Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen) - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Description
The delicate, dangerous line between genius and insanity is brilliantly plumbed in this haunting film from Ingmar Bergman that's "a dazzling flow of surrealism, expressionism and full-blooded Gothic horror" (The Observer). Haunted by demons past and present, artist Johan Borg (Max von Sydow) fights a losing battle to retain his sanity and maintain his artistic prowess. His wife Alma (Liv Ullmann), desperate to help him, finds herself starting to share his hallucinations. But as Johan's mind continues to unravel, Alma is forced to choose between her love and her life.

Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Be very careful March 1, 2005
51 out of 59 found this review helpful

My rating refers to the movie - not the DVD.
Had I rated this product 1 star (which would be a generous rating for the DVD,) I'd be sending the message that this isn't a good movie...5 stars for Bergman's work.

MGM's WAR OF OAR:
A lot of word has spread about MGM's DVD releases of this film and Bergman's "Shame" being presented in the wrong aspect ratios.
Here are the facts and my personal experience with this mess:
The original aspect ratio (OAR) of this movie and "Shame" is 1.37:1 (this has been confirmed by Svenska Filminstitutet,) i.e. almost full screen on a "normal" TV, but not quite; there should be BARELY NOTICEABLE black bars both above and below the picture.
However, in February 2004 MGM released a boxed set including five Bergman titles, where the two earlier mentioned films were presented in aspect ratio 1.66:1.
"How can you change the OAR?" you might ask. In this case the answer is simple: by matting the picture. MGM had placed very thick black bars on the top and bottom of the picture throughout the movie, resulting in a wider looking format, but causing 11.5% of the image to be blocked out. Through this link you can read all about it, and compare still images from these films to how they look on the DVD, and how they should look:
http://207.136.67.23/film/DVDCompare2/mgm.htm
Naturally this flub upset people, and eventually MGM had to admit their wrongdoing and withdraw these two DVD's from the market.
This is the statement that MGM Home Entertainment made regarding the recall of the INGMAR BERGMAN COLLECTION:

"It has come to our attention that the transfers utilized for the release of Ingmar Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf" Special Edition DVD and "Shame" Special Edition DVD are not representative of the intended theatrical presentation.
In order to provide customers with the best quality product available, we are recalling the product at retail and will be releasing both films in a 1:37:1 aspect ratio on April 20, 2004.
The Ingmar Bergman DVD Collection will also be available on that date. MGM Home Entertainment always strives to provide the highest standard of product and customer care. For additional information or comments, please contact our customer service."

Reading this statement a year ago made me happy that I hadn't ordered or bought the boxed set or any separate discs thereof. The DVD's were now going to be withdrawn from the market and later re-released in the OAR...fine.
However, when these discs were re-released on April 20th 2004 they were presented in 1.33:1, NOT in the OAR 1.37:1, as MGM had promised.
I waited some months thinking that maybe some other studio (like Criterion) would release these movies in the OAR. Nothing happened, and naturally MGM wasn't going to admit a second mistake, so since I hadn't seen these movies, but had heard and read good things and was therefore curious, I ordered MGM's 1.33:1 versions of both "Shame" and "Hour of the Wolf" from amazon.com in the early fall of 2004.
When the discs arrived "Shame" was slightly matted just as I'd expected (1.33:1,) but I got the 1.66:1 version of "Hour of the Wolf" even though I'd contacted amazon.com's costumer service in advance to make sure that I would NOT get the edition that was supposed to have been taken off the market 6 months ago by then.
I complained to amazon.com, and instead of sending me the edition I wanted they gave me a refund - better than nothing, but they couldn't tell me how to get a hold of the 1.33:1 edition of "Hour of the Wolf," so neither can I.
Just be aware - there is no such thing as a widescreen edition of this film, even though the more expensive edition of the two MGM DVD's available on amazon.com suggests so.

