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.