Synopsis: Ingmar Bergman's fourth feature-length film, based on a best-selling novel by Dagmar Edqvist, was his first popular success in Sweden. While in military training, Bengt (Birger Malmsten), a pianist, loses his eyesight in a rifle accident. Though greatly affected by his handicap, he... Ingmar Bergman's fourth feature-length film, based on a best-selling novel by Dagmar Edqvist, was his first popular success in Sweden. While in military training, Bengt (Birger Malmsten), a pianist, loses his eyesight in a rifle accident. Though greatly affected by his handicap, he struggles for acceptance in a world largely indifferent to his plight, switching jobs several times after being rejected from a prestigious music program and eventually enrolling in a school for the blind. Mai Zetterling (in her only role under Bergman's direction), who later went on to become a director in her own right, gives a captivating performance as Ingrid, the young woman hired by Bengt as a housekeeper and nurse. Bengt develops a strong emotional attachment to Ingrid, whose companionship he has grown to depend on, but is uncertain as to Ingrid's feelings toward him. The opening scenes of this early Bergman movie--a melodrama incorporating elements of film noir--feature montages of surreal imagery of the sort that would reappear later on in the director's career, in more mature works such as PERSONA (1966). [More]