Ok, that about that. Some may suggest that this kind of technical mumbo-jumbo is not interesting and certainly not necessary when reviewing a movie, but whether you claim you care or not, watching 88.5% of the image of a movie WILL (consciously or subconsciously) effect your judgement of the film, because things are happening behind those thick black bars. Not presenting Sven Nykvist's camera art as he and the director intended it is quite disrespectful towards both the artist and the audience.
...my suggestion is to MAKE SURE you get the 1.33:1 edition of the(se) film(s,) or wait until someone releases them in OAR 1.37:1.

DVD FEATURES:
There is a 26 minute "featurette" featuring short interviews (shot in 2002) with actors Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, Ingmar Bergman biographer Marc Gervais, and short footage from an approximately 35 year old interview with Ingmar Bergman. There's no behind-the scenes footage or outtakes featured in the so called documentary; a lot of it is just repeated on-camera quotes, still pictures and a great amount of clips from the film, cut together at MGM studios. Nothing worth celebrating, though it's viewable - they could easily have cut it down to less than 10 minutes, thus made it more intense, while still as interesting.
Marc Gervais' comments and commentary is not very insightful or based on a lot of facts around the production of the movie - he merely suggests his own interpretations of what Bergman was trying to tell based on his own theories, which aren't very interesting, and which don't always make sense in comparison to Bergman's autobiographical suggestions. Frankly, if I may be a tad harsh, I'd be as interested in listening to George W. Bush's analysis of this picture as Mr. Gervais'.
Criterion's Bergman Biographer, Peter Cowie, who has met the director several times, usually provides much more interesting commentary.
Other features on this disc (at least the matted edition) include English, French and Spanish Language subtitles, a photo gallery, and a theatrical trailer.

THE MOVIE:
"Vargtimmen," which is the Swedish (original) title of "The Hour of the Wolf" is a black and white production from 1968, written and made in Swedish by director Ingmar Bergman. It is one of Bergman's most "mystical" films, and of all his work, "Hour of the Wolf" suites best in the genre of "horror," though it isn't a pure horror flick from beginning to end - at least not in any typical sense.
The two main characters are played by Max von Sydow (as Johan Borg) and Liv Ullmann (as Johan's pregnant wife Alma.) During most of the shooting of this film--which incidentally (as many other films since "Sasom i en spegel" a.k.a. "Through a Glass Darkly") took place on Bergman's residence Faroe--Liv Ullmann was in fact pregnant, at the time carrying her and the director's child Linn.
Basically (bluntly, or on the surface) the film tells the story of a sleepless artist with an unhealthy upbringing, who is trying to fight off haunting demons. One may theorize these demons partly as a portrayal of critics towards the artist.
Bergman has never explained exactly why certain things take certain actions in his films. Usually he doesn't even discuss the scripts with the actors. Partly for this reason, has he never been interested in recording audio commentary for his films on DVD, nor do I believe there is reason for him to do so, because his films are his creations - his art. There is no apparent reason to me why anyone should try to "figure these movies out" and make official theories and statements of what exactly they are trying to tell you, because sometimes they might not even be trying to tell you anything. This form of art, like other forms of art, should (as they do) leave you space for a personal interpretation.
Most of the cast (with exceptions like Naima Wifstrand) were, at the time, basically just stage actors - a fact that certainly effects the intense outcome of all characters featured in the movie and makes it special.
The music in several scenes of this film (such as when Johan Borg, on a fishing trip, is bothered by a demon in the form of a child) is very intense, effective and skilfully applied to the picture.
This is a work of art that a true fan of Ingmar Bergman's filmmaking must not miss.

4 out of 5 stars

mgm should be ashamed April 13, 2005
14 out of 18 found this review helpful

the dvd looks good and perhaps they have gotten the aspect ratio right at last. however, there is NO EXCUSE for the MGM lion logo appearing and roaring SECONDS after the last frame of the film. absolutely appalling.

