miss_lady_ice-853-608700
This is a nice little film about Holger (Leslie Howard), a married concert violinist who falls in love with Anita, his daughter's young piano teacher (Ingrid Bergman, in her US debut).The two go on tour together and true to the old lyric: "music leads the way to romance", the two musicians begin an affair. But can they ignore their duties to family and career? The film is a re-make of the Swedish film 'Intermezzo' (which also starred Bergman) and it retains the Swedish names. As none of the cast are Swedish except Bergman, they might as well have changed the names and location to suit a British setting as the film isn't shot in Sweden anyway.The film is very short- only 70 minutes long- and so even if it wasn't your cup of tea, you could still give it a go. It's an entertaining old-fashioned melodrama. It would have been nice if the characters could be fleshed out slightly more, but Intermezzo is a thoughtful study of adultery. If you liked Brief Encounter, this is worth a shot too.
James Hitchcock
At only 70 minutes "Intermezzo" is short even by the standards of the thirties. The story is simple and its moral equally so. Holger Brandt is a famous Classical violinist who falls in love with Anita Hoffman, his daughter's attractive young piano teacher. Holger leaves his wife and family for Anita, and they tour Europe together, with her acting as his accompanist. Anita, however, has a guilty conscience about having been responsible for splitting up Holger's marriage. She leaves him so that he can return to his family, who forgive him. The message is that individual happiness cannot be based upon the unhappiness of others.One contributor on this board states that he would not normally approve of a film about adultery, in which case his choice of viewing matter must be rather limited. His choice of reading matter must be even more limited, as adultery has always been one of the great themes of literature. The great literary chroniclers of adultery, however- Flaubert, Tolstoy, Fontane, Hardy, Balzac, Alas, Lawrence- treated the subject with much greater frankness, and with much greater depth, than do the makers of this film. (Perhaps because those writers had no Production Code to worry about). "Intermezzo" presents us with a rather sanitised version of adultery, in which at the end of the day no-one gets hurt and there is a happy ending for everyone- even for Anita, whose renunciation of the man she loves is presented as a noble gesture which will enable her to live in future with a clear conscience. The film has been described as a "weepie" or a "tear-jerker", but it seemed to me that there was precious little in it to shed tears over.Most literary treatments of adultery (Anna and Karenin, Emma and Charles, Sir Clifford and Lady Chatterley) paint a portrait of a deeply dysfunctional marriage; this film, however, paints a highly idealised one. The opening scenes of Brandt, his adoring wife Margit and their two children could be taken straight from an advert depicting the ideal family. There is no attempt to suggest any marital discord which might have contributed to Brandt's infidelity; adultery is simply presented as "one of those things that happen", like an accident.This is not Ingrid Bergman's greatest film, but her vibrant, lively personality shines through and she does enough to show why she was to go on to become a major Hollywood star. (Ironically, her career was to be damaged ten years later when she herself became involved in an affair with a married man, Roberto Rossellini). Leslie Howard, however, seems too much the perfect gentleman with no suggestion of a passionate nature below the surface. One cannot really imagine him as the sort of man who would jeopardise a seemingly idyllic marriage for a guilty fling.This film is a remake of a Swedish film of the same name, made three years earlier in 1936. The main purpose of the remake was to allow David O. Selznick to introduce to the American public his big new star, Ingrid Bergman, who had also starred in the Swedish version. Tom Cruise did something similar recently when, wanting to introduce to the American public a big new star, Penelope Cruz (who also happened to be his girlfriend), he produced, under the title "Vanilla Sky", an English-language remake of her previous Spanish hit "Abre los Ojos". There is, however, a difference. Cruise's film transferred the action from Spain to America and included several well-known Hollywood stars, including himself. The American version of "Intermezzo" by contrast, kept the Swedish setting of the original film. Moreover, none of the leading actors were American. Apart from Bergman, the two leading roles are played by British actors, Leslie Howard and Edna Best. Clearly, in 1939 there was no automatic assumption on the part of Hollywood filmmakers, as there is today, that American audiences took no interest in countries other than their own.It might, in fact, have been easier if the action had been transferred to America, as it would have spared the filmmakers the dilemma of how to refer to the European political situation. The film was made at a time when Europe was threatened by war, and actually opened a few days after war was actually declared. The view of Europe in 1939, however, is as sanitised as that of the Brandts' marriage. We see a continent at peace, with no reference to Nazism or the approaching conflict, beyond one brief allusion to "the time when Vienna was a happy city". This has been taken as a reference to the Anschluss in the previous year, although Vienna was probably not a particularly happy place under the authoritarian pre-1938 Dollfuss/Schuschnigg regime.In style the film is a romantic melodrama, complete with lush Classical music playing in the background. It is reasonably well made, but I was rather unhappy with its treatment of its subject-matter. In one of a number of musical metaphors, Anita says that she was just an intermezzo in Brandt's life. Most extra-marital affairs in real life are rather more than that. If only the damage done by infidelity could be repaired as easily as it is in this film. 6/10
Ed Uyeshima
The familiar David O. Selznick gloss is all over this minor 1939 soap opera, most noteworthy as the American film debut of 24-year old Ingrid Bergman. She was brought over from Sweden by Selznick for this melodramatic remake of the 1936 film which brought her great acclaim in her homeland. Her fresh-faced beauty and natural manner are intoxicating as she plays Anita Hoffman, first a piano teacher to the young daughter of renowned violinist Holger Brandt and then his accompanist on a world tour. It's a brief movie, only seventy minutes long, directed by Gregory Ratoff (more famous as the ulcer-ridden producer Max in "All About Eve") focusing on the illicit affair that develops between Anita and Holger.Much of the story has to do with the guilt they both experience in terms of the familial repercussions, and the ending reflects as much. A role away from his Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind", obviously the more important Selznick movie in production a the time, Leslie Howard plays Holger in his familiar erudite manner. Veteran character actor Cecil Kellaway (later the monsignor in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") plays the sage maestro who acts as the film's conscience. Scenes often seem strangely truncated to move the story briskly along. Beyond Bergman, the most accomplished aspects of the film are Gregg Toland's lush cinematography, Lyle Wheeler's art direction (making Monterey, California look very much like the Italian Riviera) and Max Steiner's romantic music (oddly uncredited). But the impossibly striking Bergman is the primary reason to see this predictably developed film. The 2004 DVD offers no extras.
jotix100
This remake of the Swedish film of the same name is worth a look because it's the first time American audiences got a chance to see Ingrid Bergman. Gregory Ratoff, the director, utilizes well the short time of the movie to present the melodrama in an appealing way.From the beginning, we realize the attraction Holger feels for Anita is doomed. Holger has a loving wife as well as two children that clearly adore their distant father.Basically, Holger is a decent man who sees in Anita something that he doesn't have at home, which seems to happen whenever a fresh and beautiful woman arrives at the scene and the marriage is shaky.Leslie Howard was an amazing actor. In this film he is not as effective as in his previous, much better appearances. Ingrid Bergman brought a freshness to Anita that is hard to imagine another actress playing her. We get a glimpse about a star being born, one that would shine forever.In minor roles, Edna Best, plays Magrit, the long suffering wife. John Halliday is Thomas Stenborg, the loyal friend and former playing partner. Ann Todd is seen as Ann Marie Brandt, the daughter. Also, Cecil Kellaway plays Charles, Holger's manager.This is a movie to watch because of the impressive debut of Ingrid Bergman, also because the glorious music.
