Hour Of The Wolf

Themes include insanity, particularly as experienced by an artist, sexuality, and relationships, conveyed in a surreal style and with elements of folklore. Analysts have found allusions to vampire and werewolf legend. Authors have also connected the work to Bergman's life and his relationship with Ullmann; Bergman said he was experiencing his own "hour of the wolf" when he conceived the story.

Hour of the Wolf

The hour between night and dawn ... when most people die, sleep is deepest, nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their worst anguish, when ghosts and demons are most powerful. The hour of the wolf is also the hour when most babies are born.[11]

According to Professor Birgitta Steene, the title is drawn from Swedish folklore, where the "hour of the wolf" refers to the period from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., supposedly when the most deaths and births occur.[20] Folklorist Bengt af Klintberg recalled that in 1964, Bergman tasked theatre manager Niklas Brunius to research legend about the hour, and Brunius asked Klintberg about it; Klintberg found the term had no roots in Swedish folklore, though there was a "ghost hour" between midnight and 1 a.m.[21] Bergman claimed he first came across the term "hour of the wolf" in a Latin source, though he did not identify the source and may have coined the term himself.[11][n 3] He later said that at the time of the story's conception, he was experiencing his own "hour of the wolf", and was "freed" from it upon the production's completion.[23]

Williams links the artistic visions with "oppression by a group of aristocrats", as the castle's people become vampire-like and "the unreality of Johan's world takes over".[52] Scholar Egil Törnqvist compares what he saw as vampirism in Hour of the Wolf to that in Persona, adding that the portrayals are similar to themes in the work of playwright August Strindberg.[53] Writer Laura Hubner asserts the legend of the werewolf also informed themes of "fission and conflict" and "confused sexuality".[54] According to Hubner, the film's central notion of cannibalism, with a fear of being consumed, is linked to lycanthropy and the legend of Little Red Riding Hood, and these legends are also associated with sexual awakening.[55]

Tonion describes the antagonists as "vampire-like", contributing to the "Strindbergian 'ghost sonata'".[49] Various authors have compared Lindhorst, as played by Georg Rydeberg, and the other antagonists to Dracula actor Bela Lugosi;[63][64][67] Bergman was an admirer of the 1931 Dracula.[68] Hubner also suggests allusions to Middle Age folklore and werewolves, opining that Johan's lipstick (after made over by Lindhorst) resembles blood and Johan's leer is that of a wolf's.[54]

A great deal of the action takes place halfway between midnight and dawn -- the hour, Scott Fitzgerald said, which is the dark night of the soul. In a brief note, Bergman calls this the "Hour of the Wolf," and explains: "It is the hour when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are more real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fear, when ghosts and demons are most powerful. The Hour of the Wolf is also the hour when most children are born."

The second of four albums the reconstituted Steppenwolf cut for Epic, Hour of the Wolf has a very cool fog-enshrouded wolf howling on the cover, the band's name in blood red, and an interesting amalgam of contemporary sounds. Tom Scott's horns are featured on the Mars Bonfire tune "Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw World)" and "Hard Rock Road," a composition byBonfire's brother, drummer Jerry Edmonton. Alan O'Day's "Annie, Annie Over" fits the Steppenwolf sound, though it comes from the unlikeliest of places -- O'Day was known more for Helen Reddy's "Angie Baby" than the sublime "Heavy Church" that Three Dog Night covered. "Heavy Church," with its heavy organ sound, would have been the track this group could have taken up the charts. A major oversight! The rhythm section of George Biondo and Jerry Edmonton come up with a dyed-in-the-wool authentic Steppenwolf number in "Two for the Love of One." The problem is that it's all been heard before, and the band is not progressing to where it should be on this 1975 release. With close to 20 minutes per side, it is a generous helping of John Kay music (recorded mostly at Kay's own facility), with guitarist Bobby Cochran teaming up with Edmonton on the semi-ballad "Just for Tonight." The material is all adequate, but where Kay was crafting an interesting direction on his Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes solo disc, abandoning those elements for the somewhat tried and true is this album's dilemma. When Kay does touch upon that venture slightly, as on the slide guitar and slick chorus vocals of "Another's Lifetime," it is most satisfying. Scott played saxophone on multiple Carole King albums around the time Hour of the Wolf was released, adding to her hit output; it's interesting that, two years after his recording on "Hard Rock Road" with Steppenwolf, King would go Top 30 with "Hard Rock Cafe" from her Simple Things album, which included Scott's saxophone. Had Steppenwolf paid attention to the charts and crafted 45s as the band had in the '60s, the four-album ride with Epic might have been more beneficial to the fans who loved those immortal 45s. "Mr. Penny Pincher," the last song on the album, seems to prove that just showing up is not enough in such a tough industry.

