User Reviews

This is a beautiful black and white film and Gregg Toland was nominated for an Academy Award for best cinematographer. Concert violinist Holger Brandt, Leslie Howard (Gone with the Wind), spends much of his life on tours, and loses perspective of his family ties. When his accompanist retires he goes home for awhile until the next tour. Intermezzo! He has an adorable family: wife, Greta Stenborg, Enid Bennett (Strike Up the Band), a daughter and one son, and also a cute dog (which he had never seen before).

His daughter is studying piano and the piano teacher is Anita Hoffman, played by beautiful, Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca) in her first English speaking role. Anita Hoffman is not only a piano teacher but is also an accomplished pianist. Anita is competing for a scholarship to further her music studies in France. After Holger hears Anita play, he invites her to go on a tour with him. They fall in love feeling guilt and shame at the same time. His wife suspects, and he himself tells her about it. Anita decides not to teach the daughter anymore. Holger leaves his wife so the two can go off to Italy on a tour together. While she is away his daughter keep listening on the radio and the record to her favorite piece, Intermezzo, one that her father wrote. The score for the movie was done by Louis Forbes who was nominated for an Academy Award. His wife files for divorce and he is hesitant to sign the papers. Anita realizes, as she says "I have been an intermezzo in his life." She wins the scholarship and decides to accept it and with much sorrow she leaves him. He then signs the papers for divorce. He goes home much later. He brings the camera his daughter asked for. He parks his car across the street from her school. In her hurry to see her father, she runs across the street without looking and is hit by a car. He brings his daughter to his former home and stays there until his daughter recovers. As soon as she recovers, he starts to leave and his wife asks him to stay home.

Favorite Quote :" I wonder if anyone has built happiness on the unhappiness of others." Favorite Scenes: Daughter playing a duet with dad, has small hands almost do not make an octave on the piano. Anita wearing a man's tie in 1937! The good-bye scene in front of store window.

This is a very interesting and beautiful love story, where the viewer is tossed by their moral belief system and the love of those two people, at least I was. I have the tape and enjoy watching it!

At only 70 minutes "Intermezzo" is short even by the standards of the thirties. The story is simple and its moral equally so. Holger Brandt is a famous Classical violinist who falls in love with Anita Hoffman, his daughter's attractive young piano teacher. Holger leaves his wife and family for Anita, and they tour Europe together, with her acting as his accompanist. Anita, however, has a guilty conscience about having been responsible for splitting up Holger's marriage. She leaves him so that he can return to his family, who forgive him. The message is that individual happiness cannot be based upon the unhappiness of others.

One contributor on this board states that he would not normally approve of a film about adultery, in which case his choice of viewing matter must be rather limited. His choice of reading matter must be even more limited, as adultery has always been one of the great themes of literature. The great literary chroniclers of adultery, however- Flaubert, Tolstoy, Fontane, Hardy, Balzac, Alas, Lawrence- treated the subject with much greater frankness, and with much greater depth, than do the makers of this film. (Perhaps because those writers had no Production Code to worry about). "Intermezzo" presents us with a rather sanitised version of adultery, in which at the end of the day no-one gets hurt and there is a happy ending for everyone- even for Anita, whose renunciation of the man she loves is presented as a noble gesture which will enable her to live in future with a clear conscience. The film has been described as a "weepie" or a "tear-jerker", but it seemed to me that there was precious little in it to shed tears over.

Most literary treatments of adultery (Anna and Karenin, Emma and Charles, Sir Clifford and Lady Chatterley) paint a portrait of a deeply dysfunctional marriage; this film, however, paints a highly idealised one. The opening scenes of Brandt, his adoring wife Margit and their two children could be taken straight from an advert depicting the ideal family. There is no attempt to suggest any marital discord which might have contributed to Brandt's infidelity; adultery is simply presented as "one of those things that happen", like an accident.

This is not Ingrid Bergman's greatest film, but her vibrant, lively personality shines through and she does enough to show why she was to go on to become a major Hollywood star. (Ironically, her career was to be damaged ten years later when she herself became involved in an affair with a married man, Roberto Rossellini). Leslie Howard, however, seems too much the perfect gentleman with no suggestion of a passionate nature below the surface. One cannot really imagine him as the sort of man who would jeopardise a seemingly idyllic marriage for a guilty fling.

