Saturday Night Cinema: Intermezzo

Another treasure for Atlas readers this evening. Saturday Night Cinema presents Intermezzo. Gregory Ratoff directed David O. Selznick's richly produced American remake of the Swedish film directed by Gustav Molander and starring Ingrid Bergman, who re-creates her role here.

The story — based on the original screenplay by Molander and Gosta Stevens — concerns a love affair played out between famed concert violinist Holger Brandt (Leslie Howard) and a young pianist, Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman).

NY Times movie review from 1939:

Sweden's Ingrid Bergman is so lovely a person and so gracious an actress that we are rather glad David Selznick selected the quiet "Intermezzo, a Love Story," for her Hollywood debut instead of some more bravura drama which, while it might not have overwhelmed its star, might have overwhelmed us and made us less conscious of the freshness, the simplicity and the natural dignity that are Miss Bergman's pleasant gift to our screen. The reticent, gentle, frequently poignant qualities of the Music Hall's new film are safely entrusted to Miss Bergman's hands—and to those of Leslie Howard and Edna Best, who have assisted at her debut. None of them seems eager to tear an emotion to tatters to dress up a theatrical property.

Played softly then, and as softly directed by Gregory Ratoff, it is the story of the concert violinist who believes he has recaptured his youth in the selfless adoration of a young pianist. But she, being wiser, recognizes during their interlude that she holds possession of only the shell of the man, of only his self-delusion; so she sends him back to his wife and his family, and they bid him welcome. That is all there is to it, and cast and director have not tried to make it more. No bitter scenes, no recriminations, no flamboyant speeches of parting. The film has the unusual attribute of seeming to be, in itself, an intermezzo in the lives of people who existed before the camera found them and who will continue to live after it has turned away.

Miss Bergman's share in it is, of course, the nicest part of it. She is beautiful, and not at all pretty. Her acting is surprisingly mature, yet singularly free from the stylistic traits—the mannerisms, postures, precise inflections—that become the stock in trade of the matured actress. Our impression of her Anita, who is pallid one moment, vivacious the next, yet always consistent, is that of a lamp whose wick burns bright or dull, but always burns. There is that incandescence about Miss Bergman, that spiritual spark which makes us believe that Selznick has found another great lady of the screen.

Scarcely less valuable to the film, although in Miss Bergman's presence they must take subordinate place, are the performances of Mr. Howard as the completely plausible violinist and Miss Best as his forgiving wife. We regretted somehow that the scenarists chose to melodramatize their final scene together by falling back upon that hoary device, a street accident involving the estranged couple's little daughter, but they even managed to survive that handicap and have made the scene one of the picture's best. "Intermezzo" is not exactly a dramatic thunderbolt, nothing the glamour-conscious will be inflamed about. But we found it a mature, an eloquent and sensitive film and we recommend it to you.

INTERMEZZO, A LOVE STORY, screen play by George O'Neil based on a scenario by Gosta Stevens and Gustav Molander; directed by Gregory Ratoff; produced by Selznick-International for release by United Artists. At the Radio City Music Hall.
Holger Brandt . . . . . Leslie Howard
Anita Hoffman . . . . . Ingrid Bergman
Margit Brandt . . . . . Edna Best
Thomas Stenborg . . . . . John Halliday
Charles . . . . . Cecil Kellaway
Greta . . . . . Enid Bennett
Ann Marie . . . . . Ann Todd
Eric . . . . . Douglas Scott
Emma . . . . . Eleanor Wesselhoeft
Marianne . . . . . Maria Flynn

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