An artist in crisis is haunted by nightmares from the past in Ingmar Bergman's only horror film, which takes place on a windy island. During "the hour of the wolf" - between midnight and dawn - he tells his wife about his most painful memories.

"The old ones called it 'the hour of the wolf'. It is the hour when most people die, when most children are born. Now is when nightmares come to us. And if we are awake ... We're afraid ... We're afraid."

Enchanted by the beckoning tide of midnight. A true child of the moon, calling out across the limitless wilderness. It is said that a werewolf wishing to return to his true form must first hide a precious keepsake within a secret casket, else forever wander the forests of the night.

By autumn 1964 Bergman had completed a screenplay entitled 'The Cannibals'. However, in the spring of 1965 he fell ill with pneumonia, and the project was shelved. On his recovery, he pressed ahead with Persona in the late summer the same year. Various themes from The Cannibals were subsequently incorporated into The Hour of the Wolf, shot in 1966 from the end of May until late September. By the time of its premiere in 1968, his next feature Shame had already been completed.The title of the film is explained in the opening credits:'The hour of the wolf is the hour between night and dawn. It is the hour when most people die, when sleep is the deepest, when nightmares feel most real. It is the hour when the demons are most powerful. The hour of the wolf is also the hour when most children are born.'

Johan: In an hour or so it will be daylight, and then I can sleep.Johan: A minute can seem like an eternity. It's beginning now. Ten seconds. Oh, these seconds. How long they last. The minute isn't up yet. Oh, now it's gone.Alma: Isn't it so that all people who have been living together all their lives begin to resemble each other? In the end, they have so much in common that not only their thoughts but also their faces take on the same expression.Heerbrand: My name's Heerbrand, analyst. I examine souls and turn them inside out. And what do I see? I need hardly to tell you. You're an artist. You know the human heart. Who hasn't seen your facial studies and self-portraits?Johan: Forgive me. I call myself an artist for lack of a better name. In my creative work is nothing implicit, except compulsion. Through no fault of mine I've been pointed out as something extraordinary, a calf with five legs, a monster. I have never fought to attain that position and I shall not fight to keep it. Megalomania? Yes, I've felt it waft about my brow at times, but I think I'm immune. I have only to think of the utter unimportance of art in the world we live in to bring it down to earth.Lindhorst: Let's drink to our artist. He's not just a genius, but a thinker too. Bless my soul, I had no idea.Corinne von Merkens: Look at this mark, by the way. It's a scar from another man's, shall we say, advances. A perpetual source of renewed excitement. It's all very trivial, of course, but to me it's stimulating. This mark can't keep my fascination forever.Johan: This hour is the worst. Do you know what it's called?Alma: No.Johan: The old folks called it "the hour of the wolf". It's the hour when most people die, when most children are born. Now is when nightmares come to us.Alma: You once said what you liked about me was that God had made me all together. That I had whole feelings and whole thoughts. You said it was important that such people should be alive. I thought it sounded so wonderful. I was glad. I was wrong.Lindhorst: Take a look in the mirror. Now you are yourself and yet not yourself. The ideal conditions for a lover's meeting.Johan: The glass is shattered, but what do the splinters reflect? Can you tell me that?Alma: Is it true that a woman who lives a long time with a man eventually winds up being like that man? 041b061a72