Prison (1949)

A film director tries to create the best film in history, but finds out that human abilities have their limits.

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman

Stars:

Doris Svedlund, Birger Malmsten, Eva Henning

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Doris Svedlund	...	Birgitta Carolina Söderberg
Birger Malmsten	...	Thomas
Eva Henning	...	Sofi
Hasse Ekman	...	Martin Grandé
Stig Olin	...	Peter
Irma Christenson	...	Linnea
Anders Henrikson	...	Paul
Marianne Löfgren	...	Mrs. Bohlin
Bibi Lindqvist	...	Anna
Curt Masreliez	...	Alf
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Britta Holmberg	...	Birgitta's Mother in Dream (voice)

Storyline

A movie director is approached by his old math teacher with a great movie idea: the Devil declares that the Earth is hell. The director rejects the idea, but subsequent events in the life of a writer, a friend of the director's, and a young prostitute he loves seem to prove the math teacher's idea.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | credits spoken | film director | devil | film projector | 

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Taglines:

INGMAR BERGMAN reflects on life, love, the Devil and immortality...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

4 July 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Devil's Wanton

Filming Locations:

Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Box Office

Budget:

SEK 240,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Terrafilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first Bergman film where Death makes a personal appearance. In a pastiche of silent-film slapstick, played by an Italian acrobat troupe, Death suddenly jumps in.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening titles in this film. An unseen narrator (Hasse Ekman) reads the credits, as well as the title, out loud approximately ten minutes in to the movie. The sole title card is the standard "Slut" (Swedish for "End") that closes the picture.

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une histoire seule (1989)

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Soundtracks

Vart ska du gå?
Composed by Alice Tegner (as Alice Tegnér)
Sung by Monica Uddén

User Reviews

PRISON (Ingmar Bergman, 1949) ***

This is the earliest Bergman film that I've watched, and already the prime concerns that occupied him throughout most of his career - human relationships, sex, faith, death, etc. - are well in evidence.

Interestingly, the narrative is set against a motion-picture backdrop; in fact, the film demonstrates a self-conscious approach to the medium that would re-emerge in later efforts such as PERSONA (1966) and THE PASSION OF ANNA (1969): rather than observing the normal procedure for the time, the credits don't appear at the outset but, effectively interrupting the proceedings after the first reel, these are given in a voice-over! Besides, the plot seems to be following the interconnecting vicissitudes of a variety of characters - but chiefly the crisis facing two separate couples - all of which, somewhat murkily and pretentiously, serves as a morality play about the triumph of Evil over Good, as envisioned in a framework set inside a studio and involving a film director's old ex-professor (the former happens to be the elder brother of one of the characters in the main narrative!).

It's all rather fascinating for much of the running-time - and the director's visual style really can't be faulted (a dream sequence is especially effective and there's even a short and quite amusing Silent slapstick film-within-a-film, ostensibly the amateurish work of one of the characters!) - but, eventually, the over-ambitious structure of PRISON (by the way, neither this vague title nor the equally well-known alternate given the film on its American release, THE DEVIL'S WANTON, really serve the purpose of its existentialist theme and generally introspective tone), to say nothing of the relentless gloominess, wear the whole down somewhat. All in all, however, it's a fine piece of work from a film-maker who would go on to become one of the leading forces in cinema during the second half of the 20th century.