Directed, like much of Ingrid Bergman’s pre-Hollywood work in Sweden, by Gustaf Molander (always with Åke Dahlqvist on camera*), this stage adaptation, less boulevard farce than boulevard roundelay, avoids the high film casualty rate of these misalliance comedies, if not by a lot. Three friendly married couples, plus new couple in the making Overbearing ‘Ugly’ American Millionairess and Spa Clinic Doctor, find their flirtations & dicey finances taking consequential turns beyond lighthearted banter when a blizzard blows in at a ski resort and briefly strands the most vulnerable of the wives, opening many wounds. Have they merely been playing at cross-spousal affections, or have mock affairs & overdrawn accounts reached serious levels? (That sounds better than the film!) Bergman, bewitchingly slim and curvy in form-fitting gowns, enjoys playing naughty catalyst, especially when sharpening her claws on the millionairess who’s telling tales and trying to buy her way into a marriage, somehow getting all the stories wrong and making the relationships right. Everybody learns a bit about their spouse, and a bit more about themselves.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Bergman’s best-known Swedish titles were INTERMEZZO/’36: remade in ‘39 for her Hollywood debut; A WOMAN’S FACE/’38: Hollywoodized with Joan Crawford; and the slightly uncomfortable JUNE NIGHT/’40. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/03/womans-face-1941.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/june-night-1940.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Producer David O. Selznick gave cinematographer Åke Dahlqvist a backhanded compliment when filming his INTERMEZZO remake, ‘It would be shocking indeed if some cameraman in a small Stockholm studio was proven to be able to do so much more superior work with her (Bergman) than we are.’ Eventually, replacing Harry Stradling with Gregg Toland on the pic.
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