Happy (Almost) Walpurgis Night, it’s Burl! Ha ha,
yes, believe it or not Walpurgis Night is nearly upon us once again! It always seems
to come up so fast, sneaking up as it does right after that other major spring
holiday, The Night I Watch The Fog
For The Millionth Time! But of course, the proper way to celebrate Walpurgis
Night is to watch Walpurgis Night,
and that’s precisely what I have done! Ha ha!
With its waltzy soundtrack and overheated
dialogue, it’s just the kind of melodrama Careful
modeled itself on, though without quite so many mountains as in that more
recent picture! (Ha ha, there is a scene of people skiing in the mountains
however, and a nifty ski lodge also!) It’s a love triangle plot, spiced up with
some blackmail, some duplicity, and a good deal of misunderstanding! Ha ha, in
1930s Stockholm, apparently a world in which everyone is known by their titles,
VP Borg works in his office with his beautiful but shy secretary Lena
Bergstrom, who is in love with him! But VP Borg is married to the callow and
inconstant Clary, who never wants to have children, and who has scheduled a
secret assignation on Walpurgis Night!
Turns out her appointment is with "Dr."
Smith, the country abortion doctor (the quotation marks are apparently part of his name), but this is successfully kept a secret both from her husband
and from the gossip rags, for the moment at least! Meanwhile Lena quits working for Borg, but not before
they have a nice time dancing on Walpurgis Night! Lena’s father, Editor
Bergstrom, the editor of the Morning Post,
catches wind of the date and believes it to be a full-blown lovemaking affair; and when
evidence is found connecting Borg to "Dr." Smith, he jumps to what is for a fellow like Editor Bergstrom the
worst possible conclusion! After Lena’s self-removal to the mountains comes a
blackmail attempt on Clary, which climaxes in murder! Lena returns from her
skiing trip and Editor Bergstrom acts, for a time, like a foolish hardhead;
meanwhile VP Borg finds himself in such straits that he runs off and joins the
Foreign Legion! Ha ha!
All of this takes up the better part of a
year, and by the time the next Walpurgis Night rolls around, a convenient
suicide - that staple of the extreme melodrama - has paved the way for a happy
ending! And finally, you guessed it, the following spring it’s Walpurgis Night
once again and circumstances are finally as the rather puritanical morality of
this picture demands they ought to be!
Ingrid Bergman, whom we may remember from Casablanca, from Notorious, and From The
Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, is somehow at once mousy and
meek and radiantly beautiful as Lena! Victor Sjöström, the director who also acted, and
is so well known for playing the old professor in Wild Strawberries, essays the role of the hyper-Lutheran Editor Bergstrom! And
special note should be made of the bowtie-wearing freelance fellow who, in his
weird and strange way, is the true hero of the picture! Ha ha!
So now, with the end of April upon us, Walpurgis Night is nearly here, and, though
the picture of the same name is a little chonky and a bit on the artificially harsh side, as
melodramas will be, it has the beautiful Bergman, the stern Sjöström, and other
solid performances; and you know, after all, it’s more Swedish than a Swedish Fish! I give Walpurgis Night two and a half dropped
pens!
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