Episode 175 – Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night

Criterion Cast: Main Episodes

This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee, Trevor Berrett, and Arik Devens to discuss Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night.

About the film:

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 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.

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Buy The Film On Amazon:

Watch a scene from the film:

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Episode Links:

• Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) – The Criterion Collection
• Smiles of a Summer Night: Midsummer Merry-Go-Round – From the Current – The Criterion Collection
• Smiles of a Summer Night, by Pauline Kael – From the Current – The Criterion Collection
• Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) – IMDb
• Smiles of a Summer Night – Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
• Smiles of a Summer Night | Ingmar Bergman
• Smiles of a Summer Night Movie Review (1955) | Roger Ebert
• Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) – #237 | Criterion Reflections
• TASCHEN Books: The Ingmar Bergman Archives
• Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey

Episode Credits:

• Scott Nye (Twitter / Battleship Pretension)
• David Blakeslee (Twitter / Criterion Reflections)
• Trevor Berrett (Twitter / The Mookse and the Gripes)
• Arik Devens (Twitter / Cinema Gadfly)

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Music from this episode is by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John and Robbie Williams.