Ingrid Bergman Centennial: The Film That Brought Her to Hollywood
Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 5:00PM August 29th marks the Centennial of Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), one of the greatest of all movie stars with a career that stretched from the early 30s through the late 70s, encompassing multiple classics, multiple countries, and multiple Oscars. We'll be proceeding mostly in chronological order. Here's Abstew to kick things off with "Intermezzo" - Editor
Had it not been for a Swedish elevator operator working in the building that housed the New York offices of Selznick International Pictures, the world might never have discovered the young actress that would become the Hollywood legend Ingrid Bergman. It was 1936, and the soon-to-be star had just appeared in a Swedish film named Intermezzo about a famous concert violinist (played by Sweden's first stage star Gösta Ekman) that leaves his wife and family and has an affair with his much younger accompanist. There was clearly something special about the actress playing the love interest. The elevator operator wasn't the only one to see it, but he happened to have the ear of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick's talent scout Kay Brown (since she rode in his elevator everyday), telling her to seek out the film and to pay special attention to the girl in the picture. And in the early part of 1939, Brown flew to Stockholm and persuaded the young actress from Intermezzo to come to America and star in the Hollywood remake. Thus launched the international career of Ingrid Bergman and, as they say in the pictures, a star was born.
But her path to stardom in Hollywood wasn't without its hurdles...
One of the biggest obstacles happened to be Selznick himself. Exhausted from working on the epic blockbuster Gone With the Wind, Selznick was in an ill mood upon their first encounter and was not impressed with the Swedish beauty. He found her too tall, disliked her name which was too German sounding for his taste (especially with the pending war in Europe), and worst of all, her eyebrows were far too bushy. But Bergman refused to budge on a name change or to have any hair plucked. She didn't want to become some manufactured Hollywood product and with a career already doing well back in her home country had nothing to lose in standing up to the bullying producer. But then Selznick had the ingenious idea to market her just as she was, not as a mysterious glamour girl with a made-up name, but as Ingrid Bergman, the "natural" beauty and wholesome actress.
Back in Sweden, Intermezzo hadn't really been considered a vehicle for Bergman the way it became in the remake. Her co-star Ekman was a celebrated actor in the country at the time and it was very much considered his film. After all, the central conflict revolves around his duties as husband and father and how his budding love for Bergman's Anita Hoffman cause him to abandon his family. There is something haunting about his performance as if the strain of their affair wears heavily on the violinist's conscience. And Ekman's real life no doubt found a way of creeping into his performance contributing to that disturbed presence. He reportedly had a decades long addiction to cocaine and would only live 14 months after the film was released. Bergman had worked with him on a previous film and considered the older actor an important mentor in her development as an performer. And their scenes together in the film do feel more like that of tutor and pupil and not necessarily burning romance. But it does work for their relationship in the film as the young Anita is still learning her craft as a musician and admiration and reverence have a way of transforming into love.
While Ekman might have been the stand out in the 1936 Swedish film, there is no doubt that Bergman is the star of Selznick's version of Intermezzo. Although she didn't receive a Hollywood make-over, she still seems transformed before the cameras. Filmed much more luminously than in Sweden and outfitted in Irene evening gowns that showcase her girlish elegance, the full force of her talent seems to have come alive in America. And although the plot hasn't changed at all in the remake (at just over an hour, it's somehow even shorter than the quickly-paced Swedish version), Bergman's Anita Hoffman seems much more integral to the film. Playing opposite Leslie Howard's typical aloofness as the violinist, she has to sell the romance for both of them and ends up carrying the entire film. Howard had been talked into starring in Selznick's Gone With the Wind with the promise that he could star and be a producer on this film, but in both films he seems like he wants to be anywhere else. And although Intermezzo was a hit at the box office, imagine how much more successful it would have been had Bergman played off a screen partner she had some actual chemistry with.
Although Bergman would go on to bigger films (Casablanca was only three years away from this Hollywood debut) and much greater acclaim (becoming only the third actor to score three Oscar wins - from a career seven nominations, eventually adding a Tony and Emmy to her awards haul), this simple love story that was filmed twice with the star has the distinction of catapulting her to the world stage. Had Selznick not been so consumed with his duties on making Gone With the Wind, he might have perhaps taken a more hands-on approach than he did in guiding and shaping Bergman's career, as he did with his future wife, Jennifer Jones (who had no trouble changing her name from Phylis Isley). If he had been more controlling, perhaps he would not have allowed her to do films for Warner Brothers and MGM where her legacy was made. Despite Selznick and Kay Brown taking a chance on a young actress, Bergman was the first to acknowledge the contributions of a certain Swede working in New York. "I owe my whole career to that elevator boy", she once remarked and the world of cinema is forever grateful.
Reader Comments (18)
I've always said Ingrid Bergman is my favorite actress. Ever since I saw her in Casablanca as a kid, I've relished every opportunity I've gotten to watch her on screen again. I'd say For Whom the Bell Tolls, Anastasia, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Cactus Flower and Murder on the Orient Express are my other big favorites.
Since I love relating any conversation to the Oscars, I must say I find it interesting that when she won her first Oscar as Best Actress for 1944's Gaslight, she was in the midst of making 1945's The Bells of St. Mary's. That movie starred Bing Crosby and was directed by Leo McCarey, both of whom won Oscars in 1944 for Best Actor and Best Director, respectively, for Going My Way. Are there any other instances where the winners of those three major categories all went on to make a movie together the very next year?
Nice overview of her entree into the Hollywood scene. Her chemistry with Howard is low, a problem in her first three Hollywood films until she broke out as the trampy Ivy in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the film is still entertaining.
