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Memorable, crazy movie

Fresh and Exciting

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Bergman can deflate you faster than a ten penny nail in a cheap tire. This is the story of people who have made decisions that have consequences way beyond their control. A two bit circus makes its way to a small town. They have lost half of their property in order to survive. Many have not been paid and the chances of performing a marketable show are diminished considerably. The ringmaster and his very young concubine are incredibly dependent on one another, but the age difference is really a negating factor. The two go to a local theatrical group to borrow costumes so they can perform. The Director makes them grovel but agrees. Albert, the ringmaster, once lived in this town and left his rather drab wife with his two sons to set out on the road. He stops to see her and begs to be let back in but no soap. Meanwhile, Anne, his young mistress set out on her own to see an actor who has tried to seduce her earlier. What ensues is one of the blackest scenes in all of cinema. But like Mother Courage lifting the poles to pull her wagon, we see that the human spirit, even when dipped in the quagmire, somehow can resurface and hope to make it to the next stop.

While not quite one of Ingmar Bergman's best, it comes very close. It is a very professional-looking film, with many memorable images and Sven Nykvist's truly beautiful cinematography. The music also has a haunting quality to it, which fitted with the visuals perfectly. Combined with Bergman's superb direction, a pessimistic yet powerful story complete with very truthfully written and acted flashbacks, very compellingly real characters- they're not necessarily likable nor were they intended to be- and a very thought-provoking script Sawdust and Tinsel has so many good things about it. And then we have the acting, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Anders Ak, Ake Gronberg and especially Harriet Anderssen are all outstanding, Bjornstrand and Anderssen were regulars in Bergman's films and it is easy to see why. So overall, one of the best of Bergman's early films in my opinion. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is not a bad film, though it certainly isn't exactly up to the standards of much of Ingmar Bergman's work. While I really liked the juxtaposition of the two plots (the mistress seeking out a new lover while her old lover was seeking a reconciliation with his wife), much of the story seemed rather muddled and uninteresting. It's hard to imagine a story about the circus being dull, but from time to time it sure felt that way. In fact, at one point one of the leads threatened to kill himself and I was actually hoping he would--just to give this movie a little more life. This isn't to say that I dislike Bergman's older films--several of them were quite magical--just not this one.While you may enjoy the film, there are certainly other Bergman films that are far more interesting, such as Wild Strawberries, The 7th Sign, Monika and Autumn Sonata, just to name a few.

This is a fantastic early film made by the master of the psychological, Ingmar Bergman. This film is much easier to understand than say, Persona, Cries and Whispers, or the Seventh Seal, and therefore, I suggest this as a first-time introduction for anyone interested in learning more about his films and/or his filming technique.This movie is quite simply, a dream. The introduction sequence is a brilliant example of Bergman's work...we see a long shot of 5 horse carriages moving across the plains at dawn, which dissolves into a reflection of a single horse & carriage in the water below a bridge, which dissolves into a series of shots...windmills, foggy paths, the carriage driver and the finally, a fade into the carriage where our protagonist, Albert Johansson, sleeps with his girlfriend Anna. Bergman is the king of the dissolve...a style he no doubt picked up from 1920's German expressionism. Bergman's mise en scene is a blend of sequences which depict a very dreamlike orientation of our immediate surrounding.The result: We are passive observers, watching the all-too-real reality of our modern world subside into something very mysterious and surreal. Bergman's style removes time from the equation of film. Time, as we know it, takes a back-seat to objects, people, and places. Real life becomes more dreamlike than any dream, and the darkest and most mysterious corner of the universe becomes the human mind.This is a fantastic movie.