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The Virgin Spring [1960] [DVD]
 
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The Virgin Spring [1960] [DVD]

DVD ~ Max von Sydow
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
Price: £9.07 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with Summer With Monika [1952] [DVD] DVD ~ Harriet Andersson

The Virgin Spring [1960] [DVD] + Summer With Monika [1952] [DVD]
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  • This item: The Virgin Spring [1960] [DVD] DVD ~ Max von Sydow

    Usually dispatched within 5 to 7 days.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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The Virgin Spring [1960] [DVD]
64% buy the item featured on this page:
The Virgin Spring [1960] [DVD] 4.9 out of 5 stars (7)
£9.07
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Product details

  • Actors: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson, Axel Düberg
  • Directors: Ingmar Bergman
  • Writers: Ulla Isaksson
  • Producers: Ingmar Bergman, Allan Ekelund
  • Format: Black & White, PAL
  • Language German, Swedish
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Palisades Tartan
  • DVD Release Date: 28 Oct 2002
  • Run Time: 86 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00006JY4Y
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,544 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #40 in  DVD > Classics > Horror & Suspense

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Made in 1960 and set in mediaeval Sweden, Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring is based on a folk ballad. It also examines a society in transition from worshipping the old Norse gods to Christianity. The film starkly contrasts Ingeri--a dark, feral Odin-worshipping brunette, foster daughter to a Christian family headed by Max Von Sydow--and their own daughter, Karin, pretty and blonde but also vain and naive, and resented by Ingeri. They travel out together to a distant church where Karin is to offer votive candles to the Virgin Mary. However, en route, Karin is raped and murdered by two desperate goatherders, accompanied by a 13-year-old boy. By coincidence, the goatherders then seek refuge with Karin's parents and even try to sell them her clothes, which proves to be a mortal error.

Bergman was greatly influenced by Kurosawa, the Japanese director of The Seven Samurai, when he made The Virgin Spring, as evinced in its ominous use of dark and shade and lengthy sequences without dialogue. However, this is more than pastiche. Although the Christian ending with which Bergman feels obliged to conclude the film doesn't quite sit well in a movie in which God is as palpably absent as in any Bergman movie, the slow, remorseless pace of the murder and subsequent retribution bring to mind Kieslowki's A Short Film About Killing in their sense of the futility of vengeance.

On the DVD: The Virgin Spring arrives on disc in a restoration that vividly enhances the sense of light and shade which is integral to the movie. Notes from critic Phillip Strick provide background to the movie, including the legend on which the film was based, as well as observing that Bergman was later so embarrassed by the film's debt to Kurosawa that he disowned it, only to be told by Kurosawa himself not to be so silly. --David Stubbs

Special Features
DVD 5
Swedish
Region 0
Dolby Digital Swedish
Dolby Digital
Star And Director Filmographies
Scene Selection
Philip Strick Film Notes
Stills Gallery
The Bergman Collection Trailer
English


See all Reviews

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars compelling and emotional, 13 Feb 2006
A excellent film by Bergman. The first film that I've seen by Bergman so far but has left a lasting impression on me.

The direction and cinematography is utterly startling. The film deals with the subject of Christianity and Paganism- and within that context there is a dark and depressing undertone which runs through the entire movie. The symbolism in the movie is absolutely remarkable. Pay close attention to the symbolism, it can lead to different interpretations of the 'true' meaning of the movie. (Did the mother know what was going to happen?)

Overall- a brilliant and astonishingly depressing film worth examining.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dark violent and absorbing drama, set in medieval Sweden, 27 Mar 2001
This review is from: The Virgin Spring [VHS] [1960] (VHS Tape)
This masterpiece by Bergman is one of his finest. Despite being banned in many countries outside of Sweden for years, this uncut version reveals the heinous crime of rape. Max von Sydow plays the father of Karin the virgin, who exacts his revenge in a demonaic manner. I know that many people are put off by Bergman because of his dark and disturbing portrayal of life, but this film is a must for all fans of European cinema.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars That existential magic..., 13 Nov 2002
By Jason Parkes "We're all Frankies'" (Worcester, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
Bergman was on peak form in the late 1950's, early 1960's making such classics as Summer with Monika, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly & The Magician. The Virgin Spring ranks along with these; I first saw this when terrestrial TV used to broadcast seasons on key directors (hey, now we have Fame Academy & Big Brother. Great. )and it struck me as a blend of the magical and the real.

I had heard of this, as Wes Craven's infamous Last House on the Left (still banned as far as I'm aware in this country)- which was a slasher/horror remake of this. The story is based on medieval legend, though Little Red Riding Hood will spring to mind.

The story is as good as any Shakespeare in terms of theme and morality- the denoument demonstrates the true nature of man- the pagan sense of revenge and the violence beneath the so-called civilised.

Max Von Sydow and Birgitta Valberg are great here, though it is Sven Nykvist's photography that stays with you after seeing the film. The Virgin Spring is a dark classic that is a treasure and a joy to watch on DVD- hardly something you can level at Dude, Where's My Car or Purely Belter.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark parable of sin and vengeance
A virgin spring would be an early spring when the days break bright and clear but the nights are still forbiddingly cold. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Dennis Littrell

5.0 out of 5 stars An unforgettable film about loss and revenge.
In 1960, a financially bankrupt Ingmar Bergman accepted a job to direct a film from a script by cult-novelist Ulla Isaksson. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jonathan James Romley

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful film
Virgin Spring is perhaps best remembered now as the film remade by Wes Craven in the 1970s as 'Last House on the Left'. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. R. Clarke

5.0 out of 5 stars a magnificent film classic
This film enages on so many levels; pace, character, drama you will return again and again to enjoy the work of perhaps one of the world's greatest directors working with a great... Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2004 by andrewc1152

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