Tag Archives: Gunnar Bjornstrand

Violenza al Sole aka Blow Hot, Blow Cold

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An Italian film poster for the 1969 film BLOW HOT, BLOW COLD.

During the peak years of the Italian film industry in the 1960s and 70s, there were numerous films released which never received a theatrical release in the U.S. and are completely unknown to American audiences. Of course, some of these are forgettable but there are several that deserve a second chance at being re-discovered and Violenza al Sole (English title: Violence in the Sun aka Blow Hot, Blow Cold aka Hot Blood in the Veins, 1969), directed by Florestano Vancini, is a prime example. It is also a fascinating anomaly in the careers of the four main actors, Giuliano Gemma, Rosemary Dexter, and two stars who are most often associated with director Ingmar Bergman, Bibi Andersson and Gunnar Bjornstrand.

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Eva Malmborg, Crime Reporter

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Harriet Andersson stars in the 1959 Swedish mystery thriller CRIME IN PARADISE, represented here by a Danish publicity promotion.

Swedish actress Harriet Andersson is best known for her many film collaborations with director Ingmar Bergman but, even after she became a celebrated star in the mid-fifties with her breakout role in Bergman’s Summer with Monica (1953) and the award-winning Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), she continued to appear in a wide variety of films and not just art-house fare. She could play anything from sexy sirens to fiercely independent, working class women to romantic heroines and one of her more entertaining efforts is her performance as Eva Malmborg, a fledgling reporter who helps solve a famous robbery/murder in the 1959 genre thriller Brott I Paradiset (English title: Crime in Paradise), directed by Lars-Eric Kjellgren.

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My Swedish Education

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For years I held the opinion that Swedish director Jan Troell and his films were generally overrated by movie critics and scholars until the 2008 Telluride Film Festival where a retrospective of his work proved to me that I had been sadly mistaken. The two films that changed my perspective were the American premiere of Everlasting Moments (original title: Maria Larssons eviga ogonblick, 2008), a turn-of-the-century drama about a working class mother who becomes a professional photographer, and Here’s Your Life (original title: Har har du ditt liv, 1966), which marked his feature film debut. The latter film, in particular, was a revelation and remains one of my all-time favorite movies.  Continue reading →

Gabriel Axel’s The Red Mantle

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The name Gabriel Axel might not be familiar to most American moviegoers but many are familiar with his 1987 film Babette’s Feast which became a surprise art house hit and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, beating out Louis Malle’s Au Renoir les Enfants. Ironically, Axel was almost 70 and at the end of his filmmaking career when he experienced a career resurgence. But the film that is considered his first international art house breakthrough is Den Rode Kappe (1967), which was released in Europe as Hagbard and Signe and is best known under the title The Red Mantle in the U.S. The poster above with the awkwardly edited quote – and movie spoiler – from Time magazine also includes the reference “From the producers of Dear John” which means nothing to anyone today but that film was a slightly risque art film in its day (due to the nudity) and a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of 1965 (It lost to Elmar Klosand and Jan Kadar’s The Shop on Main Street). Continue reading →