This film is a remake of a Swedish film of the same name, made three years earlier in 1936. The main purpose of the remake was to allow David O. Selznick to introduce to the American public his big new star, Ingrid Bergman, who had also starred in the Swedish version. Tom Cruise did something similar recently when, wanting to introduce to the American public a big new star, Penelope Cruz (who also happened to be his girlfriend), he produced, under the title "Vanilla Sky", an English-language remake of her previous Spanish hit "Abre los Ojos". There is, however, a difference. Cruise's film transferred the action from Spain to America and included several well-known Hollywood stars, including himself. The American version of "Intermezzo" by contrast, kept the Swedish setting of the original film. Moreover, none of the leading actors were American. Apart from Bergman, the two leading roles are played by British actors, Leslie Howard and Edna Best. Clearly, in 1939 there was no automatic assumption on the part of Hollywood filmmakers, as there is today, that American audiences took no interest in countries other than their own.

It might, in fact, have been easier if the action had been transferred to America, as it would have spared the filmmakers the dilemma of how to refer to the European political situation. The film was made at a time when Europe was threatened by war, and actually opened a few days after war was actually declared. The view of Europe in 1939, however, is as sanitised as that of the Brandts' marriage. We see a continent at peace, with no reference to Nazism or the approaching conflict, beyond one brief allusion to "the time when Vienna was a happy city". This has been taken as a reference to the Anschluss in the previous year, although Vienna was probably not a particularly happy place under the authoritarian pre-1938 Dollfuss/Schuschnigg regime.

In style the film is a romantic melodrama, complete with lush Classical music playing in the background. It is reasonably well made, but I was rather unhappy with its treatment of its subject-matter. In one of a number of musical metaphors, Anita says that she was just an intermezzo in Brandt's life. Most extra-marital affairs in real life are rather more than that. If only the damage done by infidelity could be repaired as easily as it is in this film. 6/10

Over the years we have all seen this kind of story before--where a man goes astray from his long-suffering wife to embark on an affair with a younger woman--while the soundtrack washes all of the soap-opera elements with a full dose of symphonic music. Here, at least, the story is told in a simple and brief style, the production itself is a handsome one, and although the performances are competent enough only one performer really stands out as "the new star"--and that, of course, is INGRID BERGMAN making her film debut under David O. Selznick's careful grooming and tutoring.

LESLIE HOWARD makes no particular impression as the concert violinist who falls under her spell, except that he really does appear to be playing the instrument, helped no doubt by whatever technical tricks were necessary to give this illusion. Edna Best does nicely as his understanding wife and all of the supporting roles are played in a competent manner.

But except for this being a star vehicle to present Bergman to American audiences, there is nothing special about INTERMEZZO. It's worth watching only to see Bergman in her debut and at her most radiant. Mercifully, it has a short running time and might have become really tedious if the story were given more footage.

1) Any scene with a close-up of Ingrid Bergman's face is absolute gold. It is uncanny. She puts every movie actress in the last 20 years to shame.

2) The acting of both the leads is superb. Don't underestimate the fine line that Holgar must maintain. He must always appear rational, thoughtful, educated, responsible, earnest but at the same time in passionate love. His delicate acting lifts this above a melodrama. It would be easy for him to act impetuous or lustful or simply trying to fill a void. But that is not the case here. His love always appears genuine. The film becomes a real examination into what love is.

Some favorite scenes:Anna playing the piano as if she is about to climax! Anna wearing a dress with a large H on it while looking out the window at Holgar. Holgar slipping into a darker and darker shadow towards the end. Ice in the river breaking up as Spring approaches. Holgar telling his wife firmly twice "I need to talk to you." The daughter listening on the radio to her estranged father playing Intermezzo. Worst scene: easily the accident.

One last favorite scene: At the end, the wife on the staircase looking at her estranged husband for a moment and saying "....". See the movie.

