The Complete Films Of Ingrid Bergman is the latest addition to my Ingrid Bergman book collection. This book contains pictures, reviews, and commentaries on Ingrid's body of work including: movies, television and theatrical work. The pictures are all black and white and the book is soft cover, but still a must have for any Ingrid enthusiast.
7 comments:
What is the best biography of Ingrid?
I just found your lovely blog here and I just wanted to say that it's AMAZING that now, in 2009, decades after dear Ingrid's time, there are people who still appreciate her, who are still discovering her, and who still find relevance in her films and life.
I look forward to following your blog regularly! :)
Thanks for your comments! The best biography in my opinion is called "Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman" by Donald Spoto.
Ingrid's autobiography is great too, but I'd suggest reading the biography first... her autobiography is a bit choppy... check out my blog http://ingridbergmanfilms.blogspot.com/2009/03/books-about-ingrid.html
I hope you do stop in regularly! Feel free to follow and stay in touch! :)
I am not into the Donald Spoto bio so much . . I think it has a lot of stuff which is just not true and gets into all this ugly stuff amount Ingrid, not to harp on an tired subject but the way he deals with her being half German in the 30ies . . as well as her work with the Die Vier Gesellen. . und Carl Froelich . .Spoto seems to think he knows Ingrid better than she does herself and puts down Ingrid's own autobiography as an inferior work. . which I myself think it is great. . she tells her own story. . in my opinion its the best work . . of all that I have read on her life. . Chandlers a personal bio is better .. not not so much dirty details kinda reading .. and I think I was liked much more by her daughter Isabella . . Chandler evens goes not to say. . that she might have been part Jewish. . I think one could write a little more about the German/Jewish connection in Ingrid Bergman and try to get to the bottom of all these accusations, which Peter L and Spoto make . .Her relationship with Frank Capa. . should needs to be taken into consideration and her escape from McCarthy's America. . I think in her early years she was influenced by her national socialist relatives in Hamburg for a time. .but after being in California for a time and cultivating relationships with Hemingway and Remarque . . her choice of acting roles took on an anti fascist character, which all lead to the scandal and her leaving America. Most people like to talk about Ingrid in a very unpolitical way but I because she klatsch und tratsch tabloid Hollywood star. . but under the surface is a very political person who basically lost everything 'for awhile' in order to follow an avaunt guard neo realist style of film making. . and as a woman found herself judged. . what is the line form her autobiography . .? 'my baby Robertino cries out at dumbness general dumbness of the humanity'. .
I would agree that each Biography, of course, has its own spin on the point of view of Ingrid's life.
I would disagree that she was a political person. She, herself, denied being a political person, on several occasions. She did not follow politics, actually relied heavily on the men in her life when it came to such things. When she left the U.S., it was to follow filmmaking and love endeavors, not so much to make an anti-fascist or political statement.
Yes, she was associated with many men who were involved in politics, but she wasn't a political actress.
It does freak me out that her Aunt was a part of the Nazi party and that she worked in Germany, for the U.F.A. during the 30's, but let us not forget that she wasn't the only actress/director/producer etc. who did this, and she said that she refused to obey Goebble's request (if he were to ask) for her to be one of his "girlfriends."
She also, under a strong request of Petter Lindstrom, stopped seeing her Aunt and they were out of Germany in a hurry. She also refused to go see the camps when it was offered to the U.F.A. actresses.
Her timing, as far as McCarthy era and such were purely coincidental. Yes she was denounced at the house and essentially asked not to come back to the states-- but in actuality, she wasn't a U.S. citizen, so though it bruised ego and her American career-- she actually left during a time where she may have been blacklisted anyway (for foreign association.)
I believe that Ingrid just wanted to act. I feel like her daughters and son have echoed this.
I like and dislike her autobiography due to the fact that it is poorly put together-- which she said and I think is more than evident in the structure-- but it was also co-written by Alan Burgess, who was a deteriorating alcoholic. I think Ingrid knew her end was coming soon, and needed it to be out before her life span was over.
