Gunnar Björnstrand Movies

Originally released in Sweden as Musik I Morker, Night is My Future is a seminal effort from director Ingmar Bergman. Blinded during a wartime training accident, aspiring-musician Birger Malmstein refuses all efforts by well-meaning outsiders to help him. Malmstein hires Mai Zetterling as his companion and "eyes," though he still fiercely defends his independence. They become closer as both Malmstein and Zetterling learn about new aspects of life from each other. Disappointed in his efforts to make a living as a pianist, Malmstein enrolls in a school for the blind, assuming that Zetterling will be waiting for him when he graduates. Upon learning that Mai already has a boy friend, Malmstein attempts to kill himself. Only when he gets into a fistfight with Zetterling's beau does Malmstein feel as though he's "whole" again. Night is My Future is based on a novel by Dagmar Edqvist; while entertaining, it is frankly an "entertainment," with few of Bergman's distinctive touches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Her Kommer Vi stars Sture Lagervall, who co-directed the film with John Zacharias (seemingly everyone's collaborator in the Swedish film industry). The title translates as Here We Are Coming, a reference to the military troops depicted herein. This being a musical comedy, rest assured that the soldiering rookies have romance in mind rather than world conquest. The popular Gunner Bjornstrand heads the cast, proving anew just why he was so popular. Indistinguishable from the many other Swedish military comedies of the era, Her Kommer Vi is set apart by the excellent camerawork of Hilmer Ekdahl and the sprightly musical score by Ernfrid Ahlin and "Roland." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Swedish filmmaker Hasse Ekman thrived on wearing several different production hats while working on his films, and Medan Porten Varstangd (While the Doors Were Closed) is no exception. In addition to producing, directing and writing the film, Ekman also essayed the leading role. Per the title, the story tells the audience just what happens when the doors of a sizeable family home are closed to the outside world. Naturally, the residents behave in a radically different manner than they do in public, none more different than ingenue Inga Lange. A big hit in Sweden, Medan Porten Var Stangd fared less well outside of its target audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Swedish-language picture Torment (AKA Hets, 1944) marked one of the first credited screenwriting efforts of the then 26-year-old scenarist Ingmar Bergman, and one of the broadest international successes of the gifted Swedish director Alf Sjöberg; it also launched the onscreen efforts of two young Scandinavian actors, Alf Kjellin and Mai Zetterling. This tragic drama concerns the ill-fated romance between student Jan-Erik Widgren (Kjellin) and Bertha Olsson (Zetterling), a slightly older, alcoholic widow who works at a tobacco store, and whom Jan-Erik meets when he discovers her unconscious in the street. The premise of the film finds Jan-Erik struggling valiantly to maintain his ongoing sexual affair with Bertha, while grappling, on the side, with the machinations of a sadistic and abusive professor, Caligula (Stig Jarrel. Events take an ugly turn when Jan-Erik discovers that Bertha is actually Caligula's lover - setting the stage for tragedy on the night of her booze-soaked orgy with the old man. Ultimately, both lovers are relentlessly victimized by the professor's doings. The cast also includes: Olof Winnerstrand, Hugo Bjorne, Stig Olin, Olav Riego, Marta Arbin and Nils Dahlgren. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide