EDITORIAL  by Mary

As I write the editorial comment for this our eleventh issue, we are already in August and soon we shall be reaching the eighteenth anniversary of Ingrid’s death. It really is hard to believe that she left us eighteen years ago, because I feel that she is still here. For me, this feeling comes from having her films on video and from having such good friends, who are also her fans, and with whom I can discuss her remarkable life and career.  Sometimes I try to think of any other actress with whom I could compare Ingrid, but there just isn’t one. She stands alone in her greatness as an international star, not just a “Hollywood Legend” – there are plenty of those. Ingrid acted in every medium and in five languages – I don’t think there is anyone else who can boast of having done that.

Since our last issue the twins, Isabella and Ingrid Junior, have celebrated their birthday on June 18^th. Rather belatedly I would like to wish them “Many happy returns of the day”. On their birthday I was lucky enough to be in North Wales, staying literally a few yards from where Ingrid had filmed part of “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness”. Behind the cottage that we rented was the hillside on which the walls of WangCheng were built and a little way along the farm track were the fields, where we first saw her arriving on the mule and later working in the paddy fields with her adopted children. It was a very exciting experience for me, to be there again and to use the holiday to find out so much about the filming. This information will be going into an article, when I can find the time!

Once more, thanks are due to Matt for space in “The Complete Ingrid Bergman Page” and to all our loyal contributors. Our Yahoo club is doing very well and I enjoy changing the picture on the home page and adding to my own briefcase from time to time. The messages on the club have been challenging and thought-provoking.  Several members now have briefcases, containing their own very individual offerings and this makes the club wonderfully diverse. Our membership is indeed international – hence our name “Ingrid Bergman International”: we have members in Australia, Israel, China, as well as Europe and the USA.

Enjoy this special edition, which should be available by August 29^th.

THE ULTIMATE COMPLIMENT

While it's probably true that every actress would wish to be
viewed as unique and original, if a critic is going to compare you to
someone, who better to be likened to than Ingrid Bergman?
French actress Sandrine Bonnaire was the recpient of such a
favorable comparison for her role in the recent Oscar nominated
French film "East-West". New York Times critic A.O.Scott had this to
say about her performance, "Ms. Bonnaire burns with the moral passion
and erotic fever as if inhabited by the spirit of Ingrid Bergman."
High praise indeed! This person knows how to pay a woman a
compliment.
The film's distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, knows a great line
when they see it. They wisely placed this quote prominently in the
paper's ad for the film, proving that the name Ingrid Bergman
continues to hold power to this day

Michelle Fryou, Louisiana, USA

.

MY THOUGHTS ON “TWENTY FOUR HOURS IN A WOMAN’S LIFE” By Yelena Severina

Since I've read Ingrid's Biography "My Life", I've always wanted to watch her performance in film "24 Hours in a Woman's Life" which was directed by Lars Schmidt, her third husband. It was released this year through the "Amazon" and finally I got a chance to see it. Though I like all of Ingrid's films, my favorite period of her acting career is from mid 50s until her last film. "24 Hours in a Woman's Life" falls under this category and though it's not so well known as many of her other films I think it's one of her finest acting performances.
She plays a wealthy widow who after the death of her husband travels abroad, where in casino she meets a young man addicted to gambling (played by Rip Torn). She falls in love and unsuccessfully attempts persuading him to quite the habit that is destroying his life. Ms Bergman is really on her best: as always luminously beautiful, emotional and very convincing. It was a bit strange looking at her in the grim of her character during the later stage of that woman's life. I had this feeling that if she took off that make-up of an aged woman, she would come up looking younger than her grand-daughter in this film. I think it was a small "faux pas" from the make-up artist, since Ms Bergman's youth and beauty obviously couldn't be hidden. But on the other hand, I think that the director didn't have a choice since it would have been unimaginable if another older actress played this part for Ingrid.
I remember that Ingrid once said that there she was at the point in her life being too old to play young characters and not old enough to play old ones. But she managed it beautifully. I really enjoyed watching her performance on screen in "24 Hours of a Woman's Life" and I don't understand why this film was for a long time so hard to find. The tape I have is the copy of the Original Live Television Broadcast isn't the first quality. And still it features Ingrid incredibly beautiful, talented, remarkable human being who is always alive in our hearts.
Yelena Severina, California, USA

Stromboli   by Margaret Walsh

Several weeks ago there was a discussion of Ingrid’s film

Stromboli, a discussion from which I quietly withdrew fearing immanent exile from the club. Encouraged by Mary, who feels that conflicting opinions make for more diverse and interesting exchanges, I agreed to air my feelings concerning this film. Before you all condemn me, remember I am in the company of critics far and wide.

Among the Bergman/Rosselini collaborative works, I much prefer Europa ’51 to Stromboli. The former packs more of a punch. Its story–line is not so thread-bare. People can relate to the torment of the protagonist. Ingrid’s lonely journey toward holiness and self-determination are real. Her superficial socialite companions cannot begin to deal with her obvious spiritual transformation. Shattered by the suicide of her attention-starved adolescent, Ingrid struggles to throw off her superficial life-style and replace it with meaningful service to others. A life of creature-comforts and superficial dinner parties can never again satisfy her hungry soul. Even though the ending is certainly a stretch, the message of the film remains intact. I really feel that Rossellini had a good insight into elements of the spiritual life that the ordinary person does not.

By contrast, the themes and story-line for Stromboli appear thin and its characters card-board and one-dimensional. The tragic situations in which the protagonists are involved could have been constructed in such a way as to evoke deep emotional reaction. Alas, careful crafting of the script was not a hallmark of Rossellini’s oeuvre. Rather, he preferred frantic, last-minute scribbling of dialog on the backs of envelopes. Maybe Mozart could write an entire forty-minute concerto without altering one note, but can we classify this director in the same category?

If Rossellini had in mind any grandiose themes reminiscent of Greek tragedies, in his mind is precisely where they remained. The dismayed viewer is disoriented by stilted and unrealistic dialog, put off by nasty garbage-tossing extras, depressed by the cheerless surroundings with no hope of comic relief, passers-by trying to sub for actors and a love-story falsely billed as "fiery and passionate." The two super-lovers never kiss as directed by the blindly jealous director and the "joyous" wedding ceremony reminds one of the mating of two robots. By the time Ingrid clawed her way up the sooty mountain and announced (incredibly, in view of the circumstances) : "I think I am pregnant." the people sitting around me actually guffawed and then breathed a sigh of relief that this tiresome tale was almost over.

I really cannot think of another film that brought on such blatant and boisterous comments in the 1950’s. Believe me. this movie was blasted to kingdom come by viewers and critics alike and even Ingrid alluded to its worth by joking wryly when someone mentioned it favorably later on a talk-show. "Well, if you wait 25 years every film you made becomes a masterpiece!" She knew better.

In this debacle I award the oscar for best acting to the tuna fish.

Margaret Walsh, Baltimore, USA

MORE ABOUT GATLINBURG, Location for “A Walk in the Spring Rain”  by   Lucy

An exclusive report

When I go places I like to get me a rock as a souvenir so in Cades Cove I got one right under the trough that Ingrid walked beside when they returned from threir stay in town. Remember she was walking along that trough like thing of water and you could see her reflection in it? That mill there is still running and water in the trough. I'm sure that isnt the proper name for it. Oh well. I named the rock Cades Cove and as a matter of fact I got you a small one if you want it! That house is called the Becky Cable house according to Wilma Maples but was first built by Leason Gregg in 1879. Becky bought the house and lived in it until her death in 1940. It was used as a store, a boarding house and a residence. Pretty cool huh? I got a picture of the barn where the goats were as well but its kinda dark. I tried lightening it up on the computer but didnt work. I'll take those photos and have prints made. I tried doing it with my scanner but the outcome is not very good. I think I should ask for a new printer this Christmas.

I still would like to have seen the house Anthony Quinn used as residence in that movie and I would also like to know where Ingrid stayed while shooting that movie. It had to be in that area!! Wouldnt that be neat to actually find it and rent the room she had or did they use the whole motel? Seems I read that someplace.

