The translators have not given the dialogue the care and polish that would (hopefully) be given to plays they were preparing for performance; still, Bergman’s considerable dramatic gifts and accomplishments can be detected even in the inelegant English. Taken simply and loosely as dramatic literature, as story outlines plus dialogue, these screenplays are surprisingly rich reading.

Just on the basis of the printed ‘page, Bergman is revealed to be a modern dramatist of considerable stature, a man whose sense of theatrical “effectiveness” is comparable with that of Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee. “Smiles of a Summer Night” is a beautiful film and the screenplay reads beautifully. The extraordinary film “The Seventh Seal” is somewhat diminished in the reading; the ideas are too transparent, while the visual imagery is only barely suggested. The screenplay for “The Magician” is perhaps even worse than the movie, which was humbug about humbug. “Wild Strawberries,” which is written with a great deal of descriptive detail in addition to the rather full narration, reads better than it played: without all the tricky effects and the sharp contrasts and the unconvincing look of the flashbacks, it seems a more serene contemplation of a man s life—not great, but fairly interesting.