[SKRIVA] Bergman was offered Tolkien

From: Ahrvid Engholm <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <trufen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:40:11 +0100
In the recent book, Citizen Schein, about Harry Schein, former boss of the 
Swedish Film Institute, we learn of some interesting news. Harry Schein, an 
Austrian immigrant, was for many years Head Honcho of the Swedish film world.
  In september of 1959 he receives a letter from an American film agent: 
"Perhaps Ingmar Bergman would be interested in filming the recently published 
trilogy Lord of the Rings by professor J R R Tolkien?"
  Harry schein's reply is typical of the frankness, even arrogance he was known 
for:
  "Ingmar Bergman is only interested in the human psychology, not a love story 
between king Aragorn and the queen of elves."
  This was perhaps sad...
  Bergman had just (in 1957) released "The Seventh Seal", which takes places in 
medieval times and have elements of fantasy (eg the famous chess game with 
Death), and this is perhaps why he would be considered for doing LOTR.
  BTW, the Royal Library in Stockholm offers some material about Harry Schein 
incl excerpts from TV programs and films with him. The material is mostly in 
Swedish, but the URL is:
 
http://www.kb.se/schein/
 
  Despite the language, the short film "Sanningens ögonblick" ("Moment of 
Truth") could be worth seeing (the few spoken words won't matter very much). It 
shows an imaginary tennis match between Harry Schein and Björn Borg, with lots 
of Sweden's movie elite as audience - and former Prime Minister Olof Palme as 
referee. (In reality, Schein and Palme were tennis partners and played every 
week.)
  And talking of Bergman, he could be quite "commercial". In the 1950's he made 
short advertising films for the cinemas. Here's one example:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCsM3J4Lzzo&feature=related
 
  It's a commercial about soap, and Bergman dramatizes the fight between 
bacteria and soap on the human skin! And speaking of soap, Bergman was also a 
big fan of the soap opera "Dallas" and is said to seldom have missed an 
episode. (And Bergman's own "Scenes from a Marriage", 1973, is said to have 
been an inspiration behind "Dallas".)
 
--Ahrvid
 
Ps. Korspostas också till SKRIVA-listan.

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[SKRIVA] Bergman was offered Tolkien

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