| "Dollar," a 1938 film directed by Gustaf Molander was adapted by the comedy by Hjalmar Bergman, and tells of three couples who all become convinced their spouses are cheating on them with one of the others. Ingrid Bergman plays Julia Balzar, a beautiful actress married to Kurt (George Rydeberg), a dependable businessman. Katja (Birgit Tengroth), a simple girl is married to Ludwig von Battwhyl (Hakan Westegren), a worldly rich man. Finally, there is Sussi (Tutta Rolf), who is rather high-strung and her husband, Lt. Louis Brenner (Kotti Chave), a rogue who constantly loses at card games. Just as things getting really complicated Kurt's wealthy American relative Mary Johnstone (Elsa Burnett), shows up at the ski lodge where the couples have gathered to drive each other crazy with their suspicions. She, of course, falls for the hotel clerk (Edvin Adolphson). "Dollar" is really Bergman's first chance to play comedy and her character pretty much steals this show. The story is a bit complicated and a tad strange (Sussi is so jealous she cannot walk), but we end up with more happy couples at the end than we had at the beginning of the film, so all is well that ends well. This is one of eight of Bergman's early Swedish films released on videotape by World Classics Cinema Collection. |