FYI she is one of the performers TCM is devoting a day to this month for their Summer Under the Stars, her films start on the 28th and run into the wee hours of her birthday (and sadly death day) on the 29th and they are showing a nice variety of her foreign film output as well as her Hollywood films.
Has anybody seen Indiscreet? It's not a movie often mention when the talk is Ingrid Bergman , but it's a wonderful "romantic comedy" that pairs her with Cary Grant - wonderful discovery.
As for "Intermezzo" the only merit of the film, as I see it, is that it introduces Bergman to American audiences. She had a stellar career and, honestly,except for Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn I don't see anybody else even near her. Class.
Does this mean Isabella Rosellini and Guy Maddin will make a short to celebrate her mother's birthday?
@adelutza - I saw Indiscreet last year and I thought it was pretty good. It's obviously a lot different from their previous film, Notorious, but it was cool to see them on screen together again. Bergman and Grant certainly have a better chemistry than Bergman and Howard in Intermezzo.
Everyone here seems to agree that chemistry may have been an issue between the two leads in Intermezzo, but make no mistake, Leslie Howard was a great actor. Pygmalion, 49th Parallel, Smilin' Through, and even Romeo and Juliet are proof of that. It's a shame he was killed so early into the Golden Age of Hollywood.
steven - haha. don't know about that, but isabella IS performing a theatrical tribute to her mother with jeremy irons here in NYC at BAM at the end of september
sean t - LOVE her in gaslight. i can never decide who i want to win that year between bergman and stanwyck. especially because it's the only of her three wins that's actually worthy...and she mentioned in her acceptance speech that if she hadn't won that crosby and mccarey would make fun of her on set the next day...
Just saw Ingrid as Ilsa in "Casablanca" for the first time in decades. I was struck once again how naturalistic her acting and looks were compared to other leading ladies of the era...
I think Leslie Howard sometimes overplays the tortured soul. I am not sure Intermezzo would have been better if he was more melodramatic . His reserve reminds me of Daniel Day-Lewis in the Age of Innocence.
Sean T you are so right about his wonderful films and too early death .
I really love Murder on the Orient Express. It is so great and Bergman deserves the Oscar imo.
As much as I luv Bergman, Stanwyck shld've won in 1944 for Double Indeminity. Bergman shld've won for Notorious, which she weren't even nom!!
My top 5 fav Bergman's pix:
Notorious, 1946
Autumn Sonata 1978
Casablanca 1942
Anastasia 1956
Indiscreet 1958
"he might have perhaps taken a more hands-on approach than he did in guiding and shaping Bergman's career"
I disagree about this. Selznick lead her carear meticulously, as you can learn reading Selznick Memos. For example, when she loaned her to do Gaslight he sent a very deatailed letter describing how they could improve the movie, including points made about the editing, and specially Bergman's scenes. He announced that if they follow his instructions, she could eventually win the academy award, and she did! That I call a very hands-on approach.
Thanks for a great writeup about a film I've wanted to see for a while but never got around to for some reason; also, I seem to be the only person on the planet who liked Leslie Howard in Gone With the Wind...
lylee,
I too, like Leslie Howard in GWTW. He can't help it if the part was written that way. And I have have always thought he is a little too reserved and out of touch becuase that character is emplematic of the Old South and why it died.
Leslie Howard's all time best movie is Pygmalion with Wendy Hiller
Ingrid Bergman is one of the brightest flames that ever burned in Hollywood's firmament. Whether she was a nun in The Belles of St. Mary's or a whore in Notorious, she was never less than compelling in every gesture, nuance and movement. I just watched Intermezzo for the first time, and Abstew is on the money--this is her film. It's a stunning debut, showing its leading lady in all her physical and thespian glory. She inhabits her scenes with a stunning sense of passionate craving for life, whatever it may hold. It was probably well and good that she got away from Selznick's control, though I'm certain it took a while. He did not give up easily. Jennifer Jones' career surely suffered from his interference. She lost the chance to work with some great directors and projects because they did not want to deal with her crazy husband. And Jennifer seemed to do better way from his hold. Ironically, Ingrid said after seeing Jennifer's performance in The Song of Bernadette that she knew she had lost the Oscar. But then her friend had the chance to hand the award next year to Bergman for Gaslight. NIce.
Love Ingrid. And never heard the story told here. Good one!
There's a new documentary out about Leslie Howard, called "The Man Who Gave A Damn".
I was surprised to read that the wonderful English Shakespearean actor, Alan Howard, who died this year, was Leslie Howard's nephew.
I like Bergman in Notorious and Casablanca, and liked Cactus Flower, Indiscreet, Spellbound, Autumn Sonata, and her story with Omar Sharif in The Yellow Rolls Royce. I want to see her Renoir film, Elena and Her Men.
After the WWII Ingrid Bergman was the greatest star and a wonderful actress, my generation adored her.
She got her first Oscar for Gaslight, where another now forgotten great French-American actor Charles Boyer was his demonic husband (he was nominated too for his Gregory Anton) They were good friends privately.and reunited once more in the Arch Of Triumph (by Erich Maria Remarque) in 1948 and the third time in 1976 in the Minelli film, The Matter Of Time, which became Boyer's last film before he committed suicide after the death of his wife.
Claran, I agree with those five listed. However, I find her performances in Stromboli, Europa 51, Journey to Italy more fascinating than many of her earlier Hollywood work, saving Casablanca and Notorious. She should have won for both of them and she was not even nominated! Her work in Anastasia definitely grows on me over the years.
Agree with someone commenting on how natural and her performance is compared to the other leading ladies of her generation, including even Hepburn, Davis and Leigh.