Ingmar Bergman: Film and Stage

A basic resource for Bergman devotees, this survey includes astute critical analyses, plot summaries and background history for each of the Swedish director's films. In scrutinizing Bergman's entire opus, literary and film critic Long ( The Films of Merchant Ivory ) argues that Bergman has produced remarkable movies in all phases of his career, making critical feuds which favor the ``early'' or ``late'' films seem misguided. Lavishly illustrated with 36 color plates and 206 black-and-whites, this retrospective also examines Bergman's stage productions such as Hamlet , Long Day's Journey into Night , Miss Julie and Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade . Long highlights the interrelatedness of theater and cinema in Bergman's work as he plumbs its central themes of self-discovery, loss of faith and the usually subverted communication between men and women. (Apr.)