Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 film—first conceived as a five-part television miniseries, released later—was inspired, in part, by his childhood with his sister, Margareta, and father, Erik Bergman, a strict Lutheran minister. But before the marital strife unfolds and the ghosts appear, the film lingers on a Nativity play and sprawling Christmas feast in 1907, comprising some of the most colorful and joyful moments in Bergman’s oeuvre.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
Do you remember that one coveted Christmas gift from your childhood? In my zillennial world, it was all about the Nintendo DS, but for nine-year-old Ralphie Parker (played by Peter Billingsley), it was the “official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.” A uniquely unhinged Gen X relic that’s absolutely worth a revisit.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
