Rating: 
Summary: As I watched this film, I thought I
Review: was watching a comedy movie. As a previous poster wrote, the acting is poor along with a very uneven plot indeed. We start with Max von Sydow at the Swedish seashore with his squire about to play chess with Death. Just as they sit down, it moves to a completely different scene. We do not pick up Death or the chess match for a while. I have respect for Bergman, but this movie is very poor indeed. I would expect better from the man. The ending is comical as though watching a John Ford pumper as in "Young Mr Lincoln" where Fonda is walking up a hill with thunder and lightening going on to end the film.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawn!!
Review: Here I thought this was going to be some classic masterpiece of a film that, if I DIDN'T see it, would set me back in my intellectual and cultural growth!
I was sadly mistaken.
This film SUCKS! Plain and simple.
It's slow, the story and plot uneven, the acting lacking in substance and character and the production sub-standard...even by 1950's standards.
Basically, it's a 2 hour snooze fest about a knight and his squire in their atheist search of God and the meaning of life.
The pivotal theme around which this premise revolves is the knights' playing a game of chess with the personified death. I guess this was intended to add a macabre air to the overall context, but comes off as more oddly comical than anything else.
Then there are the characters of Mary and Joseph and I suppose the baby Jesus whom, for some odd reason, was re-named Michael here....forgive my ignorance, but I didn't get any of that.
I didn't get this entire movie for that matter. It was neither thought provocking nor insightful nor entertaining.
It was just long and disjointed.
I'm just glad I only rented this crap. I'd be more than upset had I bought it.
If this is a "classic" masterpiece then I'd rather watch contemporary schlock, at least that way I know what to expect.
Oh almost forgot, this thing is way out of sync. Major delay between audio and screen movement...kinda like those old Bruce Lee films, the guy speaks and 2 seconds later you hear the words.
The ONLY cool thing about this is that it's in Swedish. While not the most melodious of languages, I enjoyed that more than anything else about this film.
Rating: 
Summary: An astonishing film
Review: I first saw this film sometime in the early 1990's at a screening presented by the Enoch Pratt Public Library in downtown Baltimore. (One of the finest public libraries in the country; in a city that has been going down the toilet for a long time now, alas. But that is another subject...) My expectations were none too high, considering that the film has become hackneyed enough to be satirized endlessly. ("Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" is an especially wicked parody; my own favorite remains the takeoff on the procession of flagellants in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".) Boy, was I ever wrong! It is absolutely riveting, and at an infinite remove from verbosity, ponderousness, or pretentiousness. The thin-as-a-bone, exhausted Knight, portrayed by Max von Sydow, is the very image of disillusion and world-weariness, while his rotund, Falstaffian squire avoids these conditions by deliberately drinking instead of thinking. When he slaps at a biting flea, you are certain what must happen. But you are still hooked.
The scene of the hapless, moaning "witch" being given over to the flames shows only her writhing silhouette against the background of crackling fire--yet it is more effectively chilling than any amount of cinematic gore that Hollywood could dream up. It is this idiotic and futile scapegoating for the plague that really horrifies. At the end, the 'danse macabre' on the bare and windswept hillside will remain in memory for years to come.
Most curious of all, when the film ended I felt unexpectedly, well, lighter--actually better than when I had come in. This can only be ascribed to the cathartic effect that Aristotle found to be the hallmark of good drama. I do not know if a potential viewer of this film will feel the same as I, but there is something undeniably refreshing about being addressed as an adult, by an adult, and about matters of adult importance.
Rating:
Summary: One of the great films!
Review: The Seventh Seal gets a lot of praise - and it deserves even more! This film always gives me a feeling of humanity, thoughtfulness, and meditation - why? - it is something that is very hard to explain... It could be that Bergman asks all the big questions in life in such a way that draws the viewer in - and offers an almost spiritual experience - while at the same time questioning everything that humanity comes up with - it shows all of the atrocities of existence and also is quite comic in doing so at times. Bergman is like someone who has a certain faith - but mocks this faith because he knows it's just wishfull thinking. I think he is puzzled by certain acts of humanity (he certainly feels some sort of compasion for the girl being burned at the stake) - and seems to include everyone in the film as a sinner in some way or another - the only hope in the movie is the fool - the jester - the person who takes joy in it all - in a way maybe this is who Bergman is - he is just someone who points at things and finds a sort of amusement in doing it - a true artist...