In 1939 Leslie Howard made a meal out of noble suffering and he did it equally well when the budget was a stick of gum as here or when it ran into the young millions as in Gone With The Wind. This is a movie you Want to like not least because it marked the English-speaking debut of Ingrid Bergman who was just as gorgeous at 24 as she remained until her death - trivia buffs may like to know that she played a classical pianist both in this, her first English-speaking film and Autumn Sonata her last film on the big screen which was, of course, shot in Swedish, her native language. With only seventy minutes to play with Gregory Ratoff is prodigal with time; the film opens with violin maestro Howard playing a farewell gig at Carnegie Hall; he then TELLS his audience that he is returning home to Sweden; he is then SHOWN on board ship to Sweden in a scene that adds little to the story and then he Arrives in Sweden. Today, in fact for the last forty years or so, a director would cut from Carnegie Hall directly to Howard at home in Sweden but that's really a minor beef. What we have here is our old friend the 'woman's picture' or 'weepie' and it's strangely disjointed; Ratoff at times seems to be anticipating the New Wave in his abrupt cuts. It's ironic that Bergman made her to all intents and purposes film debut as an adulteress who would play the part for real a decade later when she co-starred with Roberto Rossellini in Life Imitating Art. Perhaps in an effort to sugar the pill the adulterers are depicted as cultured, cultivated people, classical musicians in fact as if that somehow lessens the pain of those left behind and almost adding insult to injury they throw in a scene where Howard's young daughter (Ann E Todd) is so happy to see him when he makes a fleeting visit home that she dashes in front of a car and is badly injured. But relax, folks, this is 1939; we don't do infant mortality and lo and behold if in the final scene long-suffering and saintly wife Edna Best takes him back into the fold no questions asked. A few years ago 20th Century Fox reissued some of their classic films (Laura comes to mind) in truncated versions, a gimmick that failed to catch on and Intermezzo is reminiscent of one of these, its actual seventy minutes feeling more like forty and investing it with an air of Adultery-lite.

These are Leslie Howard's words to Bergman on the first night they have a drink together. It was his description of her. I think it is also an apt description for my opinion of this movie. I was expecting to like this more than I did. I am a sucker for a love story, but this one just didn't move me.

First, I find Leslie Howard rather lacking as a leading man. He is too much the disillusioned dreamer in almost every role I remember him being in. After a while, it just seems redundant. I think he tends to act overly melodramatic in places too. But I do think his violin playing looked very believable (even though it was dubbed). To sum up my opinion of Howard, using his own words from this film, "Not at all a fetching fellow." Howard is 46 years old here, compared to Bergman's 24 years - but somehow he pulls it off as he still has a youthful face.

Bergman, on the other hand, is remarkable in her American screen debut. At her young age, she is in my opinion already a seasoned performer. I think it just came so naturally for her. Also, its amazing that she was filmed without makeup, per Selznick's orders as he wanted to achieve the same fresh faced look she had in her Swedish films. The camera just loves her. The daughter, Anne Marie, played by Ann Todd is so adorable and acts quites naturally. Howard's wife is played by Edna Best, who looks and acts quite bland and comely. Perhaps this is on purpose so as to make the audience be more understanding how he could be unfaithful to his wife.

The cinematography is amazing - I especially liked the scene where they try to say goodbye and their reflection is caught in the shop window. I would think that would have been difficult to light.

Even though there is an obvious moral failing in the adulterous affair, there are good lessons such as when Halliday's character tells Bergman "I wonder if anyone has built happiness on the unhappiness of others". Bergman finally realizes this and tells Halliday "I have been an intermezzo in his life - we know where he belongs." Also, when Bergman finally leaves and writes a note, it says "Love like ours is wrong. It drags itself down with remorse and fears, and the unhappiness of others." Too bad more people don't heed that advice today. Another touching scene is Howard with his son when he returns back home. The son is bitter, to which Howard responds: "When we're young, we expect the people we love to behave like gods, especially our fathers. But sadly as we grow older, we realize we are all human, tragically human. We all make mistakes - one day maybe you'll understand. And if so, perhaps forgive... even your father."

I think there are admirable aspects to the film, especially Bergman's performance and the cinematography. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it is worth a look.

A funny thing I've discovered, by browsing through their respective filmographies, is that neither Greta Garbo nor Ingrid Bergman had a particularly amazing American screen debut, yet both went on to become great beauties of the silver screen, as well as highly regarded actresses. It was lucky that their screen debuts didn't show their full potential, and that they would go onto better films, otherwise they would have been run out of Hollywood.

Intermezzo has nothing going for it, really. I'm told the Swedish version (from 1936, also starring Bergman) is better, so I'll have to watch the two and compare. You can tell that it was Bergman's first English-language film, and she can't help this, but her performance is poor and she seems to be struggling with the language (to mention my comparison above, Greta Garbo made her American film debut in silent films, and was able to become fluent in English before Anna Christie).

