Review of The Night Visitor (1971) by Eric B — 26 Jan 2018

"The Night Visitor" is an obscure, thoroughly strange drama that somehow managed to cast Ingmar Bergman regulars Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman in their prime. The entire film takes place in freezing cold and snow.

Wrongly sentenced for murder, Von Sydow is imprisoned in a decrepit insane asylum (the real-life location, an ancient Swedish fortress by the sea, is astounding). The real killer lurks in his old family home nearby, where his three sisters and one brother-in-law awkwardly reside.

Von Sydow has found an elaborate way to slip out of his cell undetected involving a delightful assortment of tools and tricks, and he aims to sneak home, avenge himself and return to the asylum with a perfect alibi.

Unfortunately, this plot involves tying his clothes into a rope, which means poor Von Sydow spends much of the film stumbling through the snowy wilderness in his skivvies. Incredible to watch. The logic of the story doesn't quite hold up and its ambience is strictly B-movie (director Laslo Benedek had a spotty career, highlighted by Brando's "The Wild One" and a version of "Death of a Salesman" shot almost 20 years earlier), but there's a wonderful twist at the end.

Don't expect much from Ullman - she barely has anything to do beyond making distraught faces - but the wizened veteran Trevor Howard adds a good turn as an investigating police inspector.