More young-people-battling-against-the-odds melodrama from Bergman, showing increasing confidence and skill. He was pretty much a good filmmaker by now, even if his material isn't always the best. This one is about a young sailor with a hunchback (not immediately obvious) who returns home after being away from seven years; it turns out he had a fling with his father's mistress.
The oppressive martinet father figure (uncaring, sadistic, manipulative, going blind) is perhaps the most complex in this movie. This is a bit hokey at times to be sure, and in one or two spots I was bored (as well as worried about the future of a relationship between a hunchback sailor and a woman who slept with said hunchback's awful father for a long time... maybe that's why the seven year gap is there) but it's effective, and I did find myself hoping these two young people would make it.
I'm really glad I'm watching these early Bergmans; he's not known as a champion of youth director but he was in his early days, very much so.
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