Ingmar Bergman provides a sort of TV-talk-show format for his actors (Tell us about your new role, Mr. Von Sydow...), as he interrupts the action now and then, to interview each of his stars behind the scenes. These interludes do not really reveal a great deal. They are quick, efficacious, under-elaborated devices to cue a mood, much like the wooden crutch with which Liv Ullmann makes her initial impact on screen, or the irritating ticking of a clock in the background. But they are indicative of Bergman's search for the inner person, holding onto a face and examining it, close up, as if it were in a jar; and they also break the ice and point the way toward the favorite pastime after any Bergman experience -- group discussion on the topic, "The Meaning of It All." Sven Nykvist's image, for this movie of mysterious unseen violence on Bergman's island, is in rough, cold, comfortless color except for one languidly sensual episode in a shade of bordello red. (1970) — Duncan Shepherd