SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT (1955, Blu-ray released May 3, 2011 – MSRP $39.95)

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Any Bergman on Blu-ray is cause for celebration. And Smiles of a Summer Night, the director’s most glorious and merry cinematic outing, is so fine it deserves one hell of a cake and a sky full of fireworks.

“After fifteen films that received mostly local acclaim, the 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) at last ushered in an international audience for Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries). In turn-of-the-century Sweden, four men and four women of different classes attempt to navigate the laws of attraction. During a weekend in the country, the women collude to force the men’s hands in matters of the heart, exposing their pretensions and insecurities along the way. Chock-full of flirtatious propositions and sharp witticisms delivered by such Swedish screen legends as Gunnar Björnstrand (The Seventh Seal, Winter Light) and Harriet Andersson (Through a Glass Darkly, Cries and Whispers), Smiles of a Summer Night is one of cinema’s great erotic comedies. “

Smiles of a Summer Night isn’t standard Ingmar Bergman fare. There are a handful of his signature melancholy moments peppered throughout the film but this is a comedy. While not laugh-out-loud funny, the film feels like an unadulterated celebration of life and love and summertime in Sweden. It’s a shame Bergman didn’t produce more work of it’s ilk. But this was a product of desperation.

As the story goes, the script was crafted in a time of great despair for the director. After numerous failures connecting with audiences, Bergman decided he would either try his hand at comedy or take his own life. A bit extreme but a sentiment befitting the man who would later write and direct The Seventh Seal and Through a Glass Darkly. And the results speak for themselves. Perhaps it was placing his characters in the turn of the century setting or perhaps it was simply the culmination of the work he was doing in the theatre at the time, but Smiles of a Summer Night comes together at every level – a perfect, romantic 4-way couple-swap story told with great style and charm.

Criterion‘s Blu-ray presentation of the film is beautiful, as you’d expect. But it’s not a significant enough improvement from their excellent DVD to warrant re-purchase. Contrast seems tighter, detail slightly improved and film grain more evident in HD, so fans with larger viewing areas will note the improvement most.

From the liner notes:

“This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a new 35mm print made from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, while Digital Vision’s DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.“

The lossless mono audio track also exhibits improvement over the compressed DVD edition but you’ll really need to have your listening hat on to notice.
From the liner notes:

“The monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integratd workstation.“

Supplements are carried over in whole from the DVD and are excellent to a one, with the 17-minute conversation between Bergman, Peter Cowie and Jörn Donner being the highlight. I would have loved it if the disc included a commentary track or a documentary feature but hey, I’m not going to complain here. This is a great disc and a no-brainer of a purchase for fans who don’t already own a copy.

Special Features:

• Digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Video introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman
• Video conversation between Bergman scholar Peter Cowie and writer Jörn Donner, executive producer of Fanny and Alexander
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by theater and film critic John Simon and a 1961 review by film critic Pauline Kael

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