Music in Darkness (1948)

A blind musician falls in love with a kindhearted girl. This love begin to confront with his disease and with his music.

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writers:

Dagmar Edqvist (novel), Dagmar Edqvist (screenplay)

Stars:

Mai Zetterling, Birger Malmsten, Olof Winnerstrand

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mai Zetterling	...	Ingrid
Birger Malmsten	...	Bengt Vyldeke
Olof Winnerstrand	...	The Vicar
Naima Wifstrand	...	Mrs. Schröder
Bibi Lindqvist	...	Agneta (as Bibi Skoglund)
Hilda Borgström	...	Lovisa
Douglas Håge	...	Kruge
Gunnar Björnstrand	...	Klasson
Bengt Eklund	...	Ebbe
Åke Claesson	...	Augustin Schröder
John Elfström	...	Otto Klemens
Rune Andréasson	...	Evert
Bengt Logardt	...	Einar Born
Marianne Gyllenhammar	...	Blanche
Sven Lindberg	...	Hedström

Storyline

In Sweden, the upper-class pianist Bengt Vyldeke suffers an accident in the military drill and becomes blind. He returns to the house of his aunt Beatrice Schröder and is initially supported by his sister Agneta since his fiancée Blanche has called off their engagement and his friends have abandoned him. When Agneta goes to the university, the young servant Ingrid helps Bengt in his daily life and falls in love with him. But she overhears a conversation between Bengt and Beatrice when his master belittles her calling Ingrid of "little maid". Bengt travels to play piano in the restaurant of a cunning manager and finds humiliation and loneliness. Years later he meets Ingrid, who has studied and is near to graduate and he falls in love with her. But Ingrid has a boyfriend Ebbe (Bengt Eklund), strong and handsome, and Bengt has to fight with his inferiority complex first to win the love of Ingrid.

---

Plot Keywords:

pianist | blindness | musician | based on novel | 

---

Taglines:

From the World's Master Film Maker Ingmar Bergman a startling journey into the darkness of the human soul!

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Three Scenes with Ingmar Bergman (1975)

---

Soundtracks

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor
Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, AKA Moonlight Sonata"
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven (1802)
Performed by Birger Malmsten

User Reviews

Early Bergman- interesting even if Bergman went on to do better later

I have nothing but love and admiration for Sweden's greatest director Ingmar Bergman, and would see anything with his involvement. Music in Darkness is a very early work of his, if I remember correctly it was one of his first. And it is interesting, but I don't class it up there as among his best. I wouldn't say that anything in Music in Darkness is particularly bad, it's just the matter of what was done here has been done better in his later films. Bergman is no stranger to melodrama, and Music in Darkness is basically that, but I do think his later films show it in a more expansive, less broad way. The characters don't feel bland or indifferent, there is effort to make the lead character not one-sided, but again the characters are rather broadly-defined and somewhat stereotypical, later on merged with Bergman's intelligent way of dealing with complex subjects the characters felt somewhat more real. The acting is good, there is some expression and enthusiasm, though none of the performances are up there with the truly great performances in Bergman's resume. These aside, Bergman does direct as intelligently and disciplinary as usual, and the script does provoke some thought. The score is haunting and fits the melodramatic atmosphere very well. The story is more straightforward than most Bergman films, but it is not dull and is interesting. But the standout here was the cinematography, which is remarkably good for an early film of a truly great director. In conclusion, interesting Bergman film but not quite what I call great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

1 July 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Music in Darkness

Filming Locations:

Sandrewateljéerna, Lästmakargatan 18, Norrmalm, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company Credits

Production Co:

Terrafilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1