Two Faces

From July 29 until the beginning of September the Air Conditioned Brattle Theatre, as it has taken to calling itself, will present some 18 movies directed by Ingmar Bergman. These are billed, collectively, as the second half of the Brattle's "seventh annual summer film festival." Well, that kind of program is no summer festival: Bergman has made one masterpiece (Wild Strawberries), and two movies worth seeing (The Seventh Seal and Smiles of a Summer Night), but the rest of his movies are either bad or silly.

But you can't get away from them. The Brattle people, you see, are also (as Janua Films, Inc.) the national distributors of every Bergman movie. Consequently, Bergman to them is sound economics, which means solid profit. Which means the Brattle has sold out.

The Fine Arts Theatre, by contrast, has decided to show good movies, even at the risk of a whacking great loss. Currently they're sponsoring a modest Guiness festival: Tunes of Glory, The Ladykillers, The Man in the White Suit and The Horse's Mouth. Of course, the Fine Arts may not be able to keep it up (the Telepix has already had to shut down). But while you can, don't miss the Guiness Festival. The Fine Arts' movies are worthwhile; and their courage is admirable.