Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

ADDITION Criterion Blu-ray - May 2012: I'd say this is a significant improvement in the contrast. Criterion's dual-layered transfer, with very high bitrate, bests the DVDs is every category - from more textured grain to less artefacts, shadow detail and there is some depth exported. It looks very impressive - quite a beautiful presentation.

Audio goes lossless and original Swedish monaural via a linear PCM track and is without major flaws. There are optional English subtitles on the region 'A' - Blu-ray disc.

Criterion include a lot of supplements. The 'Introduction' by director Ingmar Bergman consists of 4-minutes from the interview conducted by Marie Nyerod for SVT Svensk Television in the summer of 2003. Bergman talks about his great affection for Summer With Monika, its production, and his relationship at the time with actress Harriet Anderssen. Also included is a new 25-minute interview with actress Harriet Anderssen, conducted by film critic Peter Cowie - it was recorded exclusively for Criterion and they discuss Summer With Monika. Entitled 'Monika Exploited' this 13-minute piece shows how, in 1955, producer showman and distributor Kroger Babb bought the American rights to Summer With Monika, cut it down to just over an hour, added an English DUB track and a jazz score and distributed the film as 'Monika: The Story of a Bad Girl'. In the interview with Eric Shaefer, author of "Bold!, Daring!, Shocking!, True!: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959" he explains how director Bergman's films became the grist for the exploitation mill. Images from the Playground, is a half-hour documentary by Stig Björkman with behind-the-scenes footage shot by Bergman, archival audio interviews with Bergman, and new interviews with actresses Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson. It runs 1/2 hour. There is also an HD trailer and the package contains a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Laura Hubner, a 1958 review by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, and a publicity piece from 1953 in which Bergman interviews himself.

Magnificent and powerful Bergman film - ripe for purchase in this outstanding Blu-ray edition. Our highest recommendation. 

***

ON THE DVDs: Both the negative (white) and copy (black) scratches are identical, I presume that both transfer are made from the same source material, but in different DVD laboratories. The difference is marginal. The Tartan is a little bit darker, and the SF shows more film-grain.

Overall the DVD's are oddly grey in many places, but without comparing it to an existing film copy it's hard to say the reason. Is the picture brightened from a film-copy to better adjust to the home screen, with the conclusion that we get occasionally more a Grey & White, than a Black & White picture!

On the extras, the SF has a brief introduction by Ingmar Bergman.

If some North American distributor picks this film up, it's should be nice the see, even tough it's probably far from Bergman's intentions, the first US release: An English Dubbed 62 minutes "drive-in" version "Monika, the Story of a Bad Girl" with a jazzy score from Lex Baxter.

NOTE The Swedish DVD doesn't have English subtitles.

 - Per-Olof Strandberg