Intermezzo

An almost shot-for-shot remake of the original Swedish movie, with a plot point or two simplified for Hollywood. Bergman gets much better clothes in this one. I will never understand Leslie Howard's appeal as a leading man (although he does rather resemble Gösta Ekman of the original). Pauline Kael: "At last the finer overtones of conscience separate them: the crisis occurs in a picturesque Mediterranean village--Selznick saw to it that such romantic upheavals got the smartest settings."

This appears to be a remake of original foreign version, so I suppose much of the credit must go to that. This one was excellent. You really get caught up in the human drama, then there is the beautiful music, settings and clever editing. Good one!

This simple melodrama follows the doomed romance of a renowned violinist and his daughter's piano teacher. It's short but overpoweringly stuffy, and while Howard is as superb as ever, Bergman is uncharacteristically wooden in her English language debut. Impressively, the musical scenes are entirely convincing despite the fact that neither star could actually play.

So Ingrid Bergman comes to America to remake her Swedish hit Intermezzo (1936) for the English speaking audience. Better then the original. A lot to do with a more suitable leading man in Leslie Howard and the sharper eye on production values. Easy to see why she made such a splash. Bergman had such natural beauty and a unique magnetism which really shined through with the Hollywood polish. Just watch her scene playing the piano. An instant winner right there!