Hamnstad (1948)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writers:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)
Olle Länsberg (novel)

Release Date:

1 August 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A suicidal factory girl out of reformatory school, anxious to escape her overbearing mother, falls in love with a sailor who can't forgive her past.

Plot Keywords:

Mother | Husband Wife Relationship | Sexual Jealousy | Rage | Father Daughter Relationship

Cast

Nine-Christine Jönsson	...	Berit
Bengt Eklund	...	Gösta
Mimi Nelson	...	Gertrud
Berta Hall	...	Berit's Mother
Birgitta Valberg	...	Mrs. Vilander
Sif Ruud	...	Mrs. Krona
Britta Billsten	...	Prostitute
Harry Ahlin	...	Skåningen
Nils Hallberg	...	Gustav
Sven-Eric Gamble	...	Eken
Yngve Nordwall	...	The Supervisor
Nils Dahlgren	...	Gertrud's Father
Hans Strååt	...	Mr. Vilander
Erik Hell	...	Berit's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edvard Danielsson	...	Man (scenes deleted)
Carl Deurell	...	Vicar (scenes deleted)
Kolbjörn Knudsen	...	Sailor (scenes deleted)
Gunnar Nielsen	...	Gentleman (scenes deleted)
Georg Skarstedt	...	Gentleman (scenes deleted)
Siv Thulin	...	Girl (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Harbour City (International: English title)
Port of Call (USA)
Ville portuaire (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Città portuale (Italy) [it]
Die Hafenstadt (Germany) [de]
Havenstad (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Havnebyens fristelser (Denmark) [da]
Miasto portowe (Poland) [pl]
Porto (Brazil) [pt]
Puerto (Argentina) [es]
Satamakaupunki (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

100 min | Germany:99 min | UK:94 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | UK:X

Filming Locations:

Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

The book which Gösta reads on his bed is 'Resor utan mål' ('Journeys Without Destination') by Swedish author and future Nobel laureate in Literature (1974) Harry Martinson. Martinson was, indeed, a sailor before becoming an author, and the book, published in 1932 as Martinson's first prose volume (his greatest fame would come for his poetry), was a document of his own experiences as one, written at twenty-eight after he had given up the sea due to a combination of lack of employment and a bout of tuberculosis. A sailor like Gösta would indeed have found much interest in the book, as it dealt realistically with the life of a sailor from his country living a life very similar to his own. The book itself has sadly never been published in English, but Martinson's second novel, 'Kap Farväl!', somewhat similar to 'Resor utan mål', was translated as 'Cape Farewell'. Director Ingmar Bergman was indeed an admirer of his countryman Martinson and, in 1964, he staged the premiere of Martinson's play 'Tre knivar från Wei' ('Three Knives From Wei'), although, unfortunately, he considered the production an unmitigated disaster.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

Port of Call

Port of Call (1948)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Early Bergman film has a young woman, Berit (Nine-Christine Jonsson) throwing herself into the ocean in a suicide attempt but being pulled out by a man named Gosta (Bengt Eklund). Sometime after the two meet up at a party when they go back to her house for sex, which soon leads up to a relationship. The relationship starts off on a bad note as Berit is haunted by her past as well as secrets she doesn't want revealed. This is a very dark and bleak love story from Bergman that hits on a few familiar themes of his later films but for the most part you really can't look at this and say this is one of his better movies. There are certainly some very good touches here and there and the performances are great but I think the movie would have benefited from some editing and a better pacing. A lot of the middle parts of the film seemed to have just been repeating itself and I didn't care for the flashback scenes at all. When Berit starts telling her backstory to Gosta, I think strong dialogue would have been a lot better than actually watching the stuff play out. Another thing I didn't care too much for was the ending, which really seemed to be taped on from another film. It didn't really match up with anything that came before it and it played out too simply. For a film from 1948 this really hits on some touchy subjects including all the sex, an aborition and there's even some brief nudity. I'm sure this movie would have been very shocking when originally released but today it comes off rather tame and even the drama isn't as tight as one would expect from the director. With that said, there's still a lot to enjoy here and that includes the terrific performances with Jonsson stealing the show as the troubled youth. She's very believable in her role and her opening shot, the look of her eyes, is quite priceless and tells us all we need to know before she even says anything or we're told anything. Eklund is also very strong in his role as is Mimi Nelson as the mother. Bergman handles the material quite well even though, as I said, the pacing could have been a little better.