“Too Nordic. Too gloomy.”

More of an aside to our regular scheduling, but it made me smile.. Hey, it’s Saturday and I’m easily pleased [You are?! – Ed]. John Patterson in the Guardian compares and contrasts the arthouse films of Ingmar Bergman, “the northern Protestant miserablist”, and Federico Fellini, “the Catholic of the exuberant south”, commenting – “One of them needed to liven up, and the other to calm down.” ANYhoo.. with the re-issue of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal to mark its 50th anniversay, he suggests a make-over is in order..

So, in the absence of Fellini, I recommend that all of Bergman’s movies be resubmitted to John Waters and the makers of Hairspray, for a once-in-a-lifetime makeover. Thus The Seventh Seal, which is so bogged down in medieval misery and feudalistic faffing about, would be a whole new prospect for moviegoers if it was bulked up with a few song and dance numbers and a fat drag act in the lead. I can really see the late, great Divine, 300lb star of the Waters original, all togged up in that Death outfit, but with added sequins, a straining lace-up leather cleavage-section, and a pink frightwig. Max Von Sydow wouldn’t look half as chipper if he was confronted with the likes of that on the beach.

Categories Uncategorised Tags

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.