Vargtimmen | | Cast : | Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann | | Director : | Ingmar Bergman | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Black & White, Widescreen | | Released Date : | April 09, 1968 | | DVD Released Date : | April 27, 2004 | | Language : | French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Swedish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 20, 2005 | | Summary | Bergman at his Second Best | Content
 | At times Ingmar Bergman grows tiresome: the tormented artist cups his head in his hands one time too many, the soulful woman stares past the camera a bit too long . . . Yet no one composes the blacks, whites, and grays of a frame more beautifully. Look at the scene in which Borg and Alma struggle to stay awake in the darkened cottage; see the inrush of light as Alma sets about her morning's chores; and watch how eerie the whiteness becomes when the old woman -- the one from Borg's sketchbook, the one who "always threatens to take off her hat" -- appears, a nightmare walking. Really, Bergman has no peers: he fails only in comparison to himself. However pretentious, HOUR OF THE WOLF remains a formidable work of art, a horror movie or case study transformed by the mastery of its fabricator. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 13, 2005 | | Summary | mgm should be ashamed | Content
| the dvd looks good and perhaps they have gotten the aspect ratio right at last. however, there is NO EXCUSE for the MGM lion logo appearing and roaring SECONDS after the last frame of the film. absolutely appalling. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 01, 2005 | | Summary | Bergman bounds his demons on the divan | Content
| An uncanny freudian tale where swedish director Ingmar Bergman
exorcizes and sublims his own fears and unpleasant truths through the paints, diary notes and childhood nightmares of a neurotic and hipersensible artist, Johan Borg( Max Von Sydow ) who retires with his protective and understanding wife Alma to an island looking for solitude and quiet( the film is partially shot in Farö island where Bergman actually lives and usually chose for long periods of retirement or to concentrate in his work ). During the habitual Johan's painting leavings an unknown old woman visits Alma at their cabin revealing her the place where his husband hides his private diary in which narrates a succession of bizarre encounters occured in the island during these departures . The people he describes in it soon show to him as his private demons, a cynical and sadistic characters that enjoy themselves disturbing Johan with insidious commentaries about his work and his vampyric and obsessive relathionship with an enigmatic woman,a part of his past he has hidden to the sensible Alma .Incapable to defeat his remorses and humiliated by his torturers he breaks down hunted by his demons. Bergman mixes sexual shocker and horror imaginary , ambiguous and gruesome symbolism and a haunted Mozart's excerpt from " The magic flute " to narrate the progressive alienation of Borg that culminates in a disturbing oniric sequence where the artist descends to the most confused corners of his subsconscious to join with his implacable demons. The film give us much to our imagination and understanding due to Bergman drives the film to ambiguity and suggestion, dissolving gradually the line between reality and hallucination leaving the spectator sublim his own experiences. In relation to the ambiguity I talk it has been hardly discussed the hypnotic scene(due to the effect of distorsion in the treatment of the images and the use of an atmospherical music ) of the attack of the little demon as a possible allusion to Johan's latent homosexuality . |
| Rating | | | Date | March 01, 2005 | | Summary | Be very careful | Content
| My rating refers to the movie - not the DVD.
Had I rated this product 1 star (which would be a generous rating for the DVD,) I'd be sending the message that this isn't a good movie...5 stars for Bergman's work.
MGM's WAR OF OAR:
A lot of word has spread about MGM's DVD releases of this film and Bergman's "Shame" being presented in the wrong aspect ratios.
Here are the facts and my personal experience with this mess:
The original aspect ratio (OAR) of this movie and "Shame" is 1.37:1 (this has been confirmed by Svenska Filminstitutet,) i.e. almost full screen on a "normal" TV, but not quite; there should be BARELY NOTICEABLE black bars both above and below the picture.
However, in February 2004 MGM released a boxed set including five Bergman titles, where the two earlier mentioned films were presented in aspect ratio 1.66:1.
"How can you change the OAR?" you might ask. The answer is simple: by matting the picture. MGM had placed very thick black bars on the top and bottom of the picture throughout the movie, resulting in a wider looking format, but causing 11.5% of the image to be blocked out.
(...)
Naturally this flub upset people, and eventually MGM had to admit their wrongdoing and withdraw these two DVD's from the market.
This is the statement that MGM Home Entertainment made regarding the recall of the INGMAR BERGMAN COLLECTION:
"It has come to our attention that the transfers utilized for the release of Ingmar Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf" Special Edition DVD and "Shame" Special Edition DVD are not representative of the intended theatrical presentation.
In order to provide customers with the best quality product available, we are recalling the product at retail and will be releasing both films in a 1:37:1 aspect ratio on April 20, 2004.
The Ingmar Bergman DVD Collection will also be available on that date. MGM Home Entertainment always strives to provide the highest standard of product and customer care. For additional information or comments, please contact our customer service."
Reading this statement a year ago made me happy that I hadn't ordered or bought the boxed set or any separate discs thereof. The DVD's were now going to be withdrawn from the market and later re-released in the OAR...fine.
However, when these discs were re-released on April 20th 2004 they were presented in 1.33:1, NOT in the OAR 1.37:1, as MGM had promised.
