a Summer Tale

In honor of Ingmar Bergman’s one hundredth birthday, the Criterion Collection is proud to present the most comprehensive collection of his films ever released on home video. One of the most revelatory voices to emerge from the postwar explosion of international art-house cinema, Bergman was a master storyteller who startled the world with his stark intensity and naked pursuit of the most profound metaphysical and spiritual questions. The struggles of faith and morality, the nature of dreams, and the agonies and ecstasies of human relationships—Bergman explored these subjects in films ranging from comedies whose lightness and complexity belie their brooding hearts to groundbreaking formal experiments and excruciatingly intimate explorations of family life.

Katie Derham introduces the 2017 open-air concert from the magnificent gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, given by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. Fairy tale and myth influence all of the evening's music, with highlights from classical favourites such as Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, John Williams's Hedwig's Theme from the Harry Potter films and the Prologue to Humperdink's opera Hansel and Gretel. They are joined by American soprano Renee Fleming performing some of her favourite songs and arias, including Russalka's Song to the Moon.

Inspired by the earthy eroticism of Harriet Andersson, in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman had a major international breakthrough with this sensual and ultimately ravaging tale of young love.

Based on a true-story - A Plumm Summer tells the remarkable tale of two young brothers, Elliott and Rocky Plumm, who go head-to-head with the FBI in order to crack the "frog-napping" case and get their beloved TV puppet, Froggy Doo back on the air, all the while become local heroes and best friends.

Two classics of erotic horror get a fabulous DVD, though no power on earth could have made them look and sound good…

Inspired by Timothy Egan's best-selling book, The Big Burn is the dramatic story of an unimaginable wildfire that swept across the Northern Rockies in the summer of 1910. The fire devoured more than three million acres in 36 hours, confronting the fledgling U.S. Forest Service with a catastrophe that would define the agency and the nation's fire policy for the rest of the 20th century and beyond. As America tries to manage its fire-prone landscapes in the 21st century, The Big Burn provides a cautionary tale of heroism and sacrifice, arrogance and greed, hubris and, ultimately, humility, in the face of nature's frightening power.