Rating:
Summary: Not for adults?
Review: Please. To the reviewer who is undoubtedly more fond of Monty Python than exquisite movie- making; I saw it first at 20, and am now 50: over the last few weeks I've watched it a dozen times with increasing admiration and astonishment. But then, I don't judge directors by the quality of the costumes. Bergman called this film "a modern poem, with the medieval material handled loosely," and a beautiful, lyrical poem it is. I didn't remember how comedic Bergman is, but certainly Lisa's hilarious seduction of Skat is unequalled in film making. Each of the characters has a depth and solidity that is unusual in modern cinema. Bergman doesn't solve the riddle of god's silence - no big surprise there - but his wonderful method of taking the argument out of his own head and personifying each side of it in the characters of Block and Jons worked beautifully. All that plus great cinematic beauty. Keep in mind: he made it in 35 days on a budget of $125,000 - tiny even in those days. All but the beginning and the end were shot on the back lot, because, like too many great artists today, his studio didn't want to fund it. An amazing piece of work.
Rating:
Summary: I hope I never get old so I get religious . . .
Review: Ingmar Bergman never kept his fears about death hidden; his opinions about God and His non-existence were well-known. That having been said, I don't feel it is necessary to summarize The Seventh Seal -- anyone who is curious about the film's plot can read that above. I do feel the need, or perhaps I should say, I have the desire to comment on just how talented a filmmaker Bergman truly is. Sure, his movies are not for everyone, hell, most of his movies aren't the kind that will bring you out of a depressed mood. If however, you are looking for a truly thought-provoking and beautifully shot film, then The Seventh Seal is your answer. An afterlife, God, death and man's fear of it, life .. all issues that Ingmar Bergman masterfully touches on in this film. He truly puts himself into this movie -- some have criticized him for that (labeling him as self-centered), but I disagree. I think that Bergman, with this movie, touched upon all of our fears and regrets.
Any other of Ingmar Bergman's movies I would recommend, but specifically, watch Wild Strawberries (featuring a flawless, heartwrenching performance by the veteran director Victor Sjöström).
Rating:
Summary: An amazing and thought provoking movie.
Review: This film is absolutely amazing. It is one of the few movies I watch more than once or twice.
It is an achievment in style. The film manages to look amazing by virtue of Bergman's skill with lighting and cinematography alone. Especially compared to the big budget, color Hollywood titles of the time (such as The Ten Commandments) which look plastic despite their "special effects" and use of color (this film is black & white).
The subject of the movie is man's search for the meaning of life and the question of whether or not God exists. The film is both thought-provoking and blunt in its presentation of this subject and the answers which Bergman provides are suprisingly blunt.
The DVD quality is great, as it always is with Criterion Collection DVDs, and Peter Cowie's commentary is particularly good.However, I will admit that this film is not for everyone. It also seems to require (for me anyway) one to be in a certain "mood" to view it. If you want to simply be entertained then this is not a film for you, but if you want to view a skillfully directed and wonderfully thought-provoking (if a bit dated) film then go for it.
Rating:
Summary: The silence of God!
Review: Ingmar Berman(1918) established a challenging premise a chess mate between a knight from the Crusaders and the Death (Bengt Ekrot). If he wins, he'll live ; otherwise the Death will claim him . And this original duel happens after Sydow has left behind the misery, the plague and an unending war. He's deeply dissapointed with God and certainly he concludes that it doesn't exist.
This game will let exchange , scrutinize several ideas concerned with the faith , the silence of God and its own existence. God is a comfortable idea for the mankind ; it keeps them warmth , besides the man can dream with the hope of a celestial Paradise after this journey through this awful and miserable world. The ending sequence with the Dance of the Death is one of the most captivating and fascinating images in all the cinema story.
Many people state this is the Masterpiece : and obviously to me it's one of the three major achievements ; Persona and Cries and Whispers would be the rest .
But I've watched almost forty films of this brilliant swedish film maker and in his particular case ; a minor film from Bergman is above the average . So my advise is try to find out and watch all you can from this outstanding director.
This film won the Special Jury Prize 1957.
A timeless cult movie.
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