Costume Parade
October 28, 2016
Film Info
- Sweden
- 1957
- 96 minutes
- 1.33:1
- Swedish
- Spine #11
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, The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet), 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.
Cast
| Antonius Block, the knight | Max von Sydow |
| Karin, the knight's wife | Inga Landgré |
| Jöns, the squire | Gunnar Björnstrand |
| Jof (Joseph) | Nils Poppe |
| Mia (Mary) | Bibi Andersson |
| Death | Bengt Ekerot |
| Plog, the smith | Åke Fridell |
| Lisa, Plog's wife | Inga Gill |
Credits
| Director | Ingmar Bergman |
| Cinematography | Gunnar Fischer |
| Screenplay | Ingmar Bergman |
| Music | Erik Nordgren |
| Editing | Lennart Wallén |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- Digital transfer (box set edition); new, restored high-definition digital transfer (two-DVD and Blu-ray editions), with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Introduction by Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003 (two-DVD and Blu-ray only)
- Audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie, with a new afterword on the two-DVD and Blu-ray editions
- Bergman Island (2006), an 83-minute documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd, featuring in-depth and revealing interviews with the director (two-DVD and Blu-ray only)
- Archival audio interview with Max von Sydow (two-DVD and Blu-ray only)
- A 1989 tribute to Bergman by filmmaker Woody Allen (two-DVD and Blu-ray only)
- Theatrical trailer
- Bergman 101, a selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by Cowie (two-DVD and Blu-ray only)
- An annotated, illustrated Bergman filmography, featuring excerpts from Wild Strawberries and The Magician with commentary (box set only)
- Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by Cowie (box set edition); a booklet featuring a new essay by critic Gary Giddins (two-DVD and Blu-ray editions)
New cover by Neil Kellerhouse (two-DVD and Blu-ray editions); new cover by Gordon Reynolds (box set edition)
Current Posts
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
Behind the Scenes
Film Essays
The Seventh Seal: There Go the Clowns
By June 15, 2009
In recent years, The Seventh Seal has often been honored more for its historical stature than its prevailing vitality. Those who attended its first international rollout and were changed forever . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Bergman and I
By June 08, 2009
As I write this, it has been a year and a half since Ingmar Bergman passed away—and I miss him daily. I miss his imagination and the comfort he gave, both personally and through his films. I got . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Seventh Seal
By October 12, 1987
For more than forty years, The Seventh Seal has been a benchmark by which all other great foreign films are judged. It launched the international career of its director, Ingmar Bergman, and made . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Seventh Seal: There Go the Clowns
By June 15, 2009
In recent years, The Seventh Seal has often been honored more for its historical stature than its prevailing vitality. Those who attended its first international rollout and were changed forever . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Bergman and I
By June 08, 2009
As I write this, it has been a year and a half since Ingmar Bergman passed away—and I miss him daily. I miss his imagination and the comfort he gave, both personally and through his films. I got . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Seventh Seal
By October 12, 1987
For more than forty years, The Seventh Seal has been a benchmark by which all other great foreign films are judged. It launched the international career of its director, Ingmar Bergman, and made . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
From the Bergman Archives
July 14, 2016
Today marks what would have been the ninety-eighth birthday of Ingmar Bergman, one of cinema’s most essential artists, who ushered in a golden age of world cinema. Celebrate the Swedish auteur . . . Read more »
Clippings
The Magic of Max von Sydow
November 17, 2015
Max von Sydow has spent the past six decades cultivating one of cinema’s most illustrious careers, and now, at eighty-seven, the Swedish actor “may be on the verge of becoming a pop-culture . . . Read more »
Interviews
Thirty Years of the Austin Film Society: An Interview with Richard Linklater
By November 04, 2015
Linklater circa 1990 In 1985, six years before the release of Slacker, Richard Linklater's iconic portrait of a generation, the Texan filmmaker founded the Austin Film Society. The group began . . . Read more »
Clippings
Sweden Cashes In on Ingmar Bergman
October 23, 2015
Sweden's new two-hundred-krona bill features the country's most renowned filmmaker. Read more »
Flashbacks
Flashback: Sven Nykvist and Gunnar Fischer
By June 11, 2015
The author recalls the two great cinematographers and their work. Read more »
Dispatches
Flashback: Bibi Andersson
By March 26, 2014
The author recalls his encounters with the great Swedish actress. Read more »
Dispatches
Flashback: Ingmar Bergman
By June 18, 2013
The author recounts the story of his friendship with the great filmmaker. Read more »
Photo Galleries
Posters
Coming Attraction
July 14, 2011
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" media_id: media_type: Read more »Clippings
Cover Story
February 22, 2011
This week, Time is all too happy to judge a movie by its cover. Gilbert Cruz, an editor at the magazine, has compiled a list called “Top 10 Cool Criterion Collection Covers.” Cruz’s taste in . . . Read more »
News
Bergman Goes Hollywood
September 08, 2010
Soon, American Bergman-ophiles will be granted a special peek into the process of one of cinema’s great artists. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will host the Los Angeles world . . . Read more »
News
Ingmar Bergman’s Belongings Sold at Auction
September 29, 2009
In Stockholm, an auction of personal belongings from the estate of the great director Ingmar Bergman has just ended. The items ranged from parts of his daily life—his writing desk and . . . Read more »
Clippings
CHECKMATE
July 13, 2009
Like Gary Giddins in his recent Criterion essay, Andrew O’Hehir, in an engaging and sharp new DVD review for Salon, sets out to refute the long-held misconception that Ingmar Bergman’s The . . . Read more »
Behind the Scenes
Film Essays
The Seventh Seal: There Go the Clowns
By June 15, 2009
In recent years, The Seventh Seal has often been honored more for its historical stature than its prevailing vitality. Those who attended its first international rollout and were changed forever . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Bergman and I
By June 08, 2009
As I write this, it has been a year and a half since Ingmar Bergman passed away—and I miss him daily. I miss his imagination and the comfort he gave, both personally and through his films. I got . . . Read more »
Dispatches
Salute to Max von Sydow at Eighty
By April 09, 2009
The first time I “met” Max was in May of 1959, when Bergman’s stunning production of Urfaust came to London for just one week in the World Theatre Season. Groupie of all things Swedish that I . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Seventh Seal
By October 12, 1987
For more than forty years, The Seventh Seal has been a benchmark by which all other great foreign films are judged. It launched the international career of its director, Ingmar Bergman, and made . . . Read more »