I really appreciate you posting such a great comment. These are the discussions that should be happening on this page.
Thanks again Berlin, and I hope you continue to read and post.
Alexis
. .her argument for not wanting to go visit Buchenwald . .or other places while touring Europe entertaining American soldiers with the ISO was I think as she says in her autobiography done out of the simple wish to preserve something in herself which would preserve an optimism and general belief in the goodness of people in general and humanity. I think this is a personal choice that each person can make themselves. . and if that is how she felt, I don't think it can be interpreted as in anyway some kind of disrespect to the victims. . I think she meant that she was afraid that such an experience would invite a certain hopelessness and depression which would consume her. . and she wanted to avoid that. .
As for her work on a Woman Called Golda, I think it can very much be seen as a political film. .after all it's main subject matter is the founding of Israel and it wars with her Israels Arab neighbors. . she says somewhere it was her chance to stand with the the Jewish people and celebrate the state of Israel .. .something which she had always wanted to do . in the D. Spoto bio she says something like 'growing up as teenager spending her summers in Northern Germany she did not have problems with rise of German fascism but it was something that she felt guilty about her entire life. .' and that playing the roll of Golda was a chance to kinda come to terms with that guilt. .again I am not a fan of Spoto bio. .but I think there is something telling about this statement . .because in her autobiography she talks about her time working for the U.F.A. and I think this was easier for her to show that she was feeling the atmosphere of fear . .and terror in the general public.. it was easy for her to explain it as something where she just did the film under less than ideal circumstances and then got out as quick as she could. .but what she does not talk about in her autobiography is her time spent with her German relatives in the years leading up to 38 and 39. . and the atmosphere they projected on to her. .and the everyday antisemitism in the air. .she must have experienced in some degree. .
Its hard to say what her real relationship was to Germany and Germans after the war. She again did do the film Angst with Rosselini in Germany as chance to get some kind of work and money. .A film by the way which I still have not seen and would like to see a lot . .and it was said that she tried to send money to Carl Froelich and other Germans after the war who were living in the rumble of post war Berlin and desperately needed what ever basic type of help they could get. .at the same time I just kinda have the feeling that she never wanted to see herself as half German anymore. . she was Swedish but lived in Italy, France, England and spoke those languages. .after all she always was more Swedish than German in my opinion . she above all at the beginning of her career a Swedish film star. . and then kinda returned to with her relationship with Lars S. . although both of them never wanted to live full time in Sweden and felt that Sweden was some how to small and closed a society for artists to really excel . .but at the same time I think she was also very loved by the French Italians English as well Americans, and again Germans and the world. .. .in the end. . her German-ness seems to be something that she walked away from. .and I think this was done for understandable reasons. . not to say she was as extreme as Erich Maria Remarque or Klaus Mann who could never really forgive Germany for its crimes in the second world war. .but there is something which remains absent . .its something that feels unexplored. . its like it was not talked about much. .
Berlin-
I agree that A Woman Called Golda can be viewed as a political film-- especially because Ingrid played such a political woman, but I would also argue that she played the part because of the woman's uplifting and courageous story. I will have to revisit the autobiography when I return home to see the sites from which you are getting your information- I don't have my books near by- they are 3000 Miles away.
I could see Ingrid not having much of a German link after her Aunt and her relationship dissipated as well as after the death of her parents. After she stopped spending summers there and the family went their separate ways, there probably wasn't much need to be German affiliated-- especially in a time where it would have affected her life, her family and her career.
I have been looking for evidence of her political sides and beliefs-- through academic resources, but have yet to find any true affiliations. I still hold the belief that she was not a political person-- also, I'll have to find the interviews or statements in which I have found talk to back up my belief.
Again, I hope to revisit my bios and auto-bio for further information-- but won't be able to access the books until July.
Thank you again for your statements and opinions. I can tell you are a devoted fan and invested in Ingrid.
I'm sure other readers also appreciate a different view point about the biographies-- it always makes life more interesting.
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