I tried sitting through a couple of Bergman once movies but failed. Maybe I'm too shallow. I never saw War of the Worlds, not a fan of sci-fi or super hero stuff. I liked Batman in comic books though.
Well, I just went over to IMDB to see what year
War of the Worlds debuted only to find out that there are two versions, a black and white version from 1953, which is the one I was talking about, and another version in 2005 which stars Tom Cruise of all people, which I haven't seen, or if I have seen it, I don't remember anything about it, except maybe a flicker of an image of Tom Cruise sort of hiding behind an upside down car in the street outside his house, which seems kind of dumb because if the Martians have a weapon that can blow a car upside down, maybe hiding behind a car isn't your first go to choice for protection, not to mention that since the Martians flew here from Mars they can probably fly around and shoot you from above, but then I remembered this is the movies, not real life, so I guess it is okay. That image of Tom Cruise hiding behind an upside down car is probably just a few of my neurons misfiring anyway. So I would recommend the 1953 version. Most of the time when you watch a Tom Cruise movie, after a while you sort of forget which movie you are watching, because they are all pretty much the same. So if I recommended that you watch the Tom Cruise version of
War of the Worlds about half way through you might lose the plot and think you were watching a
Mission Impossible movie, or maybe you would start expecting to see Dustin Hoffman come on screen to give a soliloquy about why he likes to buy his underwear at K-Mart. Stick with the original. By the way, I guess everyone knows this but if you don't here goes, there was a 1938 radio broadcast of
War of the Worlds narrated by Orsen Wells that was so convincing people thought the Earth really was being invaded by the Martians, so everyone was running out in the street looking around for upside down cars to hide behind.
So about those Igmar Bergman films, I have seen most of them so many times I've lost count, but that was a long time ago. I am glad it was a long time ago because now I can say I don't remember them instead of I don't understand them. Actually, I think at one time I did understand them, but that was when I understood a lot of stuff I have no clue about now. I sort of remember coming out of the movie theater and practicing my most knowing look. It is a fine line between a knowing look and a confused look which is why I had to practice it. There's no way I am going to get that knowing look back now. Too many years looking confused. One bit of trivia is that when movie theaters showed a Bergman film it was such a serious occasion they didn't sell popcorn and cokes. I hope you don't believe that because I just made it up, but I was trying to convey just how serious these films were. In the alternative, just imagine that you were attending a funeral instead of watching a film. You may have noticed that I keep referring to these films as films, and not movies. I do so out of respect. I was just thinking that if Elliott Gould was not in a Bergman film, he should have been but that's all I am going to say about that for now. Wait, I must have a mind like a steel trap. I just looked it up and Elliott Gould was in a Bergman film called
The Touch, also starring Bergman regulars Max von Sydow and Bibi Andersson. I knew it. Good old Elliott Gould. And Bibi Andersson was quite the hot ticket, especially in the earlier films. On the other hand, Max Von Sydow always looked like death warmed over, which was perfect because that is usually the character he played, at least as best as I can remember.
I am glad you like Batman comic books.