Leslie Howard has no excuse. He was good in other films, but not here, here he seems to be struggling with the English as well. Both performances by both the leads are stiff and lacking emotion, which is odd, because Leslie Howard would make GWTW this same year. And Ingrid Bergman had made En Kvinnas Ansikte the year before. Neither of them had any excuse to be lacking in acting ability. And don't get me started on the supporting actors.

The story is rather weak, and the dialogue seems more stilted than if this were an early talkie. A male violinist (thanks to the movies, I've learned that you can never trust these guys) falls in love with his daughter's piano teacher, they run away and have an affair, despite the man being married and loving his daughter. The rest of the movie is them being selfish and only caring about their love affair, until the man's daughter is run over by a car and they're forced to be moralistic and break up- thank you, Production Code!

Only the people who wrote this film could make a 69 minute melodrama seem like ten seasons of a soap opera. The music isn't even nice- it's just bland classical stuff. Don't diss the stars based on this film- both made better films before and after this one.

Intermezzo comes across as another standard dramatic love story. Leslie Howard stars as Holger Brandt, a world renowned violinist who returns home from a long standing tour to reunite with his family and in the process meets Anita, played by Ingrid Bergman in her first American role as his daughter's piano teacher.

Nothing much happens up to the build up of Holger and Anita's relationship. Intermezzo at this point solely focuses on the relations between Holger and his family. This is done mostly in a sentimental manner mainly through the use of the character Ann Marie who adores her Father unconditionally causing Intermezzo to become soppy viewing, setting the foundations for melodrama. It is only once Holger and Anita connect that Intermezzo somewhat becomes intriguing. Attracted to her piano playing Holger improvises with her creating an intense atmosphere as the pair play off each other.

This starts the catalyst to their doomed romance in which Ingrid Bergman shines in her performance. Her acting acquires the right emotions for a character who is naturally shy and well – mannered. Throughout she experiences guilt concerning her actions highlighting the moral dilemma their affair is conveyed to be. She struggles to hold her guilty emotions asking Holger in one scene to look in the mirror to see what she sees, two lovers in a hazardous relationship. Eventually Anita leaves Holger for the sake of decency over their happiness but not before having conflicted emotions wherever to stay or go. All done sufficiently by Ingrid Bergman who captured the senses of a naive woman swept and confused by love.

The ending of their affair only intensifies the moralist theme of Intermezzo which quickly sinks to melodramatic depths once Holger returns home. After a reunion with his daughter is cut drastically short by a motor incident he is forced to reflect upon his affair and the consequences it has caused to those around him. Opening up Howard states that "we're tragically human, right up to the rest of our lives", this along with grasping the chance to be a dedicated father from then on brings the moralist theme to full circle.

At the length of only 70 minutes Intermezzo may have been improved with a longer run time to expand therefore fleshing out the characters to a greater degree in order to make a more rounded story rather than having characters such as Holger's family members who seem to be nothing more than props to draw guilt onto Holger. However Intermezzo does have its peak in the form of Ingrid Bergman, whose performance here indicates the talent and versatility she showed in her later roles which made her a cinema icon.

This movie about the world renowned violinist and his daughters piano teacher is beautiful. Leslie Howard did an amazing job and Ingrid Bergman looked lovely. Although their acting showed no real chemistry between the two... it went along with the story of how she was only an "intermezzo" in his life. I have never seen such a beautiful film about love, affairs, and pain brought to all those involved. It was moving and every bit theatrical as the title presumes. Besides Gone With The Wind it is Howards most lovely film and I suggest to all they see it. Intermezzo was simply... dazzling with its theme and truths. It showed real life in a way that most films of the day were afraid to.

Ingrid seemed to put a lot of concentration into this story. I love how Leslie plays the role so nonchalantly in the beginning, then all that changes when Ingrid's character performs at the birthday party.

The story does seem a bit rushed in spots (I notice the original version is fifteen minutes longer). I think we should've had the scene where he tells the wife he's leaving her. The role of the son is very underdeveloped. But the story is great.

You're not supposed to root for the main characters if you're a moral person, and the plot threads are all neatly tidied up when he goes back to the wife in the final scenes. But it leaves you wondering what happened to Ingrid's character. She may have provided an intermezzo for him but there's a sequel in here somewhere. I can't think that these two never met up again.

The other thing I want to add here is that I tried to keep in mind that Ingrid had done the entire story before in her native Swedish. Imagine being an English-speaking actor and having to redo your entire performance in another country in another language.