237 Smiles of a Summer Night

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Martha
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:53 pm
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237 Smiles of a Summer Night

#1 Post by Martha » Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:50 pm

Smiles of a Summer Night

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After fifteen films that received mostly local acclaim, the 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) at last ushered in an international audience for Ingmar Bergman. In turn-of-the-century Sweden, four men and four women of different classes attempt to navigate the laws of attraction. During a weekend in the country, the women collude to force the men’s hands in matters of the heart, exposing their pretensions and insecurities along the way. Chock-full of flirtatious propositions and sharp witticisms delivered by such Swedish screen legends as Gunnar Björnstrand and Harriet Andersson, Smiles of a Summer Night is one of cinema’s great erotic comedies.

Disc Features

- Digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Video introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman
- Video conversation between Bergman scholar Peter Cowie and writer Jörn Donner, executive producer of Fanny and Alexander
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by theater and film critic John Simon and a 1961 review by film critic Pauline Kael

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4LOM
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#2 Post by 4LOM » Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:18 pm

Here is my DVD comparison of the Criterion and the German Kinowelt DVDs with a lot of screen shots. The PAL-DVD shows more picture information, detail and has better contrast. It contains a German audio commentary, but this one is not worth listening. Unfortunately no English subtitles.
Last edited by 4LOM on Thu Nov 04, 2004 6:37 am, edited 2 times in total.

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mingus
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#3 Post by mingus » Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm

What a big difference! How could the CC version get the director's approval?

@4LOM: Are you planning to become a German speaking DVD Beaver? Congratulations to the quality of your review.

Martha
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#4 Post by Martha » Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:48 pm

I created a thread here for further discussion of the German release.

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4LOM
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#5 Post by 4LOM » Thu Nov 04, 2004 6:00 am

mingus wrote:Are you planning to become a German speaking DVD Beaver ? Congratulations to the quality of your review.
Gary's site was the inspiration for building a German speaking review- and comparison-website. Gary and I are now sharing screen shots and he plans to release the "Smiles of a Summer Night" comparison on DVD Beaver for his English speaking readers.

skweeker
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Re: 237 Smiles of a Summer Night

#6 Post by skweeker » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:02 am

This is a very sexy film.

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perkizitore
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Re: 237 Smiles of a Summer Night

#7 Post by perkizitore » Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:55 am


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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: 237 Smiles of a Summer Night

#8 Post by Matt » Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:47 pm

I'm surprised Gary didn't note that there is slightly more information visible on the top and both sides of the screen in the BD than in the DVD.

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