BEST INGRID BERGMAN MOVIES
“Intermezzo” (1939): Bergman made her Hollywood debut by re-creating one of her earlier Swedish roles as a pianist who shares a forbidden romance with a famed violinist (Leslie Howard). This version is included in a Turner Classic Movies double-feature salute to Bergman on Sunday, March 24.
“Casablanca” (1942): Well, of course. Bergman has one of the all-time legendary roles — and will “always have Paris” — in this Oscar winner as Ilsa, club owner Rick’s (Humphrey Bogart) former flame who needs his help in getting herself and her husband (Paul Henreid) out of the war-torn title location.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” (1943): The Ernest Hemingway story casts Bergman as the love interest for Gary Cooper, who plays a soldier during the Spanish Civil War. “Gaslight” (1944): The George Cukor-directed melodrama with a title that helped inspire a phrase still used today — for the act of plotting to drive someone insane — features Bergman as the intended victim and Charles Boyer as her highly suspect husband.
“Spellbound” (1945): Directed here by Alfred Hitchcock, Bergman plays a psychiatrist at an asylum who starts a romance with the new chief of the facility (Gregory Peck) ... which could prove dangerous for her. “Notorious” (1946): Reteaming with Hitchcock, Bergman plays a novice government spy who becomes close to one of her investigation subjects (Cary Grant). This is the other half of TCM’S Bergman double bill on March 24. “Joan of Arc” (1948): Bergman excels as the military leader who literally guides her army on faith.
“Under Capricorn” (1949): In another round with Hitchcock, Bergman plays a landowner’s (Joseph Cotten) wife reunited with an old friend (Michael Wilding). “Anastasia” (1956): A superb Bergman plays the object of a scheme to bilk the Bank of England, by having her pose as a long-absent Russian royal.
“Cactus Flower” (1969): In this film of a hit play, Bergman has fun — as should viewers — as a receptionist enlisted to help her dentist boss (Walter Matthau) steer his girlfriend (Oscar winner Goldie Hawn) away from marital thoughts.
“Murder on the Orient Express” (1974): Bergman won an Oscar as a missionary who may not be who she seems — which goes for virtually every character in director Sidney Lumet’s superbly elegant version of the Agatha Christie mystery.