NEWS ITEM FROM JOE LA BOZZETTA

Stromboli

10^th June,2000

Anita Eckberg  the unforgettable star of Fellini film la dolce vita, the actress been in stromboli was  present at the wedding of italian film star Natalia Rossetti to unite them in matrimony at the parish of san bartolomeo was Don Francesco Cirone, the brother of the bride don Carlo Rossetti professor of the Gregoriana of Rome. Ekberg before leaving wanted to visit the location were ingrid filmed the film stromboli, and stopping in solemn silence at the house were ingrid and roberto lived and to the guests she sustained how much better stromboli was, when yet savage, then the progress that tourism still brings to the island. The  parish is the same that Ingrid visited when in Stromboli .

[News item submitted by Joe La Bozzetta, Australia, formerly of Stromboli]

QUOTE OF THE QUARTER

“I do not know how to kiss. Where do the noses go?” – Ingrid to Gary Cooper in “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

WHAT BRITISH TELEVISION THINKS OF SOME INGRID FILMS

NOTORIOUS – Recent review by Yvette Huddleston

In Forties Rio de Janiero, loyal American Ingrid Bergman, whose father has been convicted of espionage, makes the mistake of falling in love with U.S. agent Cary Grant, who then coolly uses her to catch the head of the Nazis’ Brazilian spy network, Claude Rains. Hitchcock’s superb thriller bears all the familiar hallmarks of the Master of Suspense, but, as usual, it is just as much about the horrible games that men and women play as it is about conventional thriller techniques. Most of the tension arises out of Grant’s cruel manipulation of Bergman’s fragile emotions; and the shifting relationshipis between the charaacters are all based on less-than-noble motives. In clever contrast to all these unpleasant goings-on, the film looks quite magnificent – very slick and polished with some stunning set-pieces, including one particularly memorable image: an overhead shot looking down a long staircase,slowly zooming in on Bergman standing with her hands behind her back holding a key – which plays a significant part in the plot – tightly in her hand.

NOTORIOUS – Short review in “Radio Times”

Originally planned as a story about Nazi training camps in the South American jungle, “Notorious” caused some disquiet on its release by dealing with uranium at a time when it was still supposed to be top secret. While not as thematically complex or technically audacious as some of Hitchcock’s later classics, this is the finest of his “entertainments”. He allowed himself one moment of technical virtuosity [the stunning crane shot swooping in on a key] but mostly confines himself to spinning his yarn with customary skill. Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant cast sparks off each other, while Claude Rains excels as the lovesick villain.

[That bit about Nazi training camps in the jungle is interesting – I can’t remember reading it in any of the Ingrid books. Does anyone else know about it? – Mary]

SPELLBOUND – Recent review by Yvette Huddleston

Made in 1945, when psychoanalysis was good box office, this superb Hitchcock thriller combines a realistic study of the mind with some powerful imagery and a palpable level of suspense. Ingrid Bergman is the psychiatrist who falls in love with her new boss Gregory Peck. When it transpires that he is an amnesiac who may also be a killer, she determines to unlock his memory. Convinced that Peck is incapable of murder, Bergman risks her career by going on the run with him when the police start asking awkward questions. The plot hinges on Peck’s guilt or innocence and Hitchcock teases out that tension right up to the last minute with repeated images of the parallel lines – railway tracks, a fork against the table cloth – which seem to have something to do with Peck’s memory loss and the incident that triggered it. The famous Salvador Dali – designed dream sequences add to the sense of mystery and disorientation, while Michael Chekhov’s wonderful cameo as Bergman’s eccentric former teacher and mentor could almost be Mr Freud himself.

This issue of Chronicle should be available by AUGUST 29^Th – INGRID DAY. Here is a Shakespeare sonnet, which I thought may be particularly appropriate:

SONNET  LXXIII

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all the rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire

Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love

More strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.”

Yet, Ingrid is still with us in spirit and in her films.

Some very special people never die – and Ingrid is one of those special people.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the Autumn issue of Chronicle.

Your comments are welcome and I would also appreciate contributions for future editions of Chronicle.

Mary

mhutchings@abling.co.uk