5 out of 5 stars

One of his best March 6, 2002
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

A famous painter, Johan (Max von Sydow), and his wife (Liv Ullmann) arrive on a small island where Johan plans to recollect his thoughts and find himself in his painting. He suffers from insomnia and bad nerves, and his nights are spent waiting in horror for the magical hour before dawn, the hour of the wolf, when a flood of memories, anxieties, and regrets transcend thoughts and appear as demonic apparitions which threaten to consume him. Johan's wife, Alma, must help him overcome his dangerous obsessions with his ghosts before the manifestations become too real, and its too late...

The Magician and Hour of the Wolf are my two favorite Bergman movies -- the reason being the flaws of these films only make them stronger by serving the point. In the Magician its an artist's fear of having his cheap trickery exposed for what it is, and his inability to make "pure" art. The fact that Bergman had to sell the film as an "erotic comedy" with a silly subplot doesn't make the film weaker: it just reinforces it with irony.

In the same way, the Hour of the Wolf was clearly made by a nervous and overworked artist: at this point the critics were out for blood with Bergman, ready to declare his career over and his movies indulgent exercises in his popular image. Bergman himself was having a rough time, with a theatre and a film career exhausting him and his marriage falling to pieces. But for Hour of the Wolf, any resignation, nervousness, or indulgence merely serves to strengthen the film's message. Hour of the Wolf is a desperate film, and because of that, I think its in this film that Bergman comes closest to his own artistic vision: That place where dreams, memories, and anxieties come together and become indistinguishible (something he would have a harder time conveying in films like Face to Face).

The film is beautifully made, with Sven Nykvist collaborating as usual. Bergman and his cohort were cutting close to perfect in craft around this period. The flood of images is overwhelming. Some favorite scenes: Johan struggling with a small boy while fishing, the dinner party (the pressure!), and of course, the famous "Magic Flute" scene, with the small puppet moving almost imperceptibly as a real man. And that prevalent Bergman talking point, Mozart, and the chorus' breathless chanting: "Pamin-na still lives." (lit. "Love still lives")

An emotional and personal film, one of his best.

1 out of 5 stars wrongly cropped from OAR 1.37:1 to 1.66:1 and it looks awful February 7, 2004
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

MGM have not fully researched the OAR of this film. They have released this DVD in the wrong aspect ratio (1.66:1 instead of 1.37:1) resulting in A LOT of bad looking framing.

The film may have been released theatrically in the US at 1.66:1 but if so THIS WAS WRONG. The OAR of the film is 1.37:1 and it is released in this ratio around the world (see the recent French DVD for example).

5 out of 5 stars bergman's best, a terrifying masterpiece April 5, 2002
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

"hour of the wolf" is far from a 'lesser' bergman film:it is his best.

johann (max von sydow), and his wife alma (liv ulmann), retreat to an island with one another and try to live a serene, peaceful life while johann works on his art. to say the least, it doesn't exactly pan out.

slowly but surely, johann's demons pursue him and whether they actually 'exist' or not is neither here nor there as far as the message of the movie goes. the most crucial scene is when the puppet show takes place in the demons' castle, and mozart's "magic flute" is done by the birdman, papageno. the darkness and meaninglessness of the human condition is reflected in the lines of mozart's character:"eternal night, eternal night, when whilst thou flee? when will mine eye the daylight see?" while these lines are recited by the birdman after the puppet show by papageno, a slow close up is gotten on his intensely evil face, and the lines are delivered with reverence and an inflection of utter doom and hopelessness. the answer is what johann already knows all too well--never. the artist's (and, by extension, man as a whole) attempts to know reality, to understand the purpose of his life and the meaning of existence, will come to naught, and he will be particularly unfortunate since, unlike the rest of the human race, he alone realizes the shadow of ephemerality and incomprehensibility cast all over life. the beginning and the end of the movie are more or less rational, in that there is nothing left but for johann to lose his mind. johann and alma, despite their intense love for one another, are just as cut off and unknown to one another as all human beings, and her attempts to save him are futile.

this film is a masterpiece, and masterfully utilizes the surreal and the imaginative to display bergman's unpleasant truth.

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