I waited some months thinking that maybe some other studio (like Criterion) would release these movies in the OAR. Nothing happened, and naturally MGM wasn't going to admit a second mistake, so since I hadn't seen these movies, but had heard and read good things and was therefore curious, I ordered MGM's 1.33:1 versions of both "Shame" and "Hour of the Wolf" from amazon.com in the early fall of 2004.
When the discs arrived "Shame" was slightly matted just as I'd expected (1.33:1,) but I got the 1.66:1 version of "Hour of the Wolf" even though I'd contacted amazon.com's costumer service in advance to make sure that I would NOT get the edition that was supposed to have been taken off the market 6 months ago by then.
I complained to amazon.com, and instead of sending me the edition I wanted they gave me a refund - better than nothing, but they couldn't tell me how to get a hold of the 1.33:1 edition of "Hour of the Wolf," so neither can I.
Just be aware - there is no such thing as a widescreen edition of this film, even though the more expensive edition of the two MGM DVD's available on amazon.com suggests so.
Ok, that about that. Some may suggest that this kind of technical mumbo-jumbo is not interesting and certainly not necessary when reviewing a movie, but whether you claim you care or not, watching 88.5% of the image of a movie WILL (consciously or subconsciously) effect your judgement of the film, because things are happening behind those thick black bars. Not presenting Sven Nykvist's camera art as he and the director intended it is quite disrespectful towards both the artist and the audience.
...my suggestion is to MAKE SURE you get the 1.33:1 edition of the(se) film(s,) or wait until someone releases them in OAR 1.37:1.
DVD FEATURES:
There is a 26 minute "featurette" featuring short interviews (shot in 2002) with actors Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, Ingmar Bergman biographer Marc Gervais, and short footage from an approximately 35 year old interview with Ingmar Bergman. There's no behind-the scenes footage or outtakes featured in the so called documentary; a lot of it is just repeated on-camera quotes, still pictures and a great amount of clips from the film, cut together at MGM studios. Nothing worth celebrating, though it's viewable - they could easily have cut it down to less than 10 minutes, thus made it more intense, while still as interesting.
Marc Gervais' comments and commentary is not very insightful or based on a lot of facts around the production of the movie - he merely suggests his own interpretations of what Bergman was trying to tell based on his own theories, which aren't very interesting, and which doesn't always make sense in comparison to Bergman's autobiographical suggestions. Frankly, if I may be a tad harsh, I'd be as interested in listening to George W. Bush's analysis of this picture as Mr. Gervais'.
Criterion's Bergman Biographer, Peter Cowie, who has met the director several times, usually provides much more interesting commentary.
Other features on this disc (at least the matted edition) include English, French and Spanish Language subtitles, a photo gallery, and a theatrical trailer.
THE MOVIE:
"Vargtimmen," which is the Swedish (original) title of "The Hour of the Wolf" is a black and white production from 1968, written and made in Swedish by director Ingmar Bergman. It is one of Bergman's most "mystical" films, and of all his work, "Hour of the Wolf" suites best in the genre of "horror," though it isn't a pure horror flick from beginning to end - at least not in any typical sense.
The two main characters are played by Max von Sydow (as Johan Borg) and Liv Ullmann (as Johan's pregnant wife Alma.) During most of the shooting of this film--which incidentally (as many other films since "Såsom i en spegel" a.k.a. "Through a Glass Darkly") took place on Bergman's residence Fårö--Liv Ullmann was in fact pregnant, at the time carrying her and the director's child Linn.
Basically (bluntly, or on the surface) the film tells the story of a sleepless artist with an unhealthy upbringing, who is trying to fight off haunting demons. One may theorize these demons partly as a portrayal of critics towards the artist.
Bergman has never explained exactly why certain things take certain actions in his films. Usually he doesn't even discuss the scripts with the actors. Partly for this reason, has he never been interested in recording audio commentary for his films on DVD, nor do I believe there is reason for him to do so, because his films are his creations - his art. There is no apparent reason to me why anyone should try to "figure these movies out" and make official theories and statements of what exactly they are trying to tell you, because sometimes they might not even be trying to tell you anything. This form of art, like other forms of art, should (as they do) leave you space for a personal interpretation.
Most of the cast (with exceptions like Naima Wifstrand) were, at the time, basically just stage actors - a fact that certainly effects the intense outcome of all characters featured in the movie and makes it special.
The music in several scenes of this film (such as when Johan Borg, on a fishing trip, is bothered by a demon in the form of a child) is very intense, effective and skilfully applied to the picture.
This is a work of art that a true fan of Ingmar Bergman's filmmaking must not miss. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 01, 2005 | | Summary | One of the most frightening films of Bergman ! | Content
| The unconscious world has been few times so well carried to screen as this unforgettable film of the Swedish Master .
Jungian images assault the febrile mind of a painter - Max von Sydow - who has decided to live in an isolated island . The memories ` phantoms will maintain you at the edge of your seat . Somehow this movie has many points of intersection with another Bergman' s golden film of the fifties : Wild strawberries.
Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman are simply supreme .
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