(Trollflöjten). Love triumphs over all, as a young man seeks to rescue a beautiful princess from the hands of an evil sorcerer. Mozart’s playful Magic Flute is brought to joyous cinematic life through the talents of Bergman, an acclaimed organist and musicologist who once declared that he would have become a conductor if film had not claimed him first. “Bergman’s film of The Magic Flute remains the finest screen version of an opera ever produced. Shot in sumptuous color by Sven Nykvist, and featuring some of the finest Nordic singers of the day, the film marks Bergman’s overt tribute to classical music. Mozart’s magic has been neither betrayed nor merely reproduced by Bergman, but rather filtered through the Swedish maestro’s own metaphysical vision in a remarkable act of homage” (Peter Cowie).

• Written by Bergman, based on the opera by Mozart, libretto by Schikaneder. Photographed by Sven Nykvist. With Josef Kostlinger, Irma Urrila, Hakan Hagegard, Elisabeth Eriksson. (130 mins, In Swedish with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Janus/Criterion Collection)