The Serpent's Egg
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Year Released: 1977
Rating: 1.0
Bergman's Nazi/"fascinating fascism" picture - funded by Dino De Laurentiis - about an American acrobat (David Carradine, looking totally lost) who works for a meek German doctor that specializes with mind-warfare - an early version of Dr. Mengele. Bergman's movies have always walked a fine line between brilliant and silly (more often than not ending up the former), but this is emotionally distant (even for him) and the dialogue nothing but a long string of self-consciously bad clunkers and screaming-spells: of the cast, only the great Liv Ullmann saves herself. Bergman recovered from this debacle in fine fashion, however, releasing in 1978 the glorious Autumn Sonata.
