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Released by: The Criterion Collection:
Released on: 10-16-2010
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Max Von Sydow
Year: 1958
The Movie:
Ingmar Bergman's 1958 film The Magician stars Max Von Sydow as a prominent magician named Dr. Vogler who travels around Sweden as 'Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater' with his wife, Manda (Ingrid Thulin), his grandmother (Naima Wifstrand, his assistant Tubal (Ake Fridell) and his coachman Simson (Lars Ekborg). Together they travel to Stockholm for a show but before they're permitted to perform three local officials - the local Police Superintendent Starbeck (Toivo Pawlo), the Minister of Health, Dr. Vergerus (Gunnar Bjornstrand), and a councilman named Abraham Egerman (Erland Josephson) - take them into custody and expect him to give them a preview so that they can decide if his material is right for the townsfolk. They also have a curiosity about the doctor himself and wish to find out for themselves if his reputation, which often includes accounts of supernatural activity at his shows, is warranted.
That night, Vergerus puts up Vogler and his companions but the next day Vergerus and Starbeck decide to ruin his show by protesting the existence of magic and attempt to discredit Vogler as nothing more than a trickster. Egerman, however, believes Vogler to be a legitimate magician. When Vogler gets around to performing, a trick goes horribly wrong and the accident leads to the magician's death - or so it would seem. His body is prepared for autopsy but when Vergerus arrives to perform it Vogler's spirit seems to return.
Interesting in how it uses the allegory of the filmmaker being akin to magician, Bergman's film is, like so many of his pictures, quite a personal one, particularly in how it portrays the Vogler character as we see him dealing with audiences of different types and their respective reactions to his art. The film is also packed with the type of stark, high contrast and dark imagery that Bergman's films often feature, with many of the shots featuring Vogler carefully set up to make him appear as mysterious as possible. It's obvious to anyone with even a passing knowledge of Bergman's work that Vogler is based on his own personality and that with this film the director is working out some of his own issues with critics and audiences alike.
Performances are uniformly excellent across the board. Obviously Von Sydow is excellent - he's excellent in every one of the movies that he made with Bergman and this film is no exception, offering him plenty of opportunity to play this part using body language and letting himself really sink into the role. Supporting work from Bjornstrand and Thulin, also regular staples of Bergman's actors, help flesh out a solid cast all of whom seem quite comfortable for their respective roles.
An odd mix of humor, horror, drama and social critique, The Magician is a beautifully made film. From the flawless camera work to the pitch perfect pacing through to the performances and the story twists, it's an involving and engrossing picture that, like so many of Bergman's pictures, is completely worth seeking out.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Criterion's AVC encoded fullframe transfer presents this moody black and white film in its original aspect ratio in an excellent 1080p high definition transfer. There's really nothing to complain about here at all in terms of image quality. There is some very minor age related print damage evident in a few spots but outside of that, the image is clean and clear and incredibly detailed. There are no instances of noise reduction or edge enhancement while contrast looks dead on. Blacks are deep and rich and well defined while the whites are clear and natural with the grays in between filling things in nicely. Close up shots look incredibly lifelike while even medium and long distance shots show off plenty of detail and texture. The Magician looks excellent here.
The only audio option on this disc is an LPCM Mono track, in Swedish with optional English subtitles. While the range is obviously limited, there are no problems here either. The mix is well balanced, clean and clear and free of any hiss or distortion. The score sounds good and is mixed well with the dialogue while the actors are all easy to hear.
The two primary extras on the disc are a pair of interviews with Ingmar Bermgan, the first of which is a Swedish television interview that runs four minutes and the second of which is an audio interview that was conducted by 1990 by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas and Swedish author/filmmaker Stig Bjorkman. Both interviews offer some insight into the film and into Bergman's process and as such are quite worthwhile.
Aside from that, there are menus and chapter stops and an interesting 'visual essay' on the film by Peter Cowie. Inside the keepcase is a nice forty page full color booklet containing essays from French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, BFI Programming Head Geoff Andrews and an excerpt on The Magician from the director's own book, Images: My Life In Film.
The Final Word:
While not as heavy on the extra features are Bergman fanatics might have hoped for, Criterion's release of The Magician is otherwise superb and offers up the film in truly gorgeous quality. The movie itself is an interesting entry in his filmography. Rich with atmosphere it explores many of the themes his work would be known for and allows Von Sydow to really make the character his own. This is a really impressive package overall.
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