Thanks, Schreck, that totally jogged my memory. And at the end, the giant spider monster that the gang was investigating throughout the episode is unmasked as special guest star God.

...and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for this crippling existential angst

No wonder Gunnar Björnstrand had the munchies

Can someone help confirm that the "Bergman 101" feature on the new BD is the same as the annotated video w/commentary "filmography" from the venerable ol' Criterion DVD?

Certainly, its scholarship has been surpassed in any number of subsequent Criterion releases - certain segments excepted, particularly Cowie's commentary on "The Magician" sequence - but it's one of those first DVD features that really opened my eyes to the potential of the medium over VHS as an interactive learning tool (The Seventh Seal and Andrei Rublev were my first ever DVD purchases - I was also really taken by the unfortunately too-sparse "historical time-line" on the Rublev release). Plus, I love those all-too-rare video essay segments mixing text, commentary, still images, video clips, etc., and I'd hate to lose this one!

Oh yeah, almost forget the obligatory dismissal of all that... 'cause James Joyce, Igor Stravinsky, Marcel Proust, Pablo Picasso, Martha Graham are all a bunch of modernist sucks! How silly were there preoccupations, how absurdly old-fashioned their cerebral invocations of angst! Their aestheticizing of anomie, and their overwrought gestures of alienation! How refreshing not to have all these (mostly) white, (mostly) hetero, (mostly) male dinosaurs roaming the aesthetic landscape and embarrassing themselves (and us!) with their feeble Freudianisms and old world anachronisms! They suuuuccccckkk for representing so unfashionably another time, one not my own, which must hereby be mocked, and demeaned, and ripped upon mercilessly from my perch of contemporarily conventional wisdom!

Only the Ramones endure.

lolwut

It's surprising they haven't included the on-set Super-8 footage that was included on the Tartan disc.

SD edition available for Amazon presale at the $20.99 price. Looks like for the time being, this is in fact being listed at the $29.99 MSRP suggested by the Criterion website. With Amazon's guarantee, I preordered at this price without hesitation. The Blu can be preordered for $27.99.

This is why I am reluctant to part with my Tartan disc. I am intrigued by the commentary on the Criterion version, however, which is making me consider a double-dip... is the commentary worth the twinges of guilt I am sure to experience every time I see two Blu-ray releases of this film sitting on my shelf?

Well yeah. Film is just Rock N' Roll High School expressed 24 times a second.

I believe I asked this before but somehow the post never....created itself? doesn't matter.

With the re-release coming up, what do you think Criterion Collection will do with the packaging of the Bergman: Four Masterworks box set. I've been meaning to pick that set up for a long time, and now that The Seventh Seal has received a re-work I'm tentative to double-dip. Will they include the new version or will it remain the release from nearly a decade ago?

Stupid me, should've known to check the website. Much appreciated.

Blu-Ray.com gives The Seventh Seal disc a perfect score.

The Seventh Seal DVD Review
Bergman Island DVD Review

Thanks Chris, great reviews as always. I'm with you in deploring that it's only the 83-min. version of the documentary, and your review makes it appear as if indeed the most interesting bits (the theatre work, that is) are basically not in there. The great thing about the full-length doc is indeed that we not only get to hear Bergman talk about his approach to theatre directing, something that is indeed seldom covered in all the many portraits and interviews that are available on various discs, but most of all that we get to see filmed excerpts from his theatre productions (not just Bergman plays, but mostly plays by other authors); footage I've never seen elsewhere and which looks very, very intriguing. Sometimes reaching back to the 1960s, it seems that many of these filmed theatre productions survive in their entirety, and I really wish for someone to put these recordings on disc, even if the quality, judging from the documentary, is somewhat sub-standard occasionally. I guess it would immensely broaden our understanding of Bergman's films proper.

It is disappointing that the whole thing isn't here. What we have is still good BUT I would have appreciated seeing Bergman talk more about his theatre work (it's only briefly skimped over here, and I think most of it's devoted to The Magic Flute.) Is there a way for me to see it in North America?

Well, not strictly speaking in North America, but as I can't imagine you're region-locked, you can get the whole three-part documentary from Svensk Filmindustri. Beaver review here.

I was looking at that one and may just have to cave and pick it up. I didn't know Beaver had a review on it and am surprised it doesn't appear to be interlaced judging from the caps there. Wonder why it is on the Criterion (though in all honesty it isn't a huge deal.)

Agreed it's not a huge deal, but the fact that this and Koko were both interlaced perhaps suggests some disrespect for documentary material (that and their other habit of often chopping them up to use pieces as supplements).

I received my SD version yesterday, and it is very nicely done. The sound quality is indeed improved with a striking sense of clarity and depth. Picture quality is sharp, although the initial beach scene after the hovering bird might be overly dark. What really got me wondering was the two gray mist transitions/dissolves between the beach scene to the high road. The mist seemed much more "animate" than I remembered. Need to check my OOP disc.

After viewing again, it actually fades partially to gray, and then dissolves to the next shot.

One question about the film of The Seventh Seal:

I advise you tag also.

Another possible reason (not spoiler related) is that, if I recall correctly, the shot was improvised in a great hurry to catch the light, with costumes thrown on crew and whoever was handy, so it might be down to how many men and women and what bits of costuming were convenient rather than involving any deep symbolism.