The Seventh Seal Ingmar BergmanFew films have had as large a cultural impact as Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet). Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied, imitated, even parodied, but never outdone, Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning was one of the benchmark foreign imports of America’s 1950s art house heyday, pushing cinema’s boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing.
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Introduction by Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003
Audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie
A new afterword to the commentary by Cowie
Bergman Island (2006), an 83-minute documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd, featuring in-depth and revealing interviews with the director
Archival audio interview with Max von Sydow
A 1998 tribute to Bergman by filmmaker Woody Allen
Theatrical trailer
Bergman 101, a selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by Cowie
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins
Stills from The Seventh Seal (Click for larger image)The Seventh Seal Ingmar BergmanFew films have had as large a cultural impact as Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet). Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades; a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied; imitated; even parodied; but never outdone; Bergman's stunning allegory of man's search for meaning was one of the benchmark foreign imports of America's 1950s art house heyday; pushing cinema's boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing.The Seventh Seal Ingmar BergmanDisillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess.Wild Strawberries Ingmar BergmanTraveling to accept an honorary degree, Professor Isak Borg—masterfully played by veteran director Victor Sjöström (The Phantom Carriage)—is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and make peace with the inevitability of his approaching death. Through flashbacks and fantasies, dreams and nightmares, Wild Strawberries dramatizes one man’s remarkable voyage of self-discovery. This richly humane masterpiece, full of iconic imagery, is a treasure from the golden age of art-house cinema and one of the films that catapulted Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal) to international acclaim.Wild Strawberries Ingmar BergmanWeaving a tapestry of memory and dreams, Ingmar Bergman delves into the past of aged professor Isak Borg, en route to receive an award from his alma mater for a life he no longer understands. Following directly on the heels of his international breakthrough The Seventh Seal, the alternately warm and nightmarish Wild Strawberries cemented Bergman as the leading art-house visionary of his era.Wild Strawberries Ingmar BergmanTraveling to accept an honorary degree, Professor Isak Borg is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and make peace with the inevitability of his approaching death.Brink of Life Ingmar BergmanThree women in a maternity ward reveal their life stories and intimate thoughts to one another.The Magician Ingmar BergmanTHE MAGICIAN (Ansiktet), directed by Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander), is an engaging, brilliantly conceived tale of deceit from one of cinema’s premier illusionists. Max von Sydow (The Virgin Spring, The Exorcist) stars as Dr. Vogler, a mid-nineteenth-century traveling mesmerist and peddler of potions whose magic is put to the test by a small town’s cruel, eminently rational minister of health, Dr. Vergerus (Wild Strawberries’ Gunnar Bjornstrand). The result is a diabolically clever battle of wits that’s both frightening and funny, shot in rich, gorgeously gothic black and white.The Magician Ingmar BergmanDr. Vogler is a hypnotist, a magician, and the leader of a traveling performance troupe known for their apparently supernatural abilities. When Vogler's show arrives in Stockholm, the skeptical townspeople form a committee determined to disprove the supposedly magical abilities of the troupe.The Virgin Spring Ingmar BergmanWinner of the Academy Award for best foreign-language film, Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring is a harrowing tale of faith, revenge, and savagery in medieval Sweden. With austere simplicity, the director tells the story of the rape and murder of the virgin Karin, and her father Töre’s ruthless pursuit of vengeance, set in motion after the killers visit the family’s farmhouse. Starring frequent Bergman collaborator and screen icon Max von Sydow, the film is both beautiful and cruel in its depiction of a world teetering between paganism and Christianity.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrackAudio commentary from 2005 by Ingmar Bergman scholar Birgitta SteeneNew video interviews from 2005 with actors Gunnel Lindblom and Birgitta PetterssonIntroduction by filmmaker Ang Lee from 2005An audio recording of a 1975 American Film Institute seminar by director Ingmar BergmanAlternate English-dubbed soundtrackPLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film scholar Peter Cowie and screenwriter Ulla Isaksson and the medieval ballad on which the film is basedThe Virgin Spring Ingmar BergmanAfter brutally attacking a young woman, a group of men unknowing seek food and shelter from her parents, setting the stage for revenge.Through a Glass Darkly Ingmar BergmanWhile vacationing on a remote island retreat, a family's fragile ties are tested when daughter Karin discovers her father has been using her schizophrenia for his own literary ends. As she drifts in and out of lucidity, Karin's father, her husband, and her younger brother are unable to prevent her descent into the abyss of mental illness.
Winter Light Ingmar BergmanSmall-town pastor Tomas Ericsson performs his duties mechanically before a dwindling congregation, including his stubbornly devoted lover, Märta. When he is asked to assuage a troubled parishioner's debilitating fear of nuclear annihilation, Tomas is terrified to find that he can provide nothing but his own doubt.Hour of the Wolf Ingmar BergmanOn a remote island, a troubled artist feels his mind slipping away from him. Troubled by disturbing visions and paranoid delusions, he and his wife begin to suspect that the haunting memories are the machinations of a bizarre, perverted cult that reside on the other side of the island.Shame Ingmar BergmanFormer musicians Jan Rosenberg and his wife, Eva, have left the city to avoid a civil war and now live on a rural island where they tend a farm. While the situation seems idyllic, the couple's isolation begins to wear on their relationship, and eventually the armed conflict that they've tried to flee arrives on the quiet island in the form of soldiers. Try as they might, Jan and Eva ultimately can't evade either the war or their own marital problems.The Passion of Anna Ingmar BergmanNot long after the dissolution of his marriage and a fleeting liaison with a neighbor, the reclusive Andreas begins an ill-fated affair with the mysterious, beguiling Anna, who has recently lost her own husband and son.The Emigrants / The New Land Jan TroellConan the Barbarian John MiliusFollowing his parents' savage murder, young Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is captured by the cold-blooded Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) and spends the next fifteen years in agony, first chained to the Wheel of Pain and then enslaved as a Pit Fighter. Rather than allowing this brutal fate to conquer him, Conan builds an incomparable body and an indomitable spirit—both of which he needs when he suddenly finds himself a free man. Aided by his companions Subotai the Mongol (Gerry Lopez) and Valeria, Queen of Thieves (Sandahl Bergman), Conan sets out to solve the "riddle of steel," seize ultimate power and, finally, take revenge on the warlord who killed his family.Dune David LynchDazzling special effects, unforgettable images and powerful performances highlight David Lynch’s stunning film version of Frank Herbert’s classic science-fiction epic about an intergalactic warrior’s messianic rise. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Max von Sydow, Oscar® winner Linda Hunt and Sting, Dune is the ultimate adventure experience that goes beyond the imagination.Shutter Island Martin ScorseseAcademy Award® winning director Martin Scorsese once again teams up with Leonardo DiCaprio in this spine-chilling thriller that critics say “sizzles with so much suspense that it’s hot to the touch.”** When U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) arrives at the asylum for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, what starts as a routine investigation quickly takes a sinister turn. As the investigation unfolds and Teddy uncovers more shocking and terrifying truths about the island, he learns there are some places that never let you go. **Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. |
Controversial and popular from the moment it opened, The Exorcist marks its historic Blu-ray premiere in a 2-Disc Edition featuring Stunning Hi-Def Presentations of the Original 1973 Theatrical Version and the 2000 Extended Director's Cut. The frightening and realistic tale of an innocent girl inhabited by a terrifying entity, her mother's frantic resolve to save her and two priests—one doubt-ridden, the other a rock of faith—joined in battling ultimate evil always leaves viewers breathless. This greatest supernatural thriller of all time astonishes and unsettles like no other movie.
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