Lüring	....	assistant camera
Peter Rohe	....	second camera
Alexander Witt	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Petra von Oelffen	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Chloe Amateau	....	dialogue coach
Kerstin Eriksdotter	....	script supervisor
Heino Hallhuber	....	choreographer
Werner Uschkurat	....	(dialogue manager (german version))

Production Companies

• Bavaria Film
• De Laurentiis
• Rialto Film
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Distributors

• Adams Filmi (1978) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Tobis (1977) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Pictures (1978) (USA) (dubbed)
• Roadshow Home Video
• Tec Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Argentina:120 min | USA:119 min

Country:

West Germany | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Norway:18 | UK:18 (video rating) (1990) | UK:X (original rating) | Netherlands:16 (original rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | West Germany:18 (f) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Bavaria Film

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.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: 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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in German Expressionism (2004) (V)

Well done allegory for events leading to the rise of Hitler.

The title, The Serpent's Egg, had me wondering for a moment until I realized that it did not refer to the the Doctor and his bizarre experiments nor to Abel and his misery, but to the encapsulated Germany of the 1920s and the environment that led to Hitler's ascent in the 1930s. That is, Germany being the 'egg', Hitler and the Nazis as the 'Serpent', and the environment as the embryo of the egg.

In many ways, this is a cynical film, in that it attempts to show that degradation, fear and loss of life and livelihood is sometimes stronger than humanity and even love. Isn't this true about Germany in the 1920s, and other nations at other times as well? We only have to look at ourselves after the attacks of 9/11 to see a time when fear overcame reason. Fear allowed us to meekly accept the chipping away of our own civil rights and privacy, and also government sponsored torture.

It also gives us a glimpse at one of Hitler's truisms, which is that if he could have a person at age 7, then that person would be a Nazi for life. The experimenting Doctor re-states this in his observations that the sons and daughters of the defeated German populace will be the ones who create the new German society, of which he already is a part with his inhumane human experiments.

Of course, all this is done with hindsight, so how can it be wrong? It can't, but then it's still a good review of a period in Germany that many Americans know nothing about, and should learn if they want the answers to the question of how Naziism came to be. It wasn't just some sort of aberration never seen in history